Book Review: Long Time No See | A Course in Miracles Explained

Long Time No See is the personal memoir of Carrie Triffet, 54 year-old American designer, artist and marketing consultant, and her spiritual journey which leads her from being born into an orthodox Jewish family, to Nichiren Buddhism (read: Buddhism with lots of chanting), and finally to the nondual spiritual path we know as A Course in Miracles. Long Time No See is a casual, lighthearted read, written in a style which is highly reflective of the author: conversational, oddball, irreverent and funny. Being a nerd, geek and knowledge freak, I have an entire bookshelf just dedicated to ACIM books. ACIM books tend to be very serious and very intellectual. (Life, Death, and Love: Shakespeare?s Great Tragedies and A Course in Miracles anybody?) While getting serious and deep into the real guts of the ego is absolutely necessary, we all need a break sometime. I sure did. I finished Long Time No See in 2 sittings and felt happy and re-inspired.?

In a ?strange? way, (the ?strangeness? that is becoming to be more and more common these days for me), Long Time No See reached me at just the right time. There were so many lessons and so many truths in the book that I really needed to be reminded of, specifically about writing (eg. what will other people think, self-doubt) and money, which are issues Carrie herself goes through.

Carrie?s book is a great narrative of what it is like to ?hear? Spirit?s voice ? which even long time students and dare I say, many ACIM teachers do not do. Or just pay lip service to. (I fess up ? my connection with Spirit is rather spotty ? sometimes it?s crystal clear, ie. I just ?download? an entire chunk of information / message that I no absolutely no doubt it?s from the Holy Spirit, and sometimes I doubt even having that connection at all) I feel that having this connection is something truly important, so that ACIM does not become theory. A lot of ACIM students are into their ?head? space a lot -?intellectualizing, theorizing,?hypothesizing, etc. Listening to one?s?intuition / Higher Self / Holy Spirit?is?just the opposite. Jesus? voice is not just in the text ? it is a real ?voice? which ALL of us can connect to.

Also of worthy mention is Carrie?s brief summary of ACIM in her own words: The Crash Course. I thought it was excellent.

There are so many bits which I love, but I?m going to highlight three excerpts from the book, to show you what her style is like. The first is on writing, the second on abundance, and the last (and best) about a personal epiphany while hiding cheese in her purse. LOL. Spirit?s voice is highlighted in grey and italics.

1. On writing the book:

Agree to take this leap of faith and trust, dear one. As the process unfolds you?ll understand what to write and how to write it.

?There?s no way I?m ready. What if I misunderstand You and tell people the wrong things? I wouldn?t even know the difference. No. I should wait and get enlightened first so I can be sure I?m passing Your messages along correctly??

So what you?re saying is: You can?t write until you?re enlightened, because if you?re not enlightened, you can?t hear Me clearly?

?Wait, what? No!?

Your enlightenment is not a prerequisite for this task. Will you trust in Me when I tell you that now really is the appropriate time for you to begin writing books? I would not lie to you, My love.

?I want to agree, really I do??

But you won?t agree yet.

?No, not yet. I just can?t. But I will, I promise.?

When?

?Soon.?

I felt myself enveloped then in a gentle embrace that blurred away the edges of time and space. I relaxed for a moment in its quiet safety, even as my feet kept running.

The truth is, you?ve already agreed, My love. The books are already written ?

I moved quickly, though not quickly enough, to slam the door on the frightening end of that sentence. Like a faraway sigh on the breeze I heard it: And they?ve already helped more people than you can imagine.

I stopped the treadmill in a daze. Suddenly I noticed what I?d been staring at blindly throughout the conversation. A stark white logo on the treadmill?s black base, in huge extrabold letters it said: TRUE

In the shower, the following morning:

?Ok. All right. I?ll agree to write books now. Jeez. I?ll need You to tell me exactly what to write, though. Nobody will buy me posing as the spiritual know-it-all, offering shiny pearls of self-help to all the people of the world.?

So don?t be the big spiritual know-it-all. Be yourself, write about your own journey in your own words. And I?ll do the rest.

Write about my own journey. So this wasn?t supposed to be a spiritual self-help book after all. It would be an autobiography? A tell-all memoir?

Holy crap. Goodbye to life as a regular person; hello, woo-woo laughing stock. Well, maybe it?d be ok. Maybe no one would ever read the damned thing. But that would defeat the purpose wouldn?t it?

Well, I?d just have to learn to live with public ridicule, then.

This was going to take some work.

Pg. 228-229

2. On abundance:

You fear lack, yet you also fear prosperity. In your egoic perception, lack and prosperity are equally intolerable states, for both are quite painful to you.

The subject of money holds great anxiety and unconscious discomfort for you. Money is not inherently dangerous, and its purpose is not to lull you into a false sense of security before yanking the rug out from under your feet. Money is only a neutral symbol of Heaven?s limitless abundance, and its sole purpose is to flow effortlessly and without restriction.

Abundance is not something you need to go out and get, My dear, nor is it something that happens to you. Abundance is what you are. It takes a lot of extra effort for you to block the natural flow of abundance in your life, because you must deny you very essence to do so. Yet you do this willingly.

I ask you once again to put your trust in Me instead of the ego mind, for this is the one choice you can make that will restore true abundance to your memory forever.

Pg. 278

3. Carrie tries to hide some cheese (only with ?a little? of mayo on!) in her purse, and has an epiphany:

As I walked around the sad little sandwich buffet to fix myself a meal, all I could think about was: Protein! Give me protein. I hadn?t eaten since Friday night and was beginning to worry about the blood loss. Feeling only marginally hungry, I knew I needed as much fuel as I could manage. So I made a heaping sandwich of processed turkey and American cheese slices, and felt very grateful to have it.

On my way back up in the elevator, heavy purse slung over one shoulder and both hands balancing full, unwieldy cafeteria trays, I suddenly realized: Oh my GOD! I just made myself an un-Kosher meat and cheese sandwich. What the hell was I thinking? I can?t eat this in front of that woman. What am I going to do?

The elevator opened at my floor. I looked around wildly for a place to stash either the meat or the cheese ? she mustn?t find out what I did! ? yet no trashcan was to be found.

Ok then, I?ll hide the cheese in my purse, there?s only a little mayo on it ? I can throw it away after she leaves. Yet I could find no bench to sit on, no place to set down one tray while I tore apart the sandwich on the other.

And while I stood panting at the elevators, drenched in shame and flop-sweat, my Voice calmly observed:

That?s not who you are.

It stopped me in my tracks. In fact, everything in the world seemed to stop for a moment as scenes of my childhood flashed in front of me.

Oh. Yes, I forgot. That?s not who I am.

Although it had only uttered that one statement, a complete set of unspoken concepts seemed to surround it. I knew the Voice was asking me to give up my lifelong dread of the Jewish community?s disapproval; although I?d always obstinately acted the black sheep, fear of being caught breaking their rules had nevertheless remained a powerful source of bitterness and humiliation for me, even as an adult.

I realized I was also being asked to admit the plain truth about myself: I was not, nor had I ever been, a sincere practicing Jew. For better or worse, my spiritual path clearly pointed elsewhere and the time had come to find the courage to stop pretending. But did I really dare be myself in fron of this woman, and openly flout religious law?

I turned around and floated, trance-like, into the hospital room and cafeteria trays intact, and watched myself from a serene distance as I polished off that turkey and cheese sandwich. It tasted mighty good.

And all the while, the very nice lady continued her pleasant and uneventful visit as my daddy slept peacefully on.

Pg. 72

In all, Long Time No See is a breezy, interesting and inspiring read that?s especially great for new ACIM students. If you?re looking for hardcore metaphysics, nitpicky?about Course semantics, and / or have no sense of humor, it?s probably not for you.

Here is a link to Carrie?s website. She has some really good book recommendations too, eg. Anodea Judith,?Barbara Ann Brennan.

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Source: http://acimexplained.com/book-review-long-time-no-see/

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