Australian Dreamer!

30 odd years ago I was walking past a church hall in Cairns Australia with my young wife; we were newly weds and excited about our future in the tropical paradise of Northern Queensland. Posted on the flapping wooden door of the church hall was a tattered piece of paper with the word "Miracles" emblazoned across it. There were dates and times for meeting so I made a note to turn up to see the miracles, I thought it was going to be some sort of magic show.

We turned up at the appointed time for the event and filed in to the hall, it was a very simple scene, a center isle with church hall chairs arranged in neat row on either side. There was a long thin table facing the audience that had been covered by a green table cloth with chairs behind it.

We all sat down and before long a procession of very well dressed people walked into the hall from somewhere behind the stage. They were all Americans; the ladies had very big hair and wore enough make-up to paint all of Cairns.

"This is a Course in Miracles" one of the ladies said, she held up a blue book with a gold embossed cover. I had no idea what a miracle really was and here was a Course in them, we listened to the talk and became more confused but these strange people from far across the sea had sparked something in many of those gathered in that rickety church hall. We bought two copies of the course, (in those days it came as a three volume set) and we went back to our tiny apartment and started to read.

It was confusing, the language was Christian and yet it wasn't like any form of Christianity I'd ever witnessed. We joined a study group, there was a lot of discussion and very little actual reading of the Course, I was still looking at the material from the perspective of how it affected other people's lives.

Soon we began the Workbook for Students, much happened during those first years with the Course. I had regular fights with the person who ran that group about interpretations and finally he kicked me from his group. I was still not using the Course personally so that event woke me up a little.

We had a couple of kids and moved around a bit all the while getting deeper into the Course, it became our strength and through the application of the daily Lessons we began to see the world and ourselves in a completely different way.

Eventually we moved South to NSW, we bought a house and made new friends, everything was going alone fine and then I became ill. I had a stroke at age 35 and it devastated everyone, my recovery was slow and we had to move to the coast into a house that was more appropriate to my new abilities. I was quite disabled by the stroke and it wasn't long before that, along with certain other difficulties overwhelmed the marriage.

We decided to split, it was for the best and we parted friends, soon there was talk of an A Course in Miracles Center opening in the town. I got involved and worked as much as I was able towards the opening; it was a very exciting time.

Finally the day came, we opened the Byron Bay Miracles Center, we offered daily sessions where various members taught, we had evening readings and a small community was born. I learned that the center had been inspired by an American Academy; members of the Academy would come down under and teach, I was very impressed with them.

Soon it became obvious that I was going to America to study at the Academy, everything worked out perfectly including that someone paid for my airfare and gave me money to pay my tuition and live on for a few months. It was a miracle!

I arrived in America and got settled into the Academy, it was strange, not at all laid back like Australia and I never really settled into life or the routine there. I persisted for seven years, I felt good that I was with like minds but I also felt cornered in that there seemed to be no place left in the world for me, other than the Academy.

Then something wonderful happened, I was given a copy of "Disappearance of the Universe" an outstanding book about the Course. It was like a wake up call, I had understood the Course yet until I got my hands on this book my understanding had laid dormant in me. I had been trying to use my understanding to understand the world and that had not worked at all.

With the new information in DU and a happy refrain I left the Academy for Mexico. I live here still and I am so excited about my life, my writing, A Course in Miracles and just living quietly in Mexico. There is nothing I want from this world, but I have everything to give, I love people and sharing what I have come to understand about A Course in Miracles.