A Course in Miracles vs The Power of Now

Arten compares A Course in Miracles with The Power of Now

YIR, p 27 (Gary asks Arten):
What about being in the now?

Where the practice of “be here now” will get you is here. Sure, it will relax you, but it won't get you home. One aspect of that kind of a system is to watch your judgments. But watching your judgments is not forgiving them. And the now that is experienced is not the eternal always of Heaven, which can only be consistently experienced when the ego has been completely undone by the Holy Spirit. That requires that you do your part to forgive, and the Holy Spirit takes care of the part of the job you can't see, deep within your unconscious mind.

YIR p 192 – 194 (Arten)
What we’re about to say isn’t meant to be anything but helpful. It’s said with the understanding that everyone is completely innocent, and that they’re doing their best to further whatever philosophy or method they sincerely believe in. That having been said, there are many spiritual teachers who are diluting the message of A Course in Miracles by teaching methods they claim are in agreement with the Course when they actually are not. This confuses the student by diverting attention from what the Course is teaching to something different, which the teachers of apparently don’t even understand are different, or else they wouldn’t be presenting them as though they’re the same by quoting the Course out of context to support their teachings.

One good example is the teaching that one should be in the now. Keep in mind that we’re not saying there’s anything wrong with the idea that there may be some good in focusing on the now rather than the past or the future. The quality of life would be improved. The problem is that doing so cannot remove the unconscious guilt over the original separation from God that is still hidden in the deep recesses of the mind. Because of that, it makes each experience of being in the now temporary by definition, because it fails to remove the blocks that prevent that experience from being permanent. All of which is to say that there's not just a minor difference between the approach of The Power of Now and the real power of A Course in Miracles. It's the difference between being temporarily in the now of an illusion, or being permanently in the presence of reality.

It's absolutely essential to remember that unless and until all unconscious guilt is removed from the mind, you cannot stay in the endless present on a permanent basis. It's impossible. Any attempt to remain in the now is doomed to failure without doing the work of true forgiveness. Until you've completely forgiven that which you made and projected outside of yourself, you are not forgiven in your own unconscious mind, and until you are, the cycle of birth and death cannot be broken. Being in the now does not heal your unconscious guilt and undo the ego. True forgiveness, on the other hand, removes the blocks to the awareness of love's presence that is your natural state of being, undoing the ego completely and making it possible to remain in the eternal "always" simply because that's all that's left.

Any attempt at eternity is a nonstarter as long as there’s any unconscious guilt in the mind, period. That guilt must be healed before you can permanently stay free of the past or future. And the way to undo it is not to ignore it, which is exactly what’s going on when you shut off and deny the past or future. It’s when you forgive the past and your concerns about the future that they are undone, and the endless present becomes truly available to you. That forgiveness always takes place now. Remember, we said that there’s no difference between forgiving the original separation at the time it appeared to happen, and forgiving it right now, for they are one and the same.

God Is