We're on! A few people won't be coming, but enough are, so we're meeting.

I'm watching the streets, and as of 8AM the snow, falling heavily and wet, is beginning to stick to the streets here in the Fremont/Alameda area in Northeast Portland. I'm going to continue to watch and to monitor weather reports in the rest of the city. If it looks as though there will be poor driving conditions in general in the Portland area, I'm going to cancel our meeting this morning. So keep checking your email. I'll post my final decision via email, and here, at about 9:30.

On the positive side, the temperature is still above freezing here, which usually means the snow melts quickly. It all depends on how long the snowfall lasts..

In the commentary on T-8.III, I refer to the teaching of the spiritual path known as "The Pathwork" about human relationships. If you click on the "Extras" link to the left you will see I've added a link to a sample article from the Pathwork website, which can be found here.

I have posted the commentary notes on Text sections T-8.IV, "The Gift of Freedom," T-8.V, "The Undivided Will of the Sonship," and T-8.VI, "The Father's Treasure." We will be covering these sections during January and early February. We resume with T-8.III on January 3. I'm posting well in advance.

The page for downloads for Chapter 8 has been set up with all the links in advance, although so far only files for the first six sections have been uploaded. Clicking on the link for a file I have not uploaded will bring up a custom "Error 404: Missing file" page that will tell you the file isn't up yet. It was easier just to create the entire page all at once than to keep coming back every week to add another link.

I have posted the commentary notes on Text section T-8.II, "The Difference Between Imprisonment and Freedom," and T-8.III, "The Holy Encounter." We will be covering 8.I on Dec 6; 8.II on Dec 13; and 8.III will be covered January 3. Please note that Allen will not be leading group study on Dec 20 and 27, nor will be he present on January 24 and 31. The group, however, will meet to listen to tapes and for discussion and sharing.

The page for downloads for Chapter 8 has been set up with all the links in advance, although so far only files for the first three sections have been uploaded. Clicking on the link for a file I have not uploaded will bring up a custom "Error 404: Missing file" page that will tell you the file isn't up yet. It was easier just to create the entire page all at once than to keep coming back every week to add another link.

I have posted the commentary notes on Text section T-8.I, "The Direction of the Curriculum." These will be for Nov. 29. This coming Tuesday, Nov. 22, we'll be studying T-7.XI, "The State of Grace"; notes previously posted.

The page for downloads for Chapter 8 has been set up with all the links in advance, although so far only Section I's files have been uploaded. Clicking on the link for a file I have not uploaded will bring up a custom "Error 404: Missing file" page that will tell you the file isn't up yet. It was easier just to create the entire page all at once than to keep coming back every week to add another link.

I have posted the commentary notes on Text section T-7.XI, "The State of Grace." This coming Tuesday, Nov. 15, we'll be studying T-7.X, "The Confusion of Pain and Joy"; notes previously posted.

After prayerful consideration, I have discontinued the Thursday evening study group. The Tuesday morning study group, from now on, will be the only ACIM group meeting at Unity of Portland.

I have posted the commentary notes on Text section T-7.IX, "The Extension of the Kingdom," and T-7.X, "The Confusion of Pain and Joy." Schedule for next few weeks, reflecting the cancellation of the Thursday meeting:

November schedule

Dates	Section
11/8 & 10	T-7.IX, “The Extension of the Kingdom”
11/15	T-7.X, “The Confusion of Pain and Joy”
11/22	No meeting; Thanksgiving Week
11/29	T-7.XI, “The State of Grace”

I have posted the commentary notes on Text section T-7.VIII, "The Unbelievable Belief." This coming Tuesday and Thursday, Oct. 25 and 27, we'll be studying T-7.VII; notes posted last week.

I have posted the commentary notes on Text section T-7.VII, "The Totality of the Kingdom." I've also fixed the missing link for the download of notes on T-7.VI. As we took 2 weeks to complete Section V, and just began Section VI, we'll be studying VI next week, Oct 18 and 20. Section VII will be for the following week.

I'm back from my trip out of town, and ready to resume our studies. This week (10/4 and 10/6) we will be studying Text Ch. 7, Section V, Healing and the Changelessness of Mind. The notes are on the website (use the "Text Downloads" link to the left).

I should mention here, for people who don't actually attend the meetings, that I will be putting on a weekend workshop on ACIM in Bellingham, Washington, on Saturday, Oct 15 and Sunday Oct 16, at the Unity Church in Bellingham (www.unitybellingham.org). Saturday will be for intermediate ACIM students; I'll speak at the church service Sunday morning, and Sunday afternoon there will be an introductory, 3-hour session for people new to the Course. I won't miss any of our study group meetings that week, since I'll go up on Friday by train and return on Monday. If you know anyone in the general Bellingham area who is interested in the Course, please let them know.

I have posted the commentary notes on Text section T-7.VI, "From Vigilance to Peace." This will be the section for study when we meet on October 11 and 13.

I have been experimenting with the formatting in the Text paragraphs quoted in the commentary, using a pink highlight to indicate words that had been emphasized in all caps in the Urtext. I have decided that the highlighting was distracting, and made reading more difficult. I've changed the formatting in the commentaries for T-7.III, 7.IV, and 7.V to use bold text instead of highlighted text. I think you will find this more readable; please let me know any feedback. I plan to continue using bold for future commentaries. I've also added a "Legend" at the start of each commentary to explain the different kinds of formatting I use in the Text paragraphs. This is the legend:

Legend for Text paragraphs:
blue text = Material from ACIM 3rd edition (FIP)
bold blue text= words emphasized in all caps in Urtext
red text = alternate or omitted material from the Urtext
light blue text = editorial comments
strikethrough blue text = Not in Urtext, in FIP edition

Later today, I will post pages for the "C" sub-section of Section V, Chapter 6.

As those of you who have been with the study group for over a year know, I always like to suspend my work with the study groups over the summer: June, July, and August. I plan to do the same this year. Therefore, we have just four more meetings:

There will be no other meetings during the months of June, July, and August, unless the group itself wants to meet to do some other kind of study, as the Tuesday group did last summer. I have some suggestions of tape series I could recommend for listening.

I will be teaching a Tuesday evening class at Unity Church, July 12 through August 9, based on Emmet Fox's book, "Diagrams for Living," which is a series of metaphysical interpretations of a variety of biblical passages. You are all invited to attend.