Next Level Soul Podcast with Alex Ferrari

Episode: BONUS MONDAYS: REVEALED: Astounding TRUTH About Jesus & A Course in Miracles (ACIM) with Emily Bennington
Date: October 27, 2025
Guest: Emily Bennington
Host: Alex Ferrari

Episode Overview

In this enlightening episode, Alex Ferrari welcomes Emily Bennington — a devoted student, teacher, and executive director at the Circle of Atonement — to unpack the spiritual classic A Course in Miracles (ACIM) and explore its profound teachings about love, ego, and purpose. Through personal stories and candid dialogue, they trace Emily’s spiritual awakening, discuss ACIM’s core philosophy and radical take on Jesus, and examine how ego, identity, and forgiveness work in both subtle and practical ways in daily life.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Emily Bennington’s Awakening & Path to ACIM

• Catalyst for Change: Emily’s spiritual transformation began in 2010 after a tough moment with her young son:

  “I realized that the way I was behaving was making him sad. ... And that was kind of my wake up moment.” (04:22)

• Discovery of the Course: Coming from a Christian background but seeking deeper answers, ACIM resonated as spiritual truth and a radically loving vision of Jesus.
• Call to Teach: After devoted study, Emily experienced an inner calling:

  “All of a sudden I heard this, like, booming voice in my head, and it said, teach… I knew at that point I was supposed to teach the course.” (06:50)

• Transition to Leadership: Starting as a volunteer, Emily eventually became Executive Director at the Circle of Atonement (07:51).

Alex Ferrari’s Parallel Journey

• Divine Discontent: Alex shares his own journey from film to spirituality, describing a restlessness that dissolved once he said “yes” to his calling:

  “I had this...divine discontent...until I said yes to that voice. And then...that whole restlessness just dissolved.” (11:03)

• Rapid Spiritual Growth: Once aligned, doors in his new venture opened rapidly compared to his past career:

  “This is happening so fast, I can’t even comprehend it.” (10:24)

What Is A Course in Miracles?

• Core Definition:

  “A spiritual path in which we find our way home to God by learning to distinguish between what is real and what is unreal.” (15:30)

  • The essence:
    • Real: Our holiness, innocence, and “inestimable worth.”
    • Unreal: Judgments, grievances, attacks—essentially, ego constructs.
  • Key summary from ACIM:

    “Nothing real can be threatened, nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God.” (16:05)

• Role of Miracles:

  “Miracles are defined as expressions of love that have a healing effect on the other person. ... Nothing heals like love, and that in turn heals us.” (17:12)

Forgiveness, Judgment, and Spiritual Practice

• ACIM redefines forgiveness as “seeing the other’s error, not sin”—recognizing they acted out of disconnection from their divine nature, and responding with love rather than judgment.
• Key Insight:

  “The way we forgive is we look at what the other person did as an error, not a sin...our job to see that truth in them and to love them anyway.” (19:03)

Trauma, Anger, and Love as Healing

• Both host and guest reflect on personal anger as a response to unfulfilled dreams and traumas, but agree love is ultimately the only force that genuinely heals suffering.

• “Anger comes from sort of trauma, sort of being disconnected from your source. Because someone who’s really connected ... don’t act in that fashion.” (21:43)

Letting Life Unfold & Divine Guidance

• Surrender and Trust: Both recount how life’s best outcomes were unplanned and emerged once they relinquished control and followed inner guidance.
• Memorable Quote:

  “Everything I tried to plan just never worked out. And the things that were unplanned have been the best things...” (27:55)

Who Wrote A Course in Miracles?

• Origin: Channeled by Helen Schucman (1965–1972); published in 1976. The voice claims to be that of Jesus, teaching radical gentleness and forgiveness (28:13).
• Notable Acknowledgments: Reflects the Jesus of “unconditional love”—not judgment, not wrath.

Jesus’ Message and Its Distortion

• On Misinterpretation: The episode explores how Jesus’ original radical love message was twisted by institutional interests to support judgment and division.
• Quote:

  “Jesus may have been crucified in one day, but his teachings have been crucified for thousands of years.” (29:24, quoting Yogananda) “Oh, Christians, you are so unlike your Christ.” (29:39, quoting Gandhi)

• The Appeal of Vengeful God: Emily explains,

  “If God is wrathful, and if God is saying these are the in group and this is the out group, then it sanctions our desire to do the same.” (31:38)

Ego, Separation, and the Illusion of the Body

The Nature of Ego in ACIM

• Ego Defined: “At its core, the ego is attack, always out to separate — ‘I’m above; you’re below.’” (34:42)
• Modern Application: Even the spiritual space is rife with subtle ego—

  “It’s like, I am the most humble. I’m so much more humble than you.” (40:12)

• Root of Conflict:

  “All of our conflict...comes down to above and below. … If we can just eradicate that and have a spiritual path that says, ‘No, no, the only thing true about you is what God put there’… then we start to have a conversation about how we’re the same.” (38:50)

Ego & the Body-Identity Illusion

• The body is part of the unreal, a temporary container that our culture obsesses over (42:28).
• On Social Media & Identity:

  “What the ego will tell you to do is to hook into your looks and your status and your things... And what social media does...is [create] all the ways in which our lives don’t measure up to...those that we follow.” (47:06)

• The only lasting identity comes from soul, not body or possessions.

Material Attachment, Giving, and True Legacy

Detachment from “Stuff”

• Learning to let go of possessions and body-identity leads to more inner peace:

  “I’ve slowly detached myself from my possessions...If I lose that, it’s okay.” (50:45)

The Treasure House of Love

• ACIM’s concept of the “real world”: Only love is eternal; acts of kindness are what, ultimately, survive.

• “What if what we really collect is our acts of kindness? ... That’s the only thing that survives.” (52:53)

Happiness, Altruism, and Fulfillment

• Studies show altruism leads to lasting happiness:

  “But what they found was ... you can actually elevate your happiness ... and what they found that actually makes us happier in a way that sticks is — altruism — it’s giving things away, it’s standing for something bigger than just yourself.” (56:22)

Example from Emily and Alex’s Lives

• Both have found exponentially more joy, fulfillment, and opportunity when they began genuinely giving and serving their audiences, rather than trying to “get” for themselves.

The Crisis of Aging, Fame, and Identity

• Societal Obsession with Youth: Discussion uses public figures (e.g., Sex and the City stars, Paulina Porizkova, JLo) as case studies for society’s fixation on youth and beauty, and the suffering caused when identity is overly tied to these traits (43:03, 59:21).
• Quote:

  “But you can avoid that struggle altogether...You can stop crying if you’re not so identified with how you look. ... Find another source beyond this body for your happiness.” (62:56)

• Whether fame, beauty, or achievement, all these things fade — leaving only character, kindness, and soul.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Nothing real can be threatened, nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God.”
  — Emily Bennington (16:05, quoting ACIM)
• “Our love will bring out that goodness in them.” — Emily Bennington (19:21)
• “Nothing heals like love, and that in turn heals us.” — Emily Bennington (17:18)
• “When the door closes, the window opens.” — Emily Bennington (23:12)
• “Jesus may have been crucified in one day, but his teachings have been crucified for thousands of years.” — Alex Ferrari quoting Yogananda (29:24)
• “I wish everybody in the world could get everything they wanted so they would understand it’s not the answer.” — Jim Carrey (quoted, 59:05)
• “All you need is love. ... That was Jesus’s message, too.” — Emily Bennington (66:36)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Emily’s Life-Changing Moment & Turn to ACIM: 04:15–07:51
• Alex on Divine Discontent and Spiritual Career Shift: 08:45–11:31
• What Is A Course in Miracles (core explanation): 15:30–17:29
• On Forgiveness & Responding to Others’ Behavior: 18:21–21:43
• Who Wrote ACIM, and Its Channeled Origin: 28:07–28:45
• Jesus’ Radical Message and Historical Distortion: 29:24–33:43
• Deep Dive into Ego and Body Illusion: 34:42–44:02
• Impact of Social Media & Material Attachment: 44:58–47:06
• Letting Go of Possessions, Practicing Altruism: 50:45–56:22
• Aging, Fame, and Self-Worth Discussions: 59:05–63:24

Core Takeaways

• A Course in Miracles offers a framework to see all humanity, including oneself, as inherently whole, holy, and lovable, aiming to heal the root cause of suffering — the illusion of separation promoted by the ego.
• Transformative spiritual shifts happen when we fully surrender to our deeper calling, regardless of outer circumstances.
• Acts of giving, kindness, and love are what endure — both in this world and beyond — and are the only source of lasting happiness.
• Social and cultural obsessions with body, beauty, status, and material things are ultimately fleeting; only soul-level qualities matter.
• Final mission statements:
  • Emily Bennington: “My mission is to help A Course in Miracles become one of the world’s great spiritual traditions.” (67:11)
  • Why are we here? “To learn to transcend our ego and to love. And that’s how we find our way home to God.” (67:25)

Resources

• Emily Bennington & Circle of Atonement
• A Course in Miracles
• Next Level Soul TV

“Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God.”