Exploring A Course in Miracles

In this episode of Exploring A Course in Miracles, Robert and Emily Perry explore one of the Course's most challenging and liberating teachings: love without sacrifice. Drawing especially from Chapter 15 of the Text, this conversation looks at how many of our relationships are quietly shaped by what the Course calls demands for sacrifice. We often believe that love means giving things up for one another—but according to the Course, this pattern can lead to resentment, guilt, hidden anger, and a cycle that keeps both people trapped.
Together, Emily and Robert unpack:
How we unconsciously equate love with sacrifice
Why sacrifice inevitably breeds resentment and guilt
How guilt becomes the hidden currency in our relationships
Why we demand that others not leave us—and what that costs us
How this dynamic shows up in real relationships, including a moving story from the Circle community
The Course's radical alternative: releasing others from our demands so that both can be free
The episode closes with a powerful practice from A Course in Miracles for releasing loved ones from our demands and stepping into relationships grounded in forgiveness rather than control. If you've ever felt burdened by your relationships—or sensed that something called "love" didn't actually feel very loving—this conversation offers a deeply hopeful way forward.
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Since 1993, our purpose has been to help with both the theory and practical application of A Course in Miracles. We are the publisher of the Complete and Annotated Edition of the Course (known as the "CE"), which is available as a revised hardcover*, ebook*, and via Audible.
Our work grows out of our commitment to be as faithful as possible to what A Course in Miracles says, years of dedication to walking this path ourselves, and a desire to see the Course's purpose realized in the lives of students and in the world.
You are invited to download the free ACIM CE App to read, search, or listen to the Course wherever you are in the world, by following the instructions at https://acimce.app/


Whether you are new to ACIM or you've been a student for many years, you are welcome to join our online community and learning platform to access a vast collection of resources designed to help you understand and apply Course teachings in everyday life: https://community.circleofa.org/


To submit a question or suggest a topic for a future podcast episode, please email [email protected].
If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider subscribing and leaving a review, as this will help us reach other listeners. You are also welcome to make a donation to help support our work at circleofa.org/donate.
*Amazon affiliate links

In this Sunday Gathering sermon, "Choosing Love in Violent Times," Emily Perry draws on Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Birth of a New Age" sermon and A Course in Miracles to explore how love, forgiveness, and nonviolence can become powerful tools for personal and social transformation. This message reflects on King's call to reject bitterness, choose redemption over retaliation, and help bring forth a new world grounded in courage, spiritual maturity, and love.
We hope you'll plan to join us for our next Sunday Gathering. Access is included with a Course Companions membership.
___________________________
Since 1993, our purpose has been to help with both the theory and practical application of A Course in Miracles. We are the publisher of the Complete and Annotated Edition of the Course (known as the "CE"), which is available as a revised hardcover*, ebook*, and via Audible.
Our work grows out of our commitment to be as faithful as possible to what A Course in Miracles says, years of dedication to walking this path ourselves, and a desire to see the Course's purpose realized in the lives of students and in the world.
You are invited to download the free ACIM CE App to read, search, or listen to the Course wherever you are in the world, by following the instructions at https://acimce.app/


Whether you are new to ACIM or you've been a student for many years, you are welcome to join our online community and learning platform to access a vast collection of resources designed to help you understand and apply Course teachings in everyday life: https://community.circleofa.org/


To submit a question or suggest a topic for a future podcast episode, please email [email protected].
If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider subscribing and leaving a review, as this will help us reach other listeners. You are also welcome to make a donation to help support our work at circleofa.org/donate.
*Amazon affiliate links

In this Sunday Gathering sermon, Emily Perry explores how A Course in Miracles understands grief and loss and what it offers us when the pain feels overwhelming. Drawing on lived experience, psychological research, and the Course's teachings, Emily examines why grief often comes in waves, how grief differs from depression, why healing does not come from "moving on" but from integrating a new reality, and the Course's radical idea that grief arises not from loss itself but from how loss is interpreted. If you are grieving, walking alongside someone who is, or simply seeking a deeper spiritual understanding of loss, this sermon offers a perspective rooted in the assurance that love is never truly lost.
___________________________
Since 1993, our purpose has been to help with both the theory and practical application of A Course in Miracles. We are the publisher of the Complete and Annotated Edition of the Course (known as the "CE"), which is available as a revised hardcover*, ebook*, and via Audible.
Our work grows out of our commitment to be as faithful as possible to what A Course in Miracles says, years of dedication to walking this path ourselves, and a desire to see the Course's purpose realized in the lives of students and in the world.
You are invited to download the free ACIM CE App to read, search, or listen to the Course wherever you are in the world, by following the instructions at https://acimce.app/


Whether you are new to ACIM or you've been a student for many years, you are welcome to join our online community and learning platform to access a vast collection of resources designed to help you understand and apply Course teachings in everyday life: https://community.circleofa.org/


To submit a question or suggest a topic for a future podcast episode, please email [email protected].
If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider subscribing and leaving a review, as this will help us reach other listeners. You are also welcome to make a donation to help support our work at circleofa.org/donate.
*Amazon affiliate links

In this episode of Exploring A Course in Miracles, Emily & Robert Perry sit down with New York Times bestselling author and Sirius XM host John Fugelsang to explore his insightful new book, Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person's Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds*. 
John has spent years unpacking how the teachings of Jesus have been distorted by Christian nationalism—and why reclaiming Jesus' message of love, justice, and human dignity is more urgent than ever. Along the way, there is a reflection on the surprising overlap between John's biblical insights and the message of A Course in Miracles—especially the emphasis on refusing to meet hatred with more hatred.

___________________________
Since 1993, our purpose has been to help with both the theory and practical application of A Course in Miracles. We are the publisher of the Complete and Annotated Edition of the Course (known as the "CE"), which is available as a revised hardcover*, ebook*, and via Audible.
Our work grows out of our commitment to be as faithful as possible to what A Course in Miracles says, years of dedication to walking this path ourselves, and a desire to see the Course's purpose realized in the lives of students and in the world.
You are invited to download the free ACIM CE App to read, search, or listen to the Course wherever you are in the world, by following the instructions at https://acimce.app/


Whether you are new to ACIM or you've been a student for many years, you are welcome to join our online community and learning platform to access a vast collection of resources designed to help you understand and apply Course teachings in everyday life: https://community.circleofa.org/


To submit a question or suggest a topic for a future podcast episode, please email [email protected].
If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider subscribing and leaving a review, as this will help us reach other listeners. You are also welcome to make a donation to help support our work at circleofa.org/donate.
*Amazon affiliate links

As a new year approaches, many of us feel a deep longing for a true fresh start—not just a change in circumstances, but a real release from the past. In this sermon, given on December 28, we explore a powerful and often overlooked teaching from A Course in Miracles: how entering the holy instant can give birth to a year of genuine joy and freedom.
Drawing from the final sections of Chapter 15, this talk reframes Christmas and the New Year as the "time of Christ"—a time not only for reflection, but for profound inner change. At the heart of this change is a radical idea: that freedom comes from releasing others from our hidden demands for sacrifice.
___________________________
Since 1993, our purpose has been to help with both the theory and practical application of A Course in Miracles. We are the publisher of the Complete and Annotated Edition of the Course (known as the "CE"), which is available as a revised hardcover*, ebook*, and via Audible.
Our work grows out of our commitment to be as faithful as possible to what A Course in Miracles says, years of dedication to walking this path ourselves, and a desire to see the Course's purpose realized in the lives of students and in the world.
You are invited to download the free ACIM CE App to read, search, or listen to the Course wherever you are in the world, by following the instructions at https://acimce.app/


Whether you are new to ACIM or you've been a student for many years, you are welcome to join our online community and learning platform to access a vast collection of resources designed to help you understand and apply Course teachings in everyday life: https://community.circleofa.org/


To submit a question or suggest a topic for a future podcast episode, please email [email protected].
If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider subscribing and leaving a review, as this will help us reach other listeners. You are also welcome to make a donation to help support our work at circleofa.org/donate.
*Amazon affiliate links