When we left for overseas this year we were keen to observe what had happened personally to long term students of the Course. Had anyone been able to "learn now, without despair, there is no hope of answer in this world" T-31.1V.4. and still be happy here?
The discovery that this entire universe is illusionary and not created by God has affected many religions differently. The Gnostics's way of dealing with it was to suggest we should hate the world. As a result many felt no need to conform to accepted standards irrespective of whether our actions here seemed to hurt others in form, at least.
Jesus in A Course in Miracles® advocates a very different pathway. He tells us that through forgiveness of what others only seemed to do, we could learn to see the world through the eyes of love. Eventually he promises we will see nothing else.
There were lots of questions. How is it that some people already have forgiving natures although they have never heard of A Course in Miracles®? They go about their lives accepting others, never condemning, just teaching love where ever they happen to be. I was not in that category, and am grateful for having A Course in Miracles® in my life, if only as a tool to help me become like those people who didn't need it.
Pam once explained to a workshop group "Doing the text is learning the recipes, but doing the workbook is getting into the kitchen doing the cooking." Another question I was asking myself was "Are many of us reading the recipes over and over again, analysing the ingredients but not spending enough time in the kitchen actually doing the cooking?"

One of the most rewarding lessons we learned on our trip occurred at the beginning and end of our stay in the US and revolved around long time students Jack and Layle Luckett now living in Hawaii.
We first met them 10 years ago at a regular Miracle meeting in La Jolla, California, they had been holding meetings in their home for two hours at lunch time, every day, 365 days a year, for six years. At their request we later staged a 14 day intensive for them in our Newport home, which turned out to be a big success. We have always kept in regular touch ever since and spent time with them in Australia and Hawaii on several occasions over the years

On this last trip in July, they arranged for us to stay in the same building on the floor below their unit. They lovingly gave up all of their time to escort us around for the whole 10 days we spent in Honolulu, giving us the opportunity of closely observing them perform their roles as 'urban monks' (Their description of what they do.) They were no longer teaching A Course in Miracles® as a form, barely mentioning it except when we were alone together. Layle explained that once they stopped their intensives around the world and settled permanently in Hawaii, they were free of the need to control people and events any more in their workshops.

They could just teach by example to every brother they came in contact with.
The routine was one they have perfected for many years. Layle would act as an icebreaker and offer everyone they met a coloured heart from a roll she always carried. Jack always by her side would move in to offer a warm greeting. I realised that they were totally committed to teach love every second of the day, and they never missed an opportunity to talk to every person they came in contact with. It wasn't just an insincere transitory greeting, but they seemed to take genuine interest in whoever they were talking to, more as if they were greeting a long time friend rather than a stranger they had never met. Jack Luckett once said to a group in our home, "It helps to hang out with 'God minded' people" Here we were, doing just that!
To us it became infectious. Just being with them was enough for us to see this love around us as well.
To emphasise this lesson I was learning we had a confirming experience on the latter part of our US journey. We had hired a car in Washington and were driving down Maryland on our way to North Carolina to meet Kellie Love, narrator of the audio version of ACIM (1st edition) when we stopped off for a bite to eat at a Hardies restaurant. While we were eating our food we noticed a cheery middle aged black couple sitting by the door at the table next to ours. They were constantly laughing as they greeted everyone coming in or going out of the restaurant.
We looked at each other and simultaneously we recognised their 'game'. This was Jack and Layle in different form! Admittedly the wife didn't use Layle's sticking on a heart routine' but her husband did have on a Hawaiian shirt in a state about as far away from Hawaii as you can get and still be in the US, so the similarity was not lost on us. We asked if we could sit at their table and engaged them in conversation, which wasn't difficult, as this is what they do. I asked did they do this all the time and they answered "Yes, every day, morning afternoon and evening, we sit here and greet people:" When asked how people reacted they replied that almost everybody responded with a smile. Now and again there were 'grouches' they explained but that didn't dampen their enthusiasm or deter them from extending their friendly greeting one iota.
I wondered whether at some level they understood that brothers who were feeling separate and alone, might appear grouchy but were really calling for love. We asked another customer leaving the restaurant to take our photo, which he did. Unfortunately the backlighting was too strong and we all ended up with black faces.
We thought that itself very interesting, as our individual images had became as one, when seen with the light behind us.
What did I learn from our long trip away? I am still processing it all but both Pam and I learned much about ourselves. When our minds were depressed, we saw depressing things around us. When our mind was in a more loving state that was what we witnessed.
Maybe the world isn't ready for too many extroverted Jack and Layle Lucketts with their set formula but it works for them. As the name suggests a formula is just a form and it is the content that matters.
The world is ready for teachers of God who can teach love in the most appropriate way to everyone that they meet, recognizing that they are, like them, part of God's Sonship.

"Teachers of God are not perfect, or they would not be here. Yet it is their mission to become perfect here, and so they teach perfection over and over, in many, many ways, until they have learned it." Introduction in the Manual for Teachers.
The time spent with the Lucketts, reinforced to us, that the form we use to teach love doesn't matter and that being a Teacher of God has nothing to do with teaching others what the Course is saying or how we should study it's teachings.

"From your demonstration others learn, and so do you. The question is not whether you will teach, for in that there is no choice. The purpose of the course might be said to provide you with a means of choosing what you want to teach on the basis of what you want to learn." Introduction in the Manual for Teachers.

Sometimes all our brother needs is a smile rather than a lecture on the Course.

Bill McDonald