I say it will no longer appear to exist because it does not exist in reality. The true Universe is God's Universe, or Heaven--and Heaven has absolutely nothing whatsover to do with the false universe. However, there is way of looking at your universe that will help you return to your true home with God.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

there. Is that the kind of technology you're talking about?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

help. He would have been happy to come to you himself, but that's not what's called for right now. We're his representatives. By the way, most of the time we're just going to refer to Jesus as J. We have permission from him to do that, and we'll tell you why when the time is right. You wanted to know what it was like to be there with him two thousand years ago. We were there and we'll be happy to tell you, although you may be supprised to find out there are more advantages to being a student of his today than there were back then. One thing we're going to do is challenge you the way J repeatedly challenged us, whether in the past or in what you think of as the future. We're not going to be easy on you or tell you what you want to hear. If you want to be handled with kid gloves, then go to  a theme park. If you're ready to be treated like an adult who has a right to know why nothing is your universe can possibly work in the long run, then we'll get down to business. You will also learn both the cause of this situation and the way out of it. So, what do you say?

   GARY: I don't know what to say.

   ARTEN: Excellent.A fine qualification for a student, another one being the desire to learn.  I know you have that. I also know you don't like to talk much. You're the kind of guy who could go into a monastery for years and not say a word. You also have an exceptional memory--something that will come in handy for you later. In fact, we know everything about you.

   GARY: Everything?

   PURSAH: Yes, everything. But we're not here to judge you, so there's no sense in hiding things or being embarrassed. We're her simply because it's helpful for us to appear right now. Take advantage of us while you can. Ask any questions that come into your mind. You were wondering why we look this way. The answer is that we like to fit in wherever we go. Also, we dress in a secular fashion because we don't represent any particular religion or denomination.

   GARY: So you're not Jehovah's Witness then, 'cause I already told them I'm not into organized churches.

   PURSAH: We are certainly witnesses for God, but Jehovah's Witnesses subscribe to the old belief that except for a select number who will be with Him, God's Kingdom will be on earth with them

   The two people looked to be in their thirties and very healthy. Their clothing was stylish and contemporary. They didn't look aything like I might have imagined that angels. or ascened masters, or any other kind of divine beings might look. There was no illumination or glowing aura around him. One could have spotted them in a restuarant eating dinner and not given them a second thought. But I couldn't help but notice them sitting there on my couch, and I found myself looking at the attractive woman more than the man. Noticing this, the woman spoke first.

 

   PURSAH: Hello, my dear brother. I can see you are astonished, but not really afraid. I am Pursah and this is our brother, Arten. We are appearing to you as symbols whose words will help facilitate the disappearance of the universe. I say we are symbols because anything  that appears to take on a form is symbolic. The only true reality is God or pure spirit, which in Heaven are synonymous, and  God and pure spirit have no form. Thus there is no concept of male of felmale in Heaven. Any form, including your own body, that is experienced  in the false universe of perception must, by definition, be symbolic of something else. That is the real meaning of the second commandment, " Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image." Most Biblical scholars have always considered that particular commandment to be a mystery. Why would God not want you to make any images of Him? Moses thought the idea was to get rid of pagan idolatry. The real meaning is that you shouldn't make up any images of God becaus God has no image. That idea is central to what we'll be telling you later.

    GARY: Do you want to run that by me again?

    ATRTEN: We'll be repeating things enough for you to pick them up, Gary, and one of the things you'll notice is that we'll speak to you more and more in your own style of language. In fact, we're going to put things to you very bluntly. We think you're big enough to handle it, and we didn't come here to waste time. You asked Jesus for

 

   During Christmas week of 1992, I realized that the circumstances of my life and my state of mind had been slowly improving for about a year. At the previous Christmas, things had not been going well at all.Then I had been deeply troubled by the  apparent scarcity in my life. Although I had been successful as a professional musician, I had not managed to save much money. I was struggling in my new career as a stock market trader, and I was in the process of suing a friend and former business partner whom I felt had treated me unfairely. Meanwhile, I was still in the process of recovering from a bankruptcy four years earlier-- the result of impatience, reckless spending , and seemingly good investments gone bad. I didn't know it, but I was at war with myself and I was losing. I also didn't know back then that practically all people are at war and losing, even when they may appear to be winning.

   Suddenly, something shifted deep within me. For thirteen years I had been on a spiritual search during which I had learned a great deal without really taking the time to apply my lessons, but now a new certainty swept over me. Things have got to change, I thought. There's got to be a better way than this.

   I wrote to the friend I ws suing and informed him that I was dropping my legal action in order to start removing conflict from my life. He called me and thanked me, and we began to rebuild our friendship. Eventually I would learn that this  same kind of scenario, in different forms, had played itself out thousands of times in the previous few decades are as some people in conflict had begun a process of laying down their weapons and surrendering to a greater wisdom within themselves.

   Then I began trying to activate forgiveness and love, as I understood them at the time, in the situation that confronted me in any given day. I had some good results and some very tough difficulties, especially  when someone pushed my buttons in just the right( or wrong) way. But at least I felt like I was beginning to change direction. During  this period I began noticing little flashes of light out of the corner of my eye, or occurring around certain objects. There crystal clear light flashes did not take up my entire field of vision, but were concentrated on particular areas. I wouldn't understand what they meant until it was explained to me later.

   Through this year of change I regularly prayed to Jesus, the prophet of wisdom whom I admired more than anyone else, to help me. I felt a mysterious connection to Jesus, and in my prayers I often told him how I wished that  I could go back two thousand years and be a follower of his, so I could know what it was really like to learn from him in person.

   Then, during that Christmas week of 1992, something most unusual happened while I was meditating in my living room in a rural area of Maine. I was all alone because I worked at home and my wife, Karen, commuted to Lewiston. We had no children and thus I enjoyed a very quiet environment, except for the occasional barking of our dog, Nupey.As my mind drifted back from my meditation, I opened my eyes and was stunned to see that I was not alone.With my month open but no sound coming out, I started across the room at a man and a woman sitting on my courch, looking directly at me with gentle smiles and lucid, penetrating eyes. There was nothing threatening about them; in fact, they looked extraordinarily peaceful, which I found reassuring. Looking back on the event, I would wonder why I had not been more fearful, given that these every solid-looking people had apparently materialized out of nowhere. Still, this first appearance by my soon-to-be friends was so surreal that fear somehow didn't seem appropriate.

 

P.3-4.

  

For mom and dad

We are not apart

 

 

   There are those who have reached God directly, retaining no trace of worldly limits and remembering their own Identity perfectly. These might be called the Teachers of teachers because, although they are no longer visible, their image can yet be called upon. And they will appear when and where it is helpful for them to do so. To those to whom such appearances would be frightening, they give their ideas. No one can call on them in vain. Nor is there anyone of whom they are unaware------A COURSE IN MIRACLES

 

PART I

 

A Whisper in Your Dream

   GARY R. RENARD was born on the historic North Shore of Massachusetts, where he eventually became a successful professional guitar player. During the Harmonic Convergence of 1987, he heard a Calling and began to take his life in a different direction. At the beginning of the 1990s, he moved to Maine, where he underwent a powerful spiritual awakening.

   As instructed, he slowly and carefully wrote The Disappearance of the Universe over a period of nine years. Today, he is a private investor who writes, travels, and discusses metaphysical principles with other spiritual seekers.

   While living in a rural area of Maine I was witness to a series of in-the-flesh appearances by two ascened masters named Pursah and Arten, who eventually identified their previous incarnation as including those of Saint Thomas and Saint Thaddaeus. ( Despite popular myth, those lifetimes as two of the original disciples were not their final ones.)

   My visitors did not come forth in order to repeat some of the spiritual platitudes that many people may already believe. Rather, they revealed no less than the secrets of the universe, discussed the true purpose of life, spoke in detail about The Gospel of Thomas, and bluntly clarified the principles of an astounding spiritual document that is spreading throughout the world to usher in a new way of  thinking that will become more prevalent in the new millennium.

   It is not essential for you to believe these appearances took place in order to derive benefits from the information in this book. However, I can vouch for the extreme unlikeliness of this book being written by an uneducated layman such as myself without inspiration by these masters. At any rate, I leave it up to readers to think whatever they choose about the book's origins.

   I personally believe that The Disappearance of the Universe can be helpful, time-saving reading for any open-minded person who is on a spiritual path.After you experience this message, it may be impossible for you--as it was for me--ever to look at your life or think of the universe the same way again.

   The following text related events that occurred from December of 1992 through December of 2001. They are presented within the framework of a dialogue that has tree participants: Gary ( that's me), and Arten and Pursah, the two ascended masters who appeared to me in perspn. My narration is not labeled unless it interrupts the dialogue, in  which case it is simply labeled" NOTE". The many italicized words you will see indicate an emphasis on the part of the speakers. Please be advised that I did not substantially change this dialogue even though it was difficult for me to review this material and the tolerate some of the immature and judgmental things I said over the span of time covered by his book. Looking back, I realized that it was only during the later chapters that I was truly practicing forgiveness.

   Even though there are statements made by the masters in these pages that may appear to be harsh or critical in their printed form I can witness that their attitude should always be taken to include gentleness, humor, humility, and love. As an analogy, a good parent sometimes knows it is necessary for children to be firmly corrected in a manner they can understand, but the motivation behind the correction is positive in nature. So if there discussions appear to get a little rough, it should be remembered that for my benefit, Arten and Pursah are deliberately speaking to me  in a way I can grasp, with the purpose of gradually bringing me along toward the goal of their teaching. I was told by Pursah that their style was designed to get me to pay attention. Perhaps that says it all.

   I've made every effort to do this book right, but I am not perfect and also this book isn't perfect either. Buti f there are any errors of fact in these chapters, you can be certain tehy are my mistakes and were not made by my visitors.Also, in the interest of full disclosure, I feel I should say in advance that I have expanded some of these discussions with dialogue that I recalled after the fact.This was done with the blessing and encouragement of Arten and Pursah, and some of their instructions to me are included in these conversations.Thus, this book should be considered a personal project that was both initiated and consistenly guided by them, even in the occasional instances where it is not a literal transcrip of our mettings.

   References to A Course in Miracles, including each chapter'ss introductory quotation, are noted and listed in an Index in the back.Limitless gratitude goes to the Voice of the Course, whose true Identity is discussed herein.

   Deep appreciation also goes to the following people for their many years of helpful conversations and support: Chaitanya York, Eileen Coyne, Dan Stepenuck, Paul D. Renard, PH.D., Karen Renard, Glendon Curtis, Louise Flynt, Ed Jordan, Betty Jordan, Charles Huson, and Sharon Salmon.

   Finally, although I am not affiliated with them, I would like to take this opportunity to extend my sincere thanks to Gloria and Kenneth Wapnick, Ph.D., founders of the Foundation for A Course in Miracles in Temecula, California, upon whose work much of this book is based. The reader will see that my visiors suggested I should also become a student of the Wapnicks' teachings, and this book cannot help but reflect all of my learning experiences.

 

   [The ideas represented herein are the personal interpretation and understanding of the author and are not necessarily endorsed by the copyright holder of A Course in Miracles]

                                                      

                                                                  Gary R. Renard

  

 

   When Gary Renard contacted me about getting a professional assessment of the manuscript that would become this book, my initial responses were perfectly sensible. First, when Gary told me that his manuscript was 150,000 words long, I told him that no publisher in his right mind would produce such a book in one volume. He'd either have to split it into two books, or better yet, have it edited down into one manageable project uner 100,000 words. That much I could tell him without even seeing the manuscript.

   Gary said he didn't think that either approach was possible with what he'd written, but he'd think about it. In the meantime, would I take a look at this project, I largely comprising a series of extended conversations with two "ascended masters"?

   That's when I had my second perfectly sensible response, which I didn't share with Gary: Oh, no, I thought, another long-winded manifesto of spiritual claptrap written by some poor sap who thinks the voices in his head are manifestations of something divine. In almost two decades of working as a journalist, reviewer, editor, and publisheher in the field of alternative spirituality, I had seen more piles of such dreck than I cared to remember. I couldn't help but recall a quote from St. Jokn of the Cross, complaining of deluded scribes in his own day:" This happens very commonly, and many persons are greatly deceived by it, thinking they have attained to a high degree of prayer and are receiving communications from God. Wherefore, they either write this down or cause it to be written, and it turns out to be nothing, and to have the substance of no virtue, and it serves only to encourage them in vanity."

   But this Renard fellow was willing to pay for a full critique of his work; that got him on my good side. I'd learned from writing scores of literary assessments that one can always find something helpful to  say about a writer's work, some kind of "constructive criticism" that will do more than encourage an aspiring author's vanity. I said sure, he could send me his wannable-book and I'd do a courteous and thorough examination.

   I was not far into this manuscript befor I was glad I hadn't shared my second, private response with Gary, because that meant I wouldn't have to eat my words. As bizarre as his story appeared on the surface, it was nonetheless surprisingly  readable, even captivating. The conversations that Gary had recored with his unexpected and most unusual spiritual instructors, Arten and Pursah were smart, funny, and free of the unctuous pseudo-profundity that I'd come to expect from so-called channeled material. Moreover, the work did not seem to do much in the way of encouraging Gary's vanity. In fact, his otherworldly companions ribbed him mercilessly about being a slacker and a smart ass, although they also gave him a lot of caring encouragement about the spiritual discipline in which they were urging him along.

   Readers will soon discover that this discipline is the on known to millions worldwide through the mordern spiritual guidebook called A Course in Miracles(ACIM). No doubt Gary contacted me because of my published work regarding the Course, including The Complete Story of the Course, a journalistic overview of this theaching's history, chief teachers and popularizers, as well as its critics and a few controversies it has spawned. It was also possible that Gary contacted me because he had an unconscious recognition of our psychological similarities. While I am by no means a slacker lilke Mr. Renard, I've certainly got my share of smart-ass tendencies.

   As a supplemental teaching guide of Course principles, Gary's manuscript had another remarkable characteristic: It was absolutely uncompromising in its commitment to ACIM's spiritual philosophy of " pure non-dualism" and its inwardly activist creed of forgiveing, forgiving, and then more forgiving until forgiveness becomes a 24-7 habit of mind. While there have been a handful of every successful books relying on Course principles for their primary appeal, the most popular ones have also been the most diluted, and often blended with more palatable notions of the New Age and self-help variety. I was impressed to see that Gary's manuscript stayed true to both the hardcore metaphysics and the exacting mind-training discipline of the Course, usually in no uncertain terms.Whatever they were and wherever they came from, Arten and Pursah were clearly not shills for the latest vapid Enlightenment-in-a-Weekened workshop.

   Thus, as I read through the manuscript for the first time, I was beginning to fell that it deserved publication after all-but it had even greater odds stacked against it than I had first estimated. It was indeed too long; it was written in a three-way conversational format that would be a no-no in the yes of most mainstream publishers; and finally, it claimed metaphysical sources that would relegate it to the New Age realm while the text was too tough-minded for some of that audience.

   As my professional concern shifted from providing Gary with an assessment of his manuscript to helping him find a publisher, I realized that I could not think of a single house, large or small, that would take on this project and resist the very practical urge to slice it, dice it, and "mainstream" it. Gary's communications made it clear that he sought a publisher who would preserve this work in its entirety, maintaining both its format and its thematic consistency. I was inclined to think that any publisher who would take on such a manuscript as this, by a completely unknown author, really should have his head examined.

   That's when I realized I was going to publish it.

   There's more than a little irony in that decision because I don't even believe in ascended masters, largely because none has ever popped up in my admittedly narrow filed of vision. Despit the great good that A Coursse in Miracles has brought into my life, I've always felt ambivalent about its own alleged spiritual authorship. As shocking as it may sound to other ACIM students, I'v never much cared whether Jesus Christ had anything to do with it. The authenticity of the Course has been verifiied for me because it works, creating positive and dramatic change in my life and the lives of many others whom I've met and interviewed-- but not because it purports to have a divin source. In this sentiment, I'm actually in harmony with Arten and Pursah, who repeatedly remind Gary in this book that it's always the innate truth of the message that counts, not the specialness of the messengers.

   Oddly enough, the message of this book came to me at precisely the right time to reinvigorate my own study of the Course. As I read through Gary's manuscript, I kept thinking, oh, that's what it was all about and I'd forgotten that and Forgiveness--I wonder if that  really works?

   By the time I came to the close of the manuscript, I realized that it was functioning for me just as Gary's teachers intended if for him and future readers: as a rousing refresher course in the spirituality of the future. I put it that way because, despite the rapid growth of its audience since its pullication in 1976, A Course in Miracles still has a comparatively small following, and I think it's likeky to stay that way for generations. Its metaphysics are just too different from  what most of the world believes, and its transformative discipline is  far too demanding, for it to become the basis of a mass spiritual movement for a long time. Yet as Gary's teachers predict. I sense that such a time will eventually arrive.

   While the Course can sound absolutist and unyielding, one of its saving graces is that it claims to be only on version of a "universal curriculum,"  generally endorsing the world's other spiritual and psychological paths for their innate wisdom. It does assert, however, that the serious student will progress along this path faster than by any other method. As a spiritual pragmatist, I appreciate that selling point.

   In fact, the Course periodically drops the heavy-handed hint that recognizing and fulfilling one's forgiveness tasks will save" thousands of years" in the process of spiritual development. Since I've never put a lot of stock in reincarnation, I don't quiet know what to make of that. I have had the uncanny sensation of being saved much future suffering by decisions that I've made under the influence of ACIM--decisions that involved the release of habitual resentment, debilitating anger, and self-limiting fear.

   Before I encountered the Course, I was decidedly not on a path toward such a sublime and activist wisdom. I ran into that peculiar blue book when I needed it the most, and I'm happy to report that I am not the only who has benefited from my seemingly chance meeting with a miraculous teaching. I'm certain that I would not have reached thousands of readers in a useful way whith my  own books had I not undertaken the Course discipline.

   In fact I felt the unmistakable influence of the Course in deciding to publish the first edition of this book and it wasn't long before it became clear that all the risks this manuscript had presented were well worth taking. the book rapidly found a devoted audience among thousands of Course students, as well as spiritual seekers not yet familiar with ACIM. After one year under the Fearless Books imprint, this project found its way to Hay House, a larger independent press with unsurpassed credentials in contemporary spirituality--and with both enthusiasm and the means to take this book to the next step in worldwide distribution. Gary and I are greatful for the generosity and unusual flexibility of his new publisher, who agreed immediately that this book should remain in the same form  as the original edition, with no changes in the content, style, or impact of the provocative teaching it provides.

   This book is not a substitute for A Course in Miracles, but I'm confident that it will serve many as a bracing preview or a radical review of that teaching's fundamental principles. And readers who don't care about the Course may still find much herein to laugh at, argue with, or marvel over. If you're anything like me, you'll discover that this book is not at all what you expect--but it sure is one helluva ride. As Arten and Pursah might say: Have fun!

 

                                                                                                                           D. Patrick Miller

                                                                                                                            Fearless Books

                                                                                                                           September 2004