Question #634: When I have a conversation with family or friends, it may become a real discussion in which we give our opinion about a particular subject. Since I am a student of A Course in Miracles, I feel insecure about giving my opinion, especially when mine is different from others. I realize that the separation is there. I am aware that I don't need to convince my friend. Should I keep my mouth shut?

Answer: This situation could be a wonderful opportunity for you to practice what you have learned. As a Course student, you never want to forget to be normal, and normal people express opinions. So you can approach your conversations as a kind of laboratory in which you are going to learn how to disagree with someone without perceiving yourself as separate, without judging, and without the need to be right. This will happen if you show your ego the exit door, and choose Jesus or the Holy Spirit as your lab director instead. You would then look forward to these occasions, and there would be less and less tension or conflict because you would have chosen the right teacher and the right purpose. "The Holy Spirit is the perfect Teacher. . . . The ego made the world as it perceives it, but the Holy Spirit, the reinterpreter of what the ego made, sees the world as a teaching device for bringing you home" (T.5.III.10:1; 11:1).

* The above is reproduced from the Foundation for A Course in Miracles' Question and Answer Service with the kind permission of Dr. Kenneth Wapnick and the Foundation for A Course in Miracles.