If the student sees ACIM as a path to enlightenment, the Course will feel like work. There is no destination called “Enlightenment”.
A student will find ACIM is easy when the student is ready to surrender. A student will learn the Course is impossible when they are not. ACIM teaches the student to acknowledge and accept that they are not ready. And that this acknowledgement is not only okay but absolutely necessary to correct the error.
ACIM never demands any sacrifice from a student. If a student perceives sacrifice, the student is in error and not ready to move forward. The Holy Spirit tells us there is no sacrifice for the student who is ready.
This is the absolute key to everything: the student must recognize they make a choice every moment. The student must own 100% of that choice and not only take, but celebrate, their ultimate responsibility choosing the world they created over reality. Until the student is ready to release the world they made and accept reality, the Course will only frustrate and disappoint them. To correct this error, the student must own their conscious decision to bathe in the blood and lust and hatred of their imagined world. The student should welcome and relish the terror and fear and insecurity.
Metaphorically, the student should eat, fuck, and murder their way through the world they created always guided by the question, “How do you feel?”. That is how the world they created heals them. As long as the student believes they are breaking a rule or betraying the Father and their True Self, they will seek out error and find its nectar sweet. The student should not feel guilty about their love of the physical experience. The self they made delights in their perceived rebellion from an “angry” Father.
However, the student’s innocence as a child of God is guaranteed and until the student learns that nothing in this world will ever truly fulfill them and bring lasting peace and joy, the student is not ready to complete the Course. Until then, the student is only trying to satisfy the self they made. The student cannot fool their true Self, nor the Holy Spirit, nor the Father.
When the student finally tires of the world they made for the last time, then they are ready and the transition is easy. At that point, it is effortless to finally throw down the sword of judgement and come back to the Course for the final time. Then the student can understand and completely surrender the self and the world they created without hesitation. Then they become as Christ and welcome both reality and Christ’s vision. It may take a student two weeks or a thousand lifetimes to reach this point. Time does not matter because Eternity and the Father awaits the Prodigal Child’s guaranteed return.