Over thirty years ago, (in 1975) this writer experienced what is usually described as an out-of-body experience. I’d felt several other mystical experiences in the past but this particular time was different. It was coupled with an sensation of Being everything in the general vicinity, including the room, the atmosphere outside the window and the air between. It also included the trees directly outside and the plants and grass and the slight breeze and even the sunlight. I felt as if I were One with everything.

Unlike the typical associations usually ascribed to these kinds of experiences, there was no sensation of what is called an "astral body" but rather, an awareness that "I" was expanding to include everything. While seeming to float away from the body, the sensation was accompanied by a succession of "sounds" which were as three distinctive notes in progressive scale, like "do-re-me" but each note up the scale of the octave was as if all of the instruments in all of the orchestras all over the world were playing in unparalleled harmony. The experience lasted only a few short minutes before very slowly and carefully returning me to the body, leaving me dumb-founded and awe-stricken.

The experience was completely sudden and quite unexpected and more, it came even void of any previous point of reference, that is, never having been a "seeker" or a student of the divine, in this lifetime, it came as if liken to the cart before the horse, from which I would begin a life-long search for knowledge and the Source for the experience.

It came immediately after a day filled with apathy and despair, and after long hours of begging for help. It came after a period of Thankfulness and Gratitude for having been delivered from a particularly dangerous situation, rescued from certain demise to safety. The experience was so undeniable and so powerful (while gentle and all Loving) it left an indelible effect that would forever question the validity of the ego and the urgency to seek out the real source for All and Everything.

When this writer's search began in 1975, much of the material, books and information currently enjoyed and studied by seekers everywhere, wasn't available. Much of it wasn't even conceived or published and many modern day teachers were unknown. And while some of the writers and authors I studied became the subjects of questionable controversy and even dispute, this writer is convinced that ALL authentic teachings are, in their own ways, important and valuable contributions.

Keeping in mind that judgment of any kind strengthens the ego’s identification with the liner world of form, it is the intention to weed through the variety of teachings and seek only the Truth. "Take what you can use and leave the rest." And while reasonable attention should be paid to the validity of each, understanding that much exploitation exists within the realms of the multi-million dollar business of "spiritual seeking," a rule of thumb to remember is that real Truth exists within, obscured only by the false personality/ego and its consistent and tenacious tendency to control.

The message in Gary R. Renard’s The End of Reincarnation rings with a deep resounding purity of Truth and finally sheds light on all of the answers any serious student seeks. It's also, in the opinion of this writer, the clearest introduction into ACIM.
Joe Wolfe, author of "Letter To A Prisoner", host of AcimLive.com

Transcribing the original audio CD version, published by Sounds True

It was almost thirty years to the month of that fateful mystical experience, when I was first introduced to Gary R. Renard’s works. I hosted a small book study group (that goes on to this day) in the Chicago area, that is attended by like-minded people from all walks of life and who all share a distinct urgency to find the answers to the questions we all entertain regarding personal spiritual development and the truths about God.

Initially inspired by the books of Neale Donald Walsch and his Conversations with God series, our group eventually examined many other authors and grew to find valid contributions from such writers as Wayne Dyer, Dr. David Hawkins, Jerry and Esther Hicks, Eckhart Toole, Don Miguel Ruiz, James R. Redfield and a host of other integrious writers and authors too many to list here.

Of these valuable contributors I personally gravitated toward two with a very special interest, because of their consistency of authenticity and the unmistakable feeling that herein lies the Truth.

Dr. David R. Hawkins and his Power vs. Force, followed by a series of remarkable books, served as the "scientific" approach to understanding the nature of Enlightenment and Salvation. His are works I would highly recommend for any serious student. The second, and star of the show, was Gary R. Renard and his introduction into A Course In Miracles through his Disappearance of the Universe and Your Immortal Reality.

Early in the summer of 2006, Steve Cooper, a musician and regular attendee of our group gave me his copy of Gary R. Renard’s workshop CD on The End of Reincarnation. This was some time after Anne Marie Faje , Denise Darcy and Steffani Fort, also part of the regular nucleus of group members had shared with me, their suggestions to read Gary’s books.

Gary’s message completely blew me away. This is what I had been searching for. This was the final culmination of the many years of the gathering of information through reading and study, and eventually discovering the tools with which to apply an effective disciplined application of knowledge that would lead to experience. This was practical theory and application and I embraced it with the fever of discovering a treasure map.

So almost every day from the early summer in 2006 until the time of this writing, I read Gary’s books and listened to his CD on The End of Reincarnation. I started to study A Course in Miracles, which I’d had in my possession for some time, but rarely ventured into until after absorbing Gary’s works. Gary’s clear and concise introduction into ACIM was like someone had turned on the lights and helped to simplify the sometimes difficult to read or understand text in ACIM.

Many months went by and I continued to listen to the CD over and over again, and with every passing day, the message became clearer and clearer. Then one day an idea, a flash of inspiration overwhelmed me. I wanted to have a text version of The End of Reincarnation that I could share through personal delivery with my own group. I wanted to send it to prisoners, and people who had no access to CD players. I wanted to deliver it to those who couldn’t afford the money to buy the more expensive audio versions. I also envisioned reading aloud the message, in person, to various groups.

But after serious inquiry I learned that there was no text version available. None had been created and so, after some weeks of pondering over the idea, I decided to do it myself. I made the decision to transcribe, word for word, the entire workshop audio version into a readable text that almost anyone could access.

I was more than half completed with my new task before I even asked for permission from Gary, who owns the copyright and Sounds True who owns the print rights. But as if preordained and with complete support for the project, Gary exuberantly granted my request to finish the transcription as did the wonderful people at Sounds True.

So I continued on with new vigor, delighted with my new found freedom to finish the project as quickly as I could. Very soon I began to realize that the task I had set for myself was not going to be easy. Working with a twenty dollar CD player that was old and sometimes unreliable, I spent hours every day between pauses and stops and starts, while struggling to write down every word verbatim.

Gary has this wonderful gift of speech delivery that sometimes crams twenty words into two seconds, so it was a little like micro surgery to separate and verify each sentence with accuracy. That, along with the fact that I couldn’t read my own writing and was forced to print it out in longhand made the entire project slow going and very tedious. But it was a great labor of Love and I’m deeply honored to be on this path and to be a part of making this message available in this format.

Now it is sent on a regular basis to prisoners, the hearing impaired and anyone who, for one reason or another, cannot access audio or video versions. Love, Light and the peace of God,

• Other articles by Joseph Wolfe
  
  
  1. A Brief Glimpse into Oneness
  
  
  

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