ForgiveNest Podcast for A Course in Miracles

Alison Anton of the ForgiveNest Podcast talks about how A Course in Miracles redefines, and even corrects, Christian terms. She discusses how traditional Christian terminology can be triggering due to historical misrepresentation and misuse, yet suggests ACIM helps to correct misunderstandings. She leads listeners through a visualization to deprogram (release resistance to) certain charged Christian words, outlining ACIM redefinitions of God (formless love), masculine pronouns (non-gendered spirit), Jesus/Christ (Christ in all), sin (a mistaken belief), and atonement (undoing errors through forgiveness), and points to the Circle of Atonement's Course glossary for more terms.

Read the full transcript here: https://AlisonAnton.substack.com

Podcast Category: Faith and Spirituality

Episode Timestamps:

00:00 Deprogramming Begins

01:25 Why Words Trigger

02:06 Bible Standing Story

03:26 Healing Religious Wounds

04:45 Clarify Not Controversy

06:15 Six Terms Overview

06:54 Bubble Visualization

09:18 Redefining God

12:44 He Him Explained

14:28 Jesus And Christ

18:17 Sin As Error

20:31 Atonement Reframed

24:01 Glossary Terms

25:50 Final Farewell

ACIM Quotes and Prayers:

Note: Alison Anton uses the Complete and Annotated Edition (CE) of A Course in Miracles. This edition is based on the original handwritten notes of Helen Schucman, scribe of A Course in Miracles. Publisher: Circle of Atonement. 

circleofa.org/glossary-of-terms

Changing learning patterns requires undoing the old ones. …Sometimes the new learning is the more important, and has to inhibit the old. It’s a form of correction. [CE T-1.24.5]

All terms are potentially controversial, and those who seek controversy will find it. Yet those who seek clarification will find it as well. They must, however, be willing to overlook controversy, recognizing that it is a defense against truth in the form of a delaying maneuver. [CE C-In.2:1-3]

The name of Jesus is the name of one who was a man, but saw the face of Christ in all his brothers and remembered God. So he became identified with Christ, a man no longer, but at one with God. The man was an illusion, for he seemed to be a separate being, walking by himself, within a body that appeared to hold his self from Self, as all illusions do. [CE C-4.2:1-3]

Is he the Christ? Oh yes, along with you.

Is he God’s only helper? No indeed. For Christ takes many forms with different names until their oneness can be recognized. [CE C-4.5:1-3]

Walking with him is just as natural as walking with a brother whom you knew since you were born, for such indeed he is. [CE C-4.4:6]

…what is out of accord must be undone. It may seem as if darkness must be dispelled before light can come in, but the truth is that darkness is dispelled by light. [CE T-1.24.4:3-4]

“…acceptance of the Atonement places you in a position to realize that your own errors never really occurred.” [CE T-2.II.16:4].

In this episode of the ForgiveNest Podcast, Alison Anton provides detailed guidance on how to approach the text of A Course in Miracles (ACIM). She explores the fundamental reasons for taking on this monumental task, and explains how methodical study of the text can lead to transformative experiences. Alison shares tips on reading section by section, and underscores the value of applying the text's lessons to daily life by giving practical advice for maintaining a consistent study routine. This episode serves as a prelude to her ACIM Book Club text reading program: AlisonAnton.substack.com

Podcast Category: Faith & Spirituality

Podcast Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction and Opening Quote

00:40 The Big Why: Importance of Reading the Text

02:22 Transformative Power of the Text

05:37 How to Read the Course Text Effectively

06:13 Understanding the Structure of the Text

09:47 Tips for Deep and Engaged Reading

15:50 Applying the Course to Daily Life

20:42 Final Thoughts and Closing Prayer

ACIM Quotes and Prayers:

Note: Alison Anton uses the Complete and Annotated Edition (CE) of A Course in Miracles. This edition is based on the original handwritten notes of Helen Schucman, scribe of A Course in Miracles. Publisher: Circle of Atonement, CircleofA.org

You cannot enter into real relationship with any of God’s Sons unless you love them all, and equally. Love is not special. If you single out part of the Sonship for your love, you are imposing guilt on all your relationships and making them unreal. I can love only as You love. I will seek not to love unlike You, for there is no love apart from Yours. Until I recognize that this is true, I will have no idea what love is like. [ACIM CE T-13.XI.11:1-3]

You do not see what you have done by giving to the world the role of jailer to the Son of God. What could it be but vicious and afraid, fearful of shadows, punitive and wild, lacking all reason, blind, insane, and sad? [ACIM CE W-191.1:3-4]

In this episode of the ForgiveNest Podcast, Alison Anton discusses approaching 'A Course in Miracles' as a long-term study rather than a spiritual self-help book. She emphasizes the need for dedicated reading and understanding the Text in its sequential order to avoid ego diversion tactics. Alison explains how the Workbook also builds on the foundational concepts laid out in the Text, and encourages listeners to stay committed to the Course's comprehensive plan to achieve spiritual growth and healing. Scroll for ACIM prayers and quotes cited in this episode.

Episode Timestamps

00:00 Introduction to the ForgiveNest Podcast

01:27 Understanding the Course's Purpose

03:06 Challenges in Studying the Course

03:46 Approaching the Course as a Serious Study

06:09 The Importance of Sequential Study

10:09 Timing and Versions of the Course

11:54 Personal Connection and Overcoming Ego Diversions

13:53 Concluding Prayer and Final Thoughts

Read the full transcript here: https://AlisonAnton.substack.com

Podcast Category: Spirituality and Religion

ACIM Quotes and Prayers:

Note: Alison Anton uses the Complete and Annotated Edition (CE) of A Course in Miracles. This edition is based on the original handwritten notes of Helen Schucman, scribe of A Course in Miracles. Publisher: Circle of Atonement, CircleofA.org

It would be very intelligent of you to set yourself the goal of really studying for this course. There can be no doubt of the wisdom of this decision, for any student who wants to pass it. [ACIM CE T-4.VII.10:1-2] 

Meaningful seeking is consciously undertaken, consciously organized, and consciously directed. The goal must be formulated clearly and kept in mind. [ACIM CE T-4.VII.8:2-3]

I have made every effort to use words which are almost impossible to distort, but human beings are very inventive when it comes to twisting symbols around. [ACIM CE T-3.III.6:3]

Steady our feet, our Father; let our doubts be quiet and our holy minds be still, and speak to us. We have no words to give to You. We would but listen to Your Word and make it ours. Lead our practicing as does a father lead a little child along a way he does not understand. Yet does he follow, sure that he is safe because his father leads the way for him. 

So do we bring our practicing to You. And if we stumble, You will raise us up. If we forget the way, we count upon Your sure remembering. We wander off, but You will not forget to call us back. Quicken our footsteps now, that we may walk more certainly and quickly unto You. And we accept the Word You offer us to unify our practicing, as we review the thoughts that You have given us.[ACIM CE W-Re.5.In.1-3] 

Alison Anton of the ForgiveNest Podcast presents a guided ACIM-based meditation to work with emotion, pain and reactions by bringing awareness into the body while remembering the body is not the self but an instrument for healing. The practice helps listeners consciously activate grief/sadness, anger/frustration, and finally a chosen area of physical pain, using a “mental story” to evoke the feeling and then dropping the narrative to focus on raw bodily sensation (location, texture, temperature, feeling). Participants are invited to notice underlying fear and guilt, take Jesus’ hand, and use Course-based statements, with options to pause if overwhelmed.

Timestamps:

00:00 Welcome and Setup

00:37 Body Awareness Basics

03:02 Opening Statement Practice

05:01 Grief and Sadness Exercise

12:08 Meet Fear with Jesus

15:43 Transition to Anger

17:29 Anger and Frustration Exercise

22:49 Choose Peace Instead

26:29 Physical Pain Exercise

34:31 Fear Behind the Pain

41:19 Closing and Encouragement

Previous in this Series:

Part 1: The Authority Problem - https://alisonanton.substack.com/p/acim-the-root-of-all-emotion-part

Part 2: Attack on the "Other" - https://alisonanton.substack.com/p/acim-the-root-of-emotion-pt-2-attack

Part 3: Fear is a Many Splintered Thing - https://alisonanton.substack.com/p/acim-the-root-of-emotion-pt-3-fear

Part 4: Facing Fear Without Disguise - 

Read the full transcript here: https://AlisonAnton.substack.com

Podcast Category: Faith and Spirituality 

ACIM Quotes and Prayers:

Note: Alison Anton uses the Complete and Annotated Edition (CE) of A Course in Miracles. This edition is based on the original handwritten notes of Helen Schucman, scribe of A Course in Miracles. Publisher: Circle of Atonement. 

Be not afraid of this journey into fear, for it is not your destination. And we will walk through it in safety, for peace is not far and you will be led in its light. [ACIM CE T-12.III.4:5-6]

https://AlisonAnton.substack.com - Alison Anton of the ForgiveNest Podcast outlines a guided meditation for working with emotions as a deeper application of ACIM lessons. She explains the “correction of fear” steps from A Course in Miracles to identify any afflicted emotion as fear. She then explains how separating the emotion from the thought that goes with it breaks an underlying cycle that keeps us in a reactionary state. The same process can be used for physical pain, and she notes a future deeper-dive program on these practices and Course-based forgiveness.

Episode Timestamps:

00:00 Facing Fear Intro

00:30 Series Context Setup

01:00 Emotions As Workbook Practice

01:56 Who This Practice Is For

02:53 Step One Name Fear

04:12 Resistance And Projection

05:15 Trigger Emotion Then Drop Story

09:25 Raw Sensation Inquiry

10:03 Glimpses Of Peace

12:58 Replace Story With Lesson

14:00 Timing Safety Touch And Go

15:25 Apply To Physical Pain

17:00 Meditation Link Closing

Previous in this Series:

Part 1: The Authority Problem - https://alisonanton.substack.com/p/acim-the-root-of-all-emotion-part

Part 2: Attack on the "Other" - https://alisonanton.substack.com/p/acim-the-root-of-emotion-pt-2-attack

Part 3: Fear is a Many Splintered Thing - https://alisonanton.substack.com/p/acim-the-root-of-emotion-pt-3-fear

Read the full transcript here: https://AlisonAnton.substack.com

Podcast Category: Faith and Spirituality 

ACIM Quotes and Prayers:

Note: Alison Anton uses the Complete and Annotated Edition (CE) of A Course in Miracles. This edition is based on the original handwritten notes of Helen Schucman, scribe of A Course in Miracles. Publisher: Circle of Atonement. 

… we have repeatedly emphasized the need to recognize fear and face it without disguise as a crucial step in the undoing of the ego. [ACIM CE T-12.II.1:5] 

Be not afraid of this journey into fear, for it is not your destination. And we will walk through it in safety, for peace is not far and you will be led in its light. [ACIM CE T-12.III.4:5-6]

Alison Anton of the ForgiveNest Podcast continues her Course-based series “The Root of All Emotion” by focusing on fear as rooted in the original “attack thought” that seeks autonomy and separation from oneness. She explains projection as a fragmented perception that generates fear and guilt, which fragments further outward and multiplies into many afflicted emotions (e.g., rage, grief, jealousy, depression), reinforcing the illusion of attack… unless someone chooses to stop. Using a visual of projection as an empty shell, Alison notes that external reality reflects attack thoughts placed in the mind’s screen. She then outlines training methods: meditating by conjuring emotions via recall, and responding to temptation as emotions arise, using meditation to recognize and change the underlying thought so emotions lose their seeming substance. From there, peace becomes accessible, with Jesus’ guidance.

Previous in this Series:

Part 1: The Authority Problem - https://alisonanton.substack.com/p/acim-the-root-of-all-emotion-part

Part 2: Attack on the "Other" - https://alisonanton.substack.com/p/acim-the-root-of-emotion-pt-2-attack

Episode Timestamps:

00:00 Fear And Fragmentation

01:23 Series Setup And Recap

02:45 Projection Creates The Other

04:08 Fear Fragments Into Many Forms

06:52 Stopping The Attack Cycle

07:57 Projection Sphere Visual

11:23 Rewriting The Inner Script

12:45 Meditation To Meet Emotions

15:10 Response To Temptation

16:44 Transmute Thoughts Beneath Emotion

18:13 Peace Underneath Fear

19:40 Closing And Next Episode

Read the full transcript here: https://AlisonAnton.substack.com

Podcast Category: Faith and Spirituality 

ACIM Quotes and Prayers:

Note: Alison Anton uses the Complete and Annotated Edition (CE) of A Course in Miracles. This edition is based on the original handwritten notes of Helen Schucman, scribe of A Course in Miracles. Publisher: Circle of Atonement. 

Fear is both a fragmented and fragmenting emotion. It seems to take many forms, and each seems to require a different form of acting out for satisfaction. [ACIM CE T-18.I.3:3-4]

You are the Kingdom of Heaven… [ACIM CE T-5.II.13:1]

…you can make an empty shell, but cannot make nothing at all. This emptiness provides the screen for the misuse of projection. [ACIM CE T-2.II.3:3-4]

Each of your perceptions of “external reality” is a pictorial representation of your own attack thoughts. [ACIM CE W-23.3:2] 

You will become increasingly aware that a slight twinge of annoyance is nothing but a veil drawn over intense fury. [ACIM CE W-21.2:5]

I could see peace instead of this [ACIM CE W-34:1] 

Alison Anton of the ForgiveNest Podcast continues her ACIM-based series “The Root of All Emotion,” focusing on attack thoughts as projection. Alison states that projection requires guilt and an “other”, first projected onto God, then displaced onto people and situations to hide deep intrapersonal guilt that sustains fear, time, and a cycle of punishment. She describes emotions as mind-generated thoughts, translated through the subtle and gross body as feeling and emotion as we know it. Alison previews the next episodes on how emotions present themselves in the body, and what to do with them.

Episode TImestamps:

00:00 Opening Quote and Intro

00:35 One Emotion Fear

01:24 Separation and Samsara

02:03 Why It Happened

03:34 Part One Recap

06:14 Denial Takes Energy

07:17 Attack Thoughts Explained

08:21 Projection Needs Other

09:32 Guilt and Punishment Loop

11:20 World as Attack Picture

15:10 Emotions in the Body

16:08 Next Episode and Wrap

Read the full transcript here: https://AlisonAnton.substack.com

Podcast Category: Faith and Spirituality 

ACIM Quotes and Prayers:

Note: Alison Anton uses the Complete and Annotated Edition (CE) of A Course in Miracles. This edition is based on the original handwritten notes of Helen Schucman, scribe of A Course in Miracles. Publisher: Circle of Atonement. 

You do not realize the enormous waste of energy which you expend in denying truth. [ACIM CE T-9.I.12:3]

The world I see… is a picture of attack on everything and by everything. … It is my own attack thoughts which give rise to this picture. [ACIM CE W-55.2:2-5]

How can I know who I am when I see myself as under constant attack? Pain, illness, loss, age, and death seem to threaten me. All my hopes and wishes and plans seem to be at the mercy of a world I cannot control. [ACIM CE W-56.1:2-4]

Guilt feelings are the preservers of time. They induce fears of future retaliation or abandonment, and thus ensure that the future will remain like the present. [ACIM CE T-5.VI.17:1-2]

Know first this is fear. [ACIM CE T-2.IX.12:3]

Alison Anton introduces a ForgiveNest Podcast series on emotion in the body through the lens of A Course in Miracles, arguing that emotions are expressions of a deeper, intentional chain of “miscreation” in the mind. In part one, she frames a three-part miscreation process: a driving thought of arrogance (wanting to be the author of oneself and reality rather than accepting being created by God), a will toward ignorance (choosing to obscure or forget God and true identity), and volition expressed as ‘attack thoughts’. These attack thoughts generate guilt, fear, and an expectation of punishment, underpinning projection, the idea of “the other,” and the illusion of bodies. She previews part two on projection and presents forgiveness as the solution.

Timestamps

00:00 Emotion and the Body

01:49 Why This Matters

04:12 Miscreation Framework

05:58 Arrogance as the Root

09:19 Will to Ignore Truth

12:44 Attack Thoughts Begin

15:07 Cycle of Guilt and Fear

16:46 Recap and Next Steps

19:55 Closing and Part Two

Read the full transcript here: https://AlisonAnton.substack.com

Podcast Category: Faith and Spirituality 

ACIM Quotes and Prayers:

Note: Alison Anton uses the Complete and Annotated Edition (CE) of A Course in Miracles. This edition is based on the original handwritten notes of Helen Schucman, scribe of A Course in Miracles. Publisher: Circle of Atonement. 

The Son would not accept the fact that although he was a creator, he had been created. [ACIM CE T-10.V.4:2]  

There is no part of Heaven you can take and weave into illusions. Nor is there one illusion you can enter Heaven with. [ACIM CE T-22.III.8:3-4]

Alison Anton from the ForgiveNest Podcast guides a meditation aimed at healing “attack thoughts” used to punish the body that are linked to physical illness. Alison emphasizes in this meditation that the body can be transformed by the Holy Spirit into an instrument for healing. She briefly describes two Course-based causes of sickness: the body as a device made to obscure God and the Kingdom, and the guilt-driven punishment thoughts projected onto oneself and others. The practice emphasizes that the body is not the self, but invites participants to notice how condemning thoughts affect the body. The meditation concludes by extending healing to someone else, using the affirmation “I allow my body to be an instrument of Your healing”.

Timestamps

00:00 Healing Meditation Setup

00:36 Course View of Sickness

02:02 Body Reinterpreted by Spirit

03:10 Settle In and Breathe

04:53 Body as Neutral Instrument

08:06 Spotting Attack Thoughts

10:07 Return to Light and Willingness

13:51 Extend Healing to Another

20:54 Closing Blessing and Return

Read the full transcript here: https://AlisonAnton.substack.com

Podcast Category: Faith and Spirituality 

ACIM Quotes and Prayers:

Note: Alison Anton uses the Complete and Annotated Edition (CE) of A Course in Miracles. This edition is based on the original handwritten notes of Helen Schucman, scribe of A Course in Miracles. Publisher: Circle of Atonement. 

The body was not made by love. But love does not condemn it and can use it lovingly, respecting what the Son of God has made and using it to save him from illusions. Would you not have the instruments of separation reinterpreted as means for salvation and used for purposes of love? [ACIM CE T-18.VI.4:5-7]

Health is the natural state of anything whose interpretation is left to the Holy Spirit, Who perceives no attack on anything. Health is the result of relinquishing all attempts to use the body lovelessly. It is the beginning of the proper perspective on life, under the guidance of the one Teacher Who knows what life is, being the Voice for Life Itself. [ACIM CE T-8.VII.13:4-6]

Let [the body] have healing as its purpose. Then will it send forth the message it received, and by its health and loveliness proclaim the truth and value that it represents. [ACIM CE T-27.I.11:4-7]

Father, I allow my body to be an instrument of Your healing. This is Your way of making unlimited what I have limited. In this sense my body becomes a temple to You, because Your Voice abides in it by directing the use to which I put it. [based on ACIM CE T-8.VI.10:4-7]

Remember that the Holy Spirit interprets the body only as a means of communication. … The ego separates through the body. The Holy Spirit reaches through it to others. [ACIM CE T-8.VI.2:1-4]

If you use the body for this and only for this, you cannot use it for attack. In the service of uniting, it becomes a beautiful lesson in communion, which has value until communion is. [ACIM CE T-8.VI.3:5-6]

In this episode of the ForgiveNest Podcast Alison Anton explores why ACIM forgiveness doesn’t cross over with conventional forgiveness. Alison presents Course-based forgiveness as wearing “gold-colored glasses” that overlay a new vision onto worldly perception, temporarily representing truth and training the mind toward ultimate reality without denying that errors occur or require correction in local reality. She defines local reality as the perceived world that seems real, and ultimate reality as the truth ACIM points to, where everyone remains as God created them. She discusses the very challenging teaching that Jesus’s crucifixion and bodily attack does not justify anger because what is destructible is not real. 

Recommended Podcast: Circle of Atonement Q&A on forgiveness - https://youtu.be/R5UZPzEFxwU?si=JR8txw09nqtUMKct

Read the full transcript here: https://AlisonAnton.substack.com

Podcast Category: Spirituality and Religion

Episode Timestamps:

00:00 Why Forgiveness Confuses

03:36 Local vs Ultimate Reality

05:43 When Laws Clash

08:06 Conventional vs Course Forgiveness

10:03 Dark Glasses vs Gold

11:28 Crucifixion as Lesson

15:36 Daily Temptations to Misperceive

16:36 Next Steps and Closing

ACIM Quotes and Prayers:

Note: Alison Anton uses the Complete and Annotated Edition (CE) of A Course in Miracles. This edition is based on the original handwritten notes of Helen Schucman, scribe of A Course in Miracles. Publisher: Circle of Atonement. 

Forgiveness must be practiced, for the world cannot perceive its meaning, nor provide a guide to teach you its beneficence. There is no thought in all the world which leads to any understanding of the laws it follows or the thought which it reflects. [ACIM CE W-134.13:1-2]

Forgiveness is the means by which the truth is represented temporarily. It lets the Holy Spirit make exchange of pictures possible, until the time when aids are meaningless and learning done. [ACIM CE T-27.IV.5:1-6]

There is little doubt that one body can assault another and can even destroy it. But if destruction itself is impossible, then anything that is destructible cannot be real. Therefore, its destruction does not justify anger. [ACIM CE T-6.I.8:2-4]

You are not asked to be crucified, because that was part of my own teaching contribution. You are merely asked to follow my example in the face of much less extreme temptations to misperceive, and not to accept them falsely as justifications for anger. [ACIM CE T-6.I.12:1-2]

And as a man, I did not attempt to counteract error with knowledge so much as to correct error from the bottom up. Thus, whenever you refuse to misperceive you are indeed behaving as I behaved. [ACIM CE T-3.VI.16:2-5]