Disciples on the ACIM Path

Meet John Cone

©2005, Interview and article by Karen Bentley

A massive tumor was discovered embedded in my thyroid gland during my senior year at Springfield College. The tumor was diagnosed in September, but I put off surgery until Christmas so I wouldn’t loose class time and would be able to graduate. At the time, I considered myself a roaring existentialist. And the decision to delay surgery, which almost cost my life, reflected my ego mania. Even though I thought I might have cancer or die, I placed a higher value on getting a degree than on sustaining life. Oftentimes we don’t realize the trouble we make for ourselves by living in the ego, and we never stop to discover our essence.

During surgery I had a near death experience. I created a laryngeal spasm, which meant that my blood started pouring into my airways and flooded my lungs My own blood was drowning me. It was supposed to be a 2-hour operation, but I ended up being on the table for over six hours while the surgeon and everyone else was frantically trying to save me. Even though I was under anesthesia, I woke up with full awareness of what happened. That night in bed, I re-lived the near death experience, and I was terrorized by it. I was totally convinced that if I fell asleep I would never wake up again. So it proves that the rational mind, the thinking mind, has no place because I’m still here today.

Then an amazing thing happened: I had a transcendental experience of the manifestation of God. What came to me was a vision, an image of me transcending the earthly plane into the heavens, the universe. I was literally amongst the stars of the galaxies. I was transcendent, transformed and triumphant – all victories of the soul. In joining with the universe I realized there’s essence in life and that I am an essentialist, not an existentialist. Therefore I am a holy sacred being, not a profane ego. There was recognition of a greater, constant reality, which jolted me to experience heaven on earth. It awakened what Dean Hammer refers to as the God Gene, where I experienced immediate peace, calm and connection with God. The connection filled my being. Fear and terror vanished in a holy instant of grace and truth. I realized that most people are living a near life experience. No one’s having the fullness of abundance, prosperity or joy because we’re not in touch with our essence, which is that of creation and soul based, full life living. The whole idea is that the soul is the great governor of the quality of life and the witness of joy, peace, harmony.

From this experience it became clear to me that I was called to serve a ministry. Around the same time I was profoundly affected by the God is Dead cover story in the Easter week issue of Time Magazine. My response was to enroll at the Andover Newton Theological School , where as a first year student I wrote a paper called A Natural and Sane Theology. The basic principle behind this model for a new theology is the idea that all of us are born pure, true, loving and innocent. It’s totally natural to be a divine being and totally sane to love all creation. This paper was considered the most creative theological paper of the first year class.

 Other influences also contributed to my early work at formulating a new theology. For example, I remember a particular snowstorm when I was about 6; and I happened to look down at the sleeve of my parka where a snow flake had just landed and saw the most exquisite, ornate, six-pointed star shape of a snowflake. It blew my mind and opened my soul to the reality of the greater “awe-full-ness” of creation. This was my first ineffable moment: a state of awe with the magnificence of life. Then there was a summer camp experience at Camp Takodah where I integrated their “friendly to all” motto. And finally, I was deeply moved by Albert Schweitzer’s selfless demonstration of reverence for all life.

I now find myself in my chosen profession as an applied theologian and ethicist and a devoted believer in A Course In Miracles. What appeals to me about the Course is that it represents the ethic that I articulated at Andover Newton and is an application of a natural and sane theology. Even more, A Course In Miracles provides extra meaning because it teaches that miracles are in the joining. ACIM serves as a template, a calling to the whole world to manifest holiness and peacefulness. In a sense, I got the Course in that NDE and discovered that joy in life is a matter of choice. The ego makes choice-less choices; the soul makes choice-full choices for the greater good of all creation.

Right now I’m working on two books. The first one focuses on the worldwide theological crisis we’re experiencing brought on by duality and having separate, special and sometimes opposing religions. Special religious, corporate and national interests fail to see the oneness and unity of creation. We think about issues in a state of fear from a limited, local perspective. The working title is Inside the Zone of Greed. This book deals with conflict, injustices, and the loss of democracy. Democracy is precious, and we have to be rigorous in not letting the ego take over our democracy because it will ruin it. If we continue to let ego rule, we could end up being Planet Necropolis! We’re at risk of a holy war and a class war and the potential for WWIII is arising. The only intervention is to manifest miracles. Therefore, ACIM is essential for saving the planet. We must wake up now before it’s too late! What if there was one world under God, friendly to all? What if each and every one of us had equal rights? What if we were all driven by the call of the soul, and not the false call of the ego?

My second book is Silent Fall, an update of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. It’s a resounding book that deals with how man has trespassed upon nature and violated a natural and sane theology. The planet is at health risk to a plague stemming from a false theology of specialness, denominationalism, and differences rather than commonality. We reap what we sow, and we’re defying what we sow. We’re flat earth thinkers again. We haven’t looked to the future or to see what’s beyond the horizon. This book draws on my expertise from special studies at the Harvard School of Public Health in human nutrition and environmental sciences, which I attended after Andover Newton. I’ve also completed Continuing Medical Education training for physicians in nutritional medicine. So I’ve had the best trainings in human nutrition offered in the United States.

The word “fall” draws attention to the progression of damage and time and also refers to a fall from grace into a state of dis-grace. It’s a fall from a state of living where we have an ethic of do no harm to self or others to a state of being where our practices are so harmful that we’re going to lose this planet from an environmental standpoint. There will be no winners! I’m offering the world a solution: the Hippocratic 7th Future Generation Ethic. Children and the children of our children and the children of our children’s children will be able to look back with full reverence wherein good deeds make it possible for us to be in loving dominion over the plant and animal kingdoms. The dominion factor comes from the Book of Genesis in the Bible, but dominion really means home. And so because we are the caretaker, the stewards of our home - we can see and honor the intricate, interdependent web of creation and recognize that each species is essential to each and every other species of creation. We are one, and we are equal.

My firmament statement is that God is alive and God is in all creation. There’s only separation from truth and separation from God and separation from our own soul. Love is in answering the call, which is to nurture and act from the interests of our soul. I am profoundly aware that we all have a fear that our own call for love will not be heard and that we will be deaf to the prophetic voice within our hearts.

John Cone offers nutritional counseling to anyone with a health concern, including cancer, HIV or other chronic problems. He invites you to contact him in the Boston area at 617.491.6199 or by email at honeyfires2004@yahoo.com. “I’m an instrument of God’s Will. Use me.”

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©2005 interviewed, organized, edited by Karen Bentley. Karen Bentley is the author of 10 Radiant Ideas, The Book of Love, and The Power to Stop, which is forthcoming.