Interviews

Gloria Wapnick died peacefully at home on October 5, 2022. Her family will hold a private service. Gloria was an extraordinary woman and spirit. I am forever grateful that I got to know her a little bit and for all she did to found and support the Foundation for A Course in Miracles and share Kenneth’s mind-healing work with us. In loving memory of Gloria I am sharing an interview I did with her posted on this site in 2013.  Husband and fellow Co-founder of the Foundation for A Course in Miracles in Temecula, California, Kenneth Wapnick, PhD, calls her the foundation’s “inspiration and guiding light.” In this first of a series of articles based on interviews with Gloria Wapnick she speaks candidly about her Catholic childhood, involvement in international affairs, living in Iran, finding A Course in Miracles, meeting and later marrying Ken, and creating the foundation. As always, I am ...

Jeffrey Seibert worked closely with Kenneth and Gloria Wapnick at the Foundation for A Course in Miracles for decades. Jeff moved with the Foundation to its current location in Henderson, Nevada where he teaches streamed classes available through the Foundation’s website Foundation for A Course in Miracles. He continues to present Ken’s mind-healing message of A Course in Miracles forgiveness through the lens of his own forgiveness classrooms. The Foundation has a new website with updated functionality as well as changes in content. Can you explain what led to those changes and what they will mean for students? It’s a reflection of the Foundation’s updated mission statement that recognizes how really helpful Ken’s teachings are for anyone who genuinely wants to understand what this challenging spiritual document is telling us. We wanted to make it very clear that we are committed to continuing the work that Ken began and want to make ...

Jeffrey Seibert worked closely with Kenneth and Gloria Wapnick at the Foundation for A Course in Miracles for decades. Jeff moved with the Foundation to its new location in Henderson, Nevada where he continues to teach seminar and weekly classes, also available through the Foundation’s website https://facim.org/ and https://members.facim.org/. Jeff continues to present Ken’s mind-healing message of A Course in Miracles forgiveness through the lens of his own forgiveness classrooms. Here in the United States, we’re transitioning from the acute phase of having dealt with this pandemic since early 2020 and it’s been a lot to handle. Sometimes in the collective dream, for example in the United States and parts of Europe in World War II, people seemed to pull together in response to a perceived external threat but that has not been the case with this virus. We were already very polarized politically and the pandemic and its ramifications seemed ...

Rosemarie LoSasso worked closely with Kenneth and Gloria Wapnick for decades, editing his books and audios and teaching at the Foundation for A Course in Miracles  from its earliest days in the 1980s until her retirement from the Foundation in 2018. I talked with her again recently about practicing A Course in Miracles in the classroom of our lives. I hope you will find our conversation and her gentle, practical wisdom as helpful to your practice as I have!    The pandemic has been such a challenging classroom for everyone. I felt like I had made some real progress over the years using my special relationship with my husband as a forgiveness classroom and gradually seeing our shared interest in finding our way home beyond our personal differences.  But COVID made me sometimes question whether I’ve made progress at all. I have preexisting health conditions, was very frightened by the virus and ...

Jeffrey Seibert worked closely with Kenneth and Gloria Wapnick at the Foundation for A Course in Miracles for decades. Jeff moved with the Foundation to its new location in Henderson, Nevada and has resumed teaching seminars as well as weekly classes there, also available through the Foundation’s streaming option found at https://members.facim.org/. In these classes, Jeff continues to present Ken’s mind-healing message of A Course in Miracles forgiveness through the lens of his own forgiveness classrooms. I talked with Jeff a few weeks ago about recent forgiveness classrooms in my personal life and the collective classroom of the worsening coronavirus. The week after this interview the COVID 19 situation worsened and U.S. cities and states began announcing closures of schools, businesses, restaurants, etc.; advocating social distancing and enacting stay-at-home orders for most of us for the foreseeable future. Nonetheless our prior conversation related to the fear we’re all experiencing and the ...

Rosemarie LoSasso worked closely with Kenneth and Gloria Wapnick for decades, editing his books and audios and teaching at the Foundation for A Course in Miracles (www.facim.org) from its earliest days in the 1980s. She retired from the Foundation in the fall of 2018 when the Foundation relocated to Henderson, Nevada, but generously agreed to talk with me again recently about practicing the Course’s unique forgiveness in the classroom of our lives, a topic with which she is intimately acquainted. I hope you will find our conversation and her gentle, practical wisdom as helpful in your journey as I continue to.  I thought it might be valuable to review the basic process of forgiveness that we, as Course students, are supposed to be practicing every day, every minute, really. Much of the time for me it’s become an automatic sense of looking with Jesus (our inner Teacher) at my reactions, unkind ...

Jeffrey Seibert worked closely with Kenneth and Gloria Wapnick at the Foundation for A Course in Miracles for decades. Jeff moved with the Foundation to its new location in Henderson, Nevada, last year and has recently resumed teaching monthly seminars as well as weekly classes there, also available as recordings through the Foundation’s new streaming option found at https://members.facim.org/. In these classes, Jeff continues to present Ken’s mind-healing message of A Course in Miracles forgiveness through the lens of his own forgiveness classrooms. I know the Foundation has recently provided new material available for streaming including newly available past staff classes offered after Ken’s death, right? Yes, all of Ken’s audios and videos, as well as the staff classes offered in Temecula starting in 2015 when we began archiving them. That in itself is a wealth of material for Ken’s students. And then you’ve started teaching seminars beginning with this one offered in ...

Jeffrey Seibert (along with colleague and fellow teacher Rosemarie LoSasso) worked closely with Kenneth and Gloria Wapnick at the Foundation for A Course in Miracles www.facim.org for decades. Jeff and Rosemarie continue to present Ken’s mind-healing message of forgiveness through the lens of their own forgiveness classrooms in their Foundation classes (live and streamed) http://www.facim.org/temecula-schedule.aspx, truly teaching, to paraphrase the Course; that he did not die by demonstrating that he lives in them, and every one of us. Jeff has also worked in various office roles since joining the Foundation for A Course in Miracles staff in November 1992. In addition to teaching, he currently oversees the Foundation’s order department and performs a variety of other duties. You can read more about Jeff’s journey with A Course in Miracles here: https://www.foraysinforgiveness.com/a-conversation-with-jeffrey-seibert-foundation-for-a-course-in-miracles.   The seminar you and Rosemarie presented recently revisiting the topic you also covered last year called “Life as a ...

Rosemarie LoSasso worked closely with Kenneth and Gloria Wapnick for decades, editing his books and audios and teaching at the Foundation for A Course in Miracles (www.facim.org) from its earliest days in the 1980s. (You can read more about Rosemarie’s journey here: https://www.foraysinforgiveness.com/a-conversation-with-rosemarie-losasso-foundation-for-a-course-in-miracles.) She continues to share Ken’s mind-healing work and Jesus’ loving message through the regular classes (also streamed online) she teaches at the Foundation http://www.facim.org/temecula-schedule.aspx, drawing on her own forgiveness process. Rosemarie generously agreed to talk with me again recently about practicing the Course in the classroom of our lives, a topic with which she is intimately acquainted. I hope you will find our conversation and her gentle, practical wisdom as helpful in your journey as I have!  You recently recommended that I revisit A Course in Miracles workbook lesson 70, in which Jesus talks about our need to ask for his help and instructs us to imagine taking ...

Jeffrey Seibert (along with colleagues and fellow teachers Rosemarie LoSasso and Loral Reeves) has worked closely with Kenneth and Gloria Wapnick at the Foundation for A Course in Miracles (FACIM.org) for decades. Jeff and Rosemarie continue to present Ken’s mind-healing message of forgiveness through the lens of their own forgiveness classrooms in their Foundation classes (live and streamed), truly teaching, to paraphrase the Course; that he did not die by demonstrating that he lives in them, and every one of us. Jeff has also worked in various office roles since joining the Foundation for A Course in Miracles staff in November 1992. In addition to teaching, he currently oversees the Foundation’s order department and performs a variety of other duties. You can read more about Jeff’s journey with A Course in Miracles here. In one of your recent academy classes you pointed out something to the effect that it doesn’t matter when you ...

Welcome to the third of my individual interviews with the three staff members that teach the academy classes http://www.facim.org/temecula-schedule.aspx at the Foundation for A Course in Miracles in Temecula, California http://www.facim.org/. Rosemarie LoSasso, Loral Reeves, and Jeffrey Seibert have all worked closely with Kenneth and Gloria Wapnick for decades. Their devotion to Ken and Gloria’s work and commitment to living A Course in Miracles’ mind-healing message of forgiveness shines in their teaching. They continue to present Ken’s material through the lens of their own forgiveness classrooms, truly teaching, to paraphrase the Course; that he did not die by demonstrating that he lives in them, and every one of us. I hope you’ll find their stories as inspiring as I have, and consider attending their transforming classes!  (Rosemarie LoSasso has worked in various roles at the Foundation for A Course in Miracles since its earliest days. In addition to teaching, she continues ...

Welcome to the second of my individual interviews with the staff that teaches the academy classes http://www.facim.org/temecula-schedule.aspx at the Foundation for A Course in Miracles in Temecula, California http://www.facim.org/. Rosemarie LoSasso, Loral Reeves, and Jeffrey Seibert have all worked closely with Kenneth and Gloria Wapnick for decades. Their devotion to Ken and Gloria’s work and commitment to living A Course in Miracles’mind-healing message of forgiveness shines in their teaching. They continue to present Ken’s material through the lens of their own forgiveness classrooms, truly teaching, to paraphrase the Course; that he did not die by demonstrating that he lives in them, and every one of us. I hope you’ll find their stories as inspiring as I have, and consider attending their transforming classes! (Jeffrey Seibert has worked in various office roles since joining the Foundation for A Course in Miracles staff in November 1992. He currently oversees the foundation’s order department ...

Welcome to the first of my individual interviews with the staff that teaches the academy classes http://www.facim.org/temecula-schedule.aspx at the Foundation for A Course in Miracles in Temecula, California http://www.facim.org/. Rosemarie LoSasso, Loral Reeves, and Jeffrey Seibert have all worked closely with Kenneth and Gloria Wapnick for decades. Their devotion to Ken and Gloria’s work and commitment to living A Course in Miracles’ mind-healing message of forgiveness shines in their teaching. They continue to present Ken’s material through the lens of their own forgiveness classrooms, truly teaching, to paraphrase the Course; that he did not die by demonstrating that he lives in them, and every one of us. I hope you’ll find their stories as inspiring as I have, and consider attending their transforming classes! (Loral Reeves has worked as an accountant at the Foundation for A Course in Miracles since March 1989, and took over editing the audios of Ken Wapnick’s ...

My dear friends: Below is the announcement from the Foundation for A Course in Miracles about our beloved Teacher Ken Wapnick’s passing yesterday. Ken was the most beautiful, kind, generous-to-all person I have ever known. With deep sadness as well as infinite Love and gratitude for all he has  given us that lives on to lead us home, I offer these interviews I did with him over the last several years. May we all grow into the certainty (through moment-to-moment practice) that our all-loving, forgiven connection has never, and can never, be broken!  https://www.foraysinforgiveness.com/interviews/interviews-kenneth-wapnick Love always, Susan Kenneth Wapnick  It is with the utmost sorrow that we inform you of the death of Dr. Kenneth Wapnick on Friday December 27, 2013. He died peacefully at home with his beloved wife Gloria and family at his side. The family will have a private service and plans are being made for a forthcoming public memorial. “There is no ...

I recently sat down again to interview Ken Wapnick while attending a weeklong Academy class at the Foundation for a Course in Miracles (FACIM) in Temecula, California, in which Ken emphasized more clearly than ever the importance of looking at the ego’s guilty story of separation realized through the eyes of the part of our mind that knows nothing really happened. He also urged us to make asking that inner teacher of forgiveness to show us how he looks on everyone and everything our top priority, if we truly want to experience sustainable peace, not of this world. While there, I also had the pleasure of interviewing Ken’s wife and Foundation Co-founder Gloria Wapnick, the first in what I hope will prove a series of interviews with her. Unfortunately, I had a new recorder and must have pressed the wrong button because the conversation did not record. Although Gloria kindly invited ...

I recently sat down again to interview Ken Wapnick while attending a weeklong Academy class at the Foundation for a Course in Miracles in Temecula, California. I am still processing the deeply helpful and healing messages from the week in which Ken emphasized, among other great themes, the importance of shifting the purpose of the seemingly specific issues that appear to arise in our lives from strengthening the ego’s lie of separation realized to returning us to the decision-making mind and choosing to look with the teacher of gentle forgiveness. Asking ourselves from moment to moment whether siding with this feeling, judgment, thought will further the goal of healing our split mind or plunge us more deeply into the dream of exile from all-inclusive love. A no-brainer of a practice, really—pun intended! 🙂 In this conversation, Ken talks about the idea that we all carry imaginary “grab bags” filled with the ...

I was fortunate enough to sit down again recently with Ken Wapnick while attending a workshop at the Foundation for A Course in Miracles (FACIM)  in Temecula, California. Many of my questions arose from listening to two of Ken’s newer CD sets: On Death and Dying and Cast No One Out, as well as from my moment-to-moment journey practicing the Course’s unique forgiveness in the classroom of my life. As always, Ken’s generosity, consistency, patience, and gentleness shine in his responses. I hope you will find them as illuminating and helpful as I did. I’ve listened to your CD set On Death and Dying and have a few questions related to that. I think I know the answers to most of them but the Course has taught me to question all I think I know; to always make sure I know which inner teacher I’m really listening to. So, to start, ...

I was fortunate enough to sit down recently to interview Ken Wapnick again while attending a workshop at the Foundation for a Course in Miracles (FACIM) in Temecula, California. I felt more than ever the radiance of Ken’s unwavering faith in an innocence that includes everyone and everything, even this mess of a Course student. 🙂 His responses to my often babbling questions reached far beyond their form to the fundamental content which is always some version of why can’t I stop pushing love away? His answer in all circumstances for all A Course in Miracles students remains the same. You can, you have, and you are. Just quit beating yourself up and making such a big deal about it. Just do what the Course is saying as best you can every single day with whatever appears to arise in the classroom of your life. And then forgive yourself when ...

In The Disappearance of the Universe, bestselling author Gary Renard chronicles his extraordinary conversations with Arten and Pursah, two “ascended masters” who introduced him to the profound spiritual psychology A Course in Miracles. Eight years later, the book (along with his second book Your Immortal Reality) remains a portal to the Course for ever increasing numbers of spiritual seekers throughout the world, and a pivotal work in its own right. I recently talked with Gary about how his understanding and practice of A Course in Miracles’ central teaching of unique forgiveness has evolved since the publication of Disappearance. As always he was entertaining, forthright, and incredibly clear in his ability to articulate the Course’s uncompromising truth and transformative message. (I’m excited to be attending Gary’s upcoming workshop in Colorado Springs September 24. Go to Miracle Promotions for information and reservations.) You’ve been under siege a couple times by others in the ...

Renowned Psychologist, Teacher, and Author Kenneth Wapnick, PhD, has been studying, teaching, and writing about A Course in Miracles since 1973, and worked closely with Course Scribe Helen Schucman and Collaborator Bill Thetford in preparing its final manuscript. With his wife, Gloria, he is president and co-founder of Foundation for A Course in Miracles (FACIM) in Temecula, California. OK, so admittedly I did most of the talking when Ken Wapnick once more generously agreed to answer some questions about practicing forgiveness and looking with Jesus. Along with the other characteristics of God’s teachers mentioned in the Teachers Manual, he also demonstrates honesty, defined in A Course in Miracles as consistency. I found his response to my overly complicated questions newly humbling. “Don’t take it seriously,” he answered, in response to every query. He has said this before and will likely have to say it again because eventually we begin to try ...

NOTE: Clinical Psychologist, Teacher and Author Kenneth Wapnick, PhD, has been studying A Course in Miracles since 1973, and worked closely with Course Scribe Helen Schucman and Collaborator Bill Thetford in preparing its final manuscript. With his wife, Gloria, he is president and co-founder of The Foundation for A Course in Miracles (FACIM) in Temecula, California. In the following conversation, Ken Wapnick generously answers my questions about the daily practice of forgiveness, the fear and resistance that arises on our journey home, and how to keep our faith and focus on being kind, gentle, and patient with ourselves and other Course students while learning to with our inner teacher at all we still use to push love away. Happy Thanksgiving! I recently found myself in a lot of fear around this Course; feeling stuck and judging myself for it. You told me to remember not to take it seriously. How can we ...

During a recent visit to The Foundation for A Course in Miracles (FACIM) in Temecula, California to attend a workshop with friend and fellow Course student Deb Shelly, I interviewed premier Course scholar Ken Wapnick, PhD, about his journey with the Course. I wanted to know how Ken perceived his role in communicating the Course’s unique message, how he viewed awakening, how he avoided specialness, how he handled celebrity, and how his application of forgiveness has evolved since his early days with Helen and Bill. His answers may surprise you as much as they did us. I have never been around an enlightened being–my teenage daughter notwithstanding J–but must say that sitting in Ken’s presence with Deb felt healing for both of us in ways we found difficult to describe. He offers the gift of his complete, unwavering attention, and seems to listen more deeply and carefully than the hundreds of people ...

Growing up in Brooklyn, NY, and turned off by organized religion and the messages of his family’s Jewish faith, Ken Wapnick nonetheless suspected something beyond a world of bodies. “I grew up in a family with a lot of sickness and it became very clear to me that sickness had nothing to do with the body; that it happens in the mind.” His exposure to classical music as a teenager confirmed his suspicions. “That was my opening and then my window,” he says. “It allowed me to know that there was something more than you could see, than you could study, than you could understand. It was my entrée to spirituality.” His interest piqued, Ken studied various spiritual teachings while earning a PhD in psychology and went on to become chief clinical psychologist at a mental hospital, all the while fielding an increasing pull toward a monastic life. After deciding to enter ...