Issue #100
What’s New in July 2023
Featured Article
The Embrace: Continuing the Dialogue
By Glenn Hovemann
Dear readers of The Embrace, even though I’ve been publishing this little newsletter for almost eight years, this is the very first time I’ve written for it. Not because I’m shy or have nothing to say. But because it’s intended to be a way for YOU, our spiritually-alive readers, to share your inspiration arising from A Course of Love (ACOL) or Choose Only Love (CHOL).
This newsletter doesn’t teach anything, it’s about sharing. I think of it as a dialogue of inspired voices. And just consider the variety!
- “Depression, Acceptance & Transformation” by our late dear friend Douwe vanderZee from South Africa.
- Paula Hardin’s “Wild Ride” upon discovering ACOL.
- Sebastián Blaksley’s “Miracles in Buenos Aires,” how ACOL came to him.
- Miguel Carvalho’s “My Greatest Experience—Ever,” a revelation received during a conference call dialogue.
When I discovered ACOL in March, 2013, I knew, from my 35-year association with A Course in Miracles, that Mari Perron had received a spiritual masterpiece from Jesus—a continuation into the spiritual territory begun in ACIM. Mari had been self-publishing ACOL in three volumes for quite a few years when she asked me to publish it. I did so beginning September, 2014, as a single “combined” volume.
A “normal” thing to do to promote a spiritual book would be to launch a series of seminars, create a certificate program, or even ordain ministers. But ACOL is far from normal! It’s fundamentally about sharing inspiration through dialogue. And so I launched The Embrace as a place for readers to share inspiration. Mari was willing to write for the inaugural issue in October, 2015. She wrote about how to live simultaneously as humanity and divinity. You can read it in full here. She began,
A Course of Love asks us to enter new territory. The territory of conscious awareness. This territory is not only the territory of the heart, but of feelings beyond the ordinary senses. . . . I like to speak of these sensations—these “thoughts we don’t think”—as feeling states.
“Thoughts we don’t think”? Mari had put her finger on a central aspect of living in Christ-consciousness. We might call this kind of thinking “wholeheartedness” or “the art of thought.” It’s a particular attitude of heart that integrates mind and heart. Thoughts we don’t think come to us through our direct relationship with God. And merging into a direct relationship with God is at the core of both ACOL and CHOL. (CHOL, received by Sebastián Blaksley, was published by Take Heart in seven volumes beginning in 2019).
Reading spiritual books like these is a powerful start, but they cannot fully quench our hunger and thirst. We ask, “What is next?” In ACOL Jesus answers that question. Your next step, he says, is “to create in community, in dialogue, in commitment and togetherness. You are to be the living Covenant of the New.”
Notice particularly the word “dialogue,” a key word that Jesus uses around 168 times in ACOL and 106 times in CHOL. What is “dialogue”? Please don’t think of a dialogue as a “conversation.” Rather, it’s an active form of giving and receiving from the well of spirit. Dialogue becomes possible through a direct relationship with God.
The Embrace newsletter is a form of dialogue. But even more important, it’s been a catalyst for hundreds of dialogue groups worldwide. That’s where the real action is—both in-person and online, folks coming together to dip into the well of spirit, and sharing. It’s transformational!
Jesus asks us in ACOL, in the strongest possible way, to join in dialogue:
Bring your voice to this continuing dialogue. This is all that is asked of you. This is the gift you have been given and the gift you bring the world: your own voice, the voice of Who You Are. . . . It is what will usher in the new and change the world. It cannot be accomplished without you.
In CHOL Jesus speaks constantly of dialogue:
Listen with joy. This is a direct dialogue between your enamored soul and its mother, the mother of love. It is the perfect dialogue between you and me, a dialogue of love and truth. . . . Through our dialogues, the world becomes more and more illuminated. Heaven extends to Earth through this holy relationship.
Merely by reading this newsletter you are bringing your voice, your energy, and your spirit to a continuing dialogue, a relationship with love and truth. Whether you realize it or not, you are broadcasting the voice of love, for that is what you are. Please don’t underestimate the power of your consciousness! Your part in creating the New is essential. Thank you for playing your part, in your own unique way.
I wish to acknowledge and thank Rodrigo and Budhi, who for over a year have sensibly handled publication of The Embrace and have given it a new look and fresh content. I am deeply grateful.
I was born in the City of New York, but I’m really a country boy, for my heart loves nature. I co-founded a rural intentional community in 1972. After our first child was born, Muffy and I left and I went to law school and practiced law; but after a few years, I felt, for the first time ever, that the firm was not where I needed to be. We moved to Ananda, a large and more explicitly spiritual community where we lived for seven good years until certain discomforts and limitations led us to move to nearby Nevada City, CA. Muffy and I published beautiful books about nature for children. Then something unexpected happened: the universe presented me with the remarkable opportunity to publish two spiritual masterpieces, A Course of Love and the seven-volume Choose Only Love, through our company Take Heart Publications. It’s been a huge gift—and has kept me very busy!
Thank you, Glenn, for being who you are!
I love what you invite us to see —
” ‘What is dialogue’? Please don’t think of a dialogue as a ‘conversation.’ Rather, it’s an active form of giving and receiving from the well of spirit. Dialogue becomes possible through a direct relationship with God.”
ACOL, D:11 “The Return to Unity and the End of Thought As You Know It” is one of my favorites.
It’s always been a powerful pointer for me to “dialogue.”
The phrase “well of spirit” is used seven times.
When reading it, I can Feel its essence coming through beyond the words.
It flows, free of complexity. Inner clarity arising within a wholeness.
And so, an invitation to what is possible in aligning with the true Self (“a direct relationship with God” as you write), whole❤️hearted sharing, giving & receiving from the well of spirit — the shared consciousness of Unity. 🙏
Dear Lynn, I sure do appreciate your comment. You are a perfect example of dedication to dialogue and giving and receiving from the well of spirit.
Thank you Glen! Nice to hear your ‘voice’ and grateful for all the hard work you put into this lovely newsletter.
blessings,
michael
Ah Michael, You know all about hard work — and joyful sharing. Thanks for sharing.
🙏🤗❤️🔥😍
🌹🌹
Glenn, Rodrigo and Budhi, you have my undying gratitude for sharing this gift.
And thank you, Glenn, for lifting up the nature of dialogue–how we can participate in stillness and silence.
You’ve helped me connect some dots. I’ve finally taken Mirari off my shelf where it was for years. And I love the passage about the Creation of the New happening like a mist or fog that comes and its coming is unnoticed until it has arrived, been established. So gentle and inconspicuous and powerful and subtle. And I wonder if this metaphor also applies to dialog. Maybe Mary has told Mari something that applies not only to the Creation of the New but also to the nature of dialogue.
All my love to each of you, Elliott
Thanks dear Elliott. As you might say, I belong to you.
Thank you for the gift you are to my world and the world.
Savannah, I appreciate your comment, and it reflects you — your gift to the world: your candor, your dedication to truth, and your willingness (and considerable talent) in sharing.
Glenn, Thanks so very much for sharing your Voice, your background, and your role in the amazing work of ACOL/Choose Only Love and other pathways of our transformation in and through Love. Thank you for your dedication in choosing to listen to and follow the Voice. Your inspiration and leadership is manna to our hearts. Blessing and Love, Jo
Hi dear Jo, your sweet comment is like a refreshing dew — and manna to my heart!
We appreciate you SO much.
Thank you for all of your sharing, including this inspiring account of your personal journey.
Thank you for this gift of brotherhood and the reminders of our shared and beautiful essence.
Thank you for your well-played part in bringing the Love of God, the unfailing help of the Holy Spirit, and the devotion of Jesus into our conscious awareness.
Oh, Kathy, talk about “inspiring accounts of your personal journey,” you were led to A Course of Love miraculously, and have reached out to thousands of folks over many years, sharing the joy of truth you feel in it. And talk about “your well-played part”! Thank you dear Kathy for your example life.
Glenn, I feel inspired by your commitment to spirit and the opening of dialogues. Your generosity and light gives us courage and hope.
Thank you for your these gifts and your loving presence.
Michael, I appreciate the clarity of light you are.