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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
CH 2 "THE ILLUSION OF SEPARATION"
II. THE REINTERPRETATION OF DEFENSES Continued
49 The Spiritual eye literally
cannot see error and merely looks for Atonement. All the solutions which the physical eyes seek dissolve in its sight. The Spiritual eye, which looks within, recognizes immediately that the altar has been defiled and needs to be repaired and protected. Perfectly aware of the
right defense, It passes over all others, looking past error to truth. Because of the real strength of
Its vision, It pulls the will into Its service and impels the mind to concur. This reestablishes the true power of the will and makes it increasingly unable to tolerate delay. The mind then realizes with increasing certainty that delay is only a way of increasing unnecessary pain, which it need not tolerate at all. The pain threshold drops accordingly, and the mind becomes increasingly sensitive to what it would once have regarded as very minor intrusions of discomfort.
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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
WORKBOOK
INTRODUCTION
<AUDIO><VIDEO>
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio
1
A theoretical foundation such as the text is necessary as a background to make these exercises meaningful. Yet it is the exercises which will make the goal possible. An untrained mind can accomplish nothing. It is the purpose of these exercises to train the mind to think along the lines which the course sets forth.
2
The exercises are very simple. They do not require more than a few minutes, and it does not matter where or when you do them. They need no preparation. They are numbered, running from 1 to 365. The training period is one year. Do not undertake more than one exercise a day.
3
The purpose of these exercises is to train the mind to a different perception of everything in the world. The workbook is divided into two sections, the first dealing with the undoing of what you see now and the second with the restoration of sight. It is recommended that each exercise be repeated several times a day, preferably in a different place each time and, if possible, in every situation in which you spend any long period of time. The purpose is to train the mind to generalize the lessons, so that you will understand that each of them is as applicable to one situation as it is to another.
4
Unless specified to the contrary, the exercise should be practiced with the eyes open, since the aim is to learn how to see. The only rule that should be followed throughout is to practice the exercises with great specificity. Each one applies to every situation in which you find yourself and to everything you see in it. Each day's exercises are planned around one central idea, the exercises themselves consisting of applying that idea to as many specifics as possible. Be sure that you do not decide that there are some things you see to which the idea for the day is inapplicable. The aim of the exercises will always be to increase the application of the idea to everything. This will not require effort. Only be sure that you make no exceptions in applying the idea.
5
Some of the ideas you will find hard to believe, and others will seem quite startling. It does not matter. You are merely asked to apply them to what you see. You are not asked to judge them, nor even to believe them. You are asked only to use them. It is their use which will give them meaning to you, and show you they are true. Remember only this-you need not believe them, you need not accept them, and you need not welcome them. Some of them you may actively resist. None of this will matter nor decrease their efficacy. But allow yourself to make no exceptions in applying the ideas the exercises contain. Whatever your reactions to the ideas may be, use them. Nothing more than this is required.
~ Original Hand Script of ACIM
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DAILY LESSON
L e s s o n 18
I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my seeing.
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio
1 The idea for today is another step in learning that the thoughts which give rise to what you see are never neutral or unimportant. It also emphasizes the idea that minds are joined, which will be given increasing stress later.
2 Today's idea does not refer to what you see as much as to how you see it. Therefore, the exercises for today will emphasize this aspect of your perception. The three or four practice periods which are recommended should be done as follows:
3 Selecting subjects for the application of the idea randomly, look at each one long enough to say:
4
I am not alone in experiencing the effects of how I see___.
5 Conclude the practice period by repeating the more general statement:
6
I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my seeing.
7 A minute or so or even less will be sufficient.
~ Original Hand Script of ACIM
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ACIM Edmonton - Sarah's Reflections
Lesson 18
I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my seeing.
Sarah's Commentary:
This Lesson continues with the idea that our thoughts are not neutral. They have an effect. They are the cause of what we experience. Not only that, but our thoughts affect all minds.
"The idea for today is another step in learning that the thoughts which give rise to what you see are never neutral or unimportant. It also emphasizes the idea that minds are joined, which will be given increasing stress later on."
(W.18.1.1-2) A lot can be said about the fact that minds are joined, but Jesus is just introducing the subject right now. Suffice it to say, we are not these separate, independent, private minds we believe we are. There is just one Son that seemed to split into billions of pieces. The memory of God's Love is still in each part of the separated Son, as is the thought of sin and guilt that comes from the meaningless thought that we could be separate from His Love.
I like how Ken Wapnick describes this. He says that right at the beginning we were like one huge pane of glass, which seemed to shatter, but before it shattered, the memory of God's Love was already imprinted in the glass. When we seemed to fragment, the whole thing shattered into billions and billions of fragments--the entire physical universe. The memory of God's Love is still within each fragment, and that memory is totally unified. Despite the seeming fragmentation in this dream, in which we all seem to be separate, the reality is we are all one. From the point of view of the fragmented pane of glass, we appear to be very different, but from the point of view of the Holy Spirit, a reminder of our Oneness, we are simply having a silly dream. Obviously, to us it is not silly because we take it very seriously, and clearly in the illusion there can be tragic consequences for us.
The reflection of our Oneness is when we see we are all the same. When we see ourselves and others as different and separate, we make comparisons. We judge and see ourselves worse or better than others. We vie for specialness at the expense of others.
"You who believe that God is fear made but one substitution. It has taken many forms, because it was the substitution of illusion for truth; of fragmentation for wholeness. It has become so splintered and subdivided and divided again, over and over, that it is now almost impossible to perceive it once was one, and still is what it was. That one error, which brought truth to illusion, infinity to time, and life to death, was all you ever made. Your whole world rests upon it. Everything you see reflects it, and every special relationship that you have ever made is part of it."
(T.18.I.4)(ACIM OE T.18.II.4) Is it any wonder our experience seems so complex and challenging here?
We have taken the simple truth and seemingly shattered into this complex array of problems. "
This fragment of your mind is such a tiny part of it that, could you but appreciate the whole, you would see instantly that it is like the smallest sunbeam to the sun, or like the faintest ripple on the surface of the ocean."
(T.18.VIII.3.3)(ACIM OE T.18.IX.73) The problem is,
"In its amazing arrogance, this tiny sunbeam has decided it is the sun; this almost imperceptible ripple hails itself as the ocean."
(T.18.VIII.3.4)(ACIM OE T.18.IX.73) With this decision, God becomes our enemy and we fear Him. The reality is we are simply an aspect of the one picture that has never been broken and we can't be apart from God.
"Without the sun the sunbeam would be gone; the ripple without the ocean is inconceivable."
(T.18.VIII.4.6)(ACIM OE T.18.IX.74) All of this is being played out in
"The tiny tick of time in which the first mistake was made, and all of them within that one mistake, held also the Correction for that one, and all of them that came within the first."
(T.26.V.3.5)(ACIM OE T.26.VI.32)
"What is the world except a little gap perceived to tear eternity apart and break it into days and months and years? And what are you who live within the world except a picture of the Son of God in broken pieces, each concealed within a separate and uncertain bit of clay?"
(T.28.III.7)(ACIM OE T.28.IV.34)
This Lesson reinforces the fact that thinking is the cause and seeing is the effect, but they appear simultaneous, which is why it is difficult to see thought as the cause of what we perceive. The ego tells us it is the events, circumstances, people and situations in our lives that cause us to react or think in a certain way. This is how the ego tricks us. It reverses cause and effect, which is easily achieved because of the simultaneous appearance of these events. This is why we believe that the world is acting on us, rather than our thoughts are impacting our world.
Now we are in the process of undoing our belief in this dream. It is the belief that we can be separate from each other and there is a gap between us and our brothers. Each of us can now do our part in healing the guilt that has come as a result of our belief that we could separate from God. The guilt arose as a result of our belief that we shattered Heaven and stole God's gifts, taking His role onto ourselves. To heal this guilt requires us to look at it, since we can't heal what we don't acknowledge in ourselves. When we see a brother as guilty, we have an opportunity to see it is our own guilt we have projected onto our brother. As we bring the guilt back into our own minds, it can now be put on the altar of light where it is healed.
Because our reality is one Self, our minds are in constant communication. How could it be otherwise when there really is only one Mind? All of us have experiences of this at different times. For example, we may be thinking of someone and they call, or we release our condemnation of someone and they respond with kindness instead of counterattack. However, in spite of this kind of evidence to the contrary, we still believe that we can have private thoughts and our thoughts are contained in separated minds, locked in separated bodies. Jesus says,
"You see yourself locked in a separate prison, removed and unreachable, incapable of reaching out as being reached."
(T.18.VI.7.5)(ACIM OE T.18.VII.55)
"The body is a limit imposed on the universal communication that is an eternal property of mind. But the communication is internal. Mind reaches to itself. It is not made up of different parts, which reach each other. It does not go out. Within itself it has no limits, and there is nothing outside it. It encompasses everything. It encompasses you entirely; you within it and it within you. There is nothing else, anywhere or ever."
(T.18.VI.8.3-11)(ACIM OE T.18.VII.56) Then we read something even more startling to think about, where Jesus says,
"The body is outside you, and but seems to surround you, shutting you off from others and keeping you apart from them, and them from you. It is not there."
(T-18.VI.8 )(ACIM OE T.18.VII.57) Thus, the body is a projection of the mind, and while we identify with it, we think we are it.
Our belief that we are separate and different from each other is illusion. Our minds are always joined and always in communication. What I am thinking affects not only you but everyone. That is why I bring peace to all minds when I bring peace to my mind, because there is only one Mind. We see this with the shift that takes place in the mind as a result of the miracle. This also explains the impact of prayer as well as of healing experiences as a result of the joining of minds in a single purpose.
"A miracle is never lost. It may touch many people you have not even met, and produce undreamed of changes in situations of which you are not even aware."
(T-1.I.45.1-2)(ACIM OE T.1.I.73).
Can you imagine the impact we can each have on the world by healing our thoughts and opening to more and more of the love that is our natural inheritance? A healed mind can have such an awesome powerful healing influence on the world. We have many wonderful examples of this with symbols like Jesus and Buddha as well as many healed masters. They are the symbols for us of what a healed mind can reflect back to us in reminding us of the truth about ourselves.
In this Lesson, we learn that thoughts do have an effect and they are not confined to ourselves, but affect everyone. This can be very motivating in realizing the impact of our thoughts and also in bringing peace by healing our current way of seeing. It also means, no matter how nice we are to others, if we have negative, hateful thoughts in our minds, that is what we will communicate. This is not about changing our behavior, for behavior will simply follow our thoughts. Our thoughts need to be healed, and the importance of healing these thoughts is they affect everyone. If I have hateful thoughts toward my partner, they affect you and everyone because there is just this one Mind. My grievances have an effect on everyone including me!
Finally, Jesus says,
"Today's idea does not refer to what you see as much as to how you see it. Therefore, the exercises for today emphasize this aspect of your perception."
(W.18.2.1-2) We start with our interpretation, which gives rise to how we see, and also with the idea that we actually want to see a world that victimizes us. This means, we actually set it up for others to hurt, abandon, and victimize us, so that the belief we are at the effect of what others do is reinforced. It comes from our wish not to take responsibility for the separation, but rather to see God abandoning us, making Him responsible. The story of victimhood becomes our story, and we look to others for support for it, but it never heals the pain in our minds when we keep the story going. Yet the ego has set it up this way so we will see the world as the cause of our pain. Why would we want to see a world that causes us pain? We do this because then we don't have to see our own angry, vengeful, murderous thoughts. We would rather see the world as the cause of our pain, rather than our own thoughts.
Thus, we project responsibility for our situation onto others and feel we are not responsible. Now we can claim our own innocence, while seeing guilt in others. Thus, our hope is that God will punish them for the 'crime' of separation, and we will get off scot-free, but the cost to us is we keep our guilt and pain. Jesus is showing us a way out, but since we are so invested in our way of seeing, the reversal of our thought system will take great vigilance, time and practice.
"Now you must learn that only infinite patience produces immediate effects."
(T.5.VI.12.1)(ACIM OE T.5.VIII.81)
For the practice, we take one minute or less, three or four times today. We look around randomly selecting subjects, and keeping your eyes on each one long enough to say:
"I am not alone in experiencing the effects of how I see________."
Conclude each practice period by repeating the more general statement:
"I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my seeing." (W.18.3.2-4)
Remember, we are moving from the specific application to more generalization. We will learn that all of our perceptions are the same and all are based on the same meaningless thought that I could be separate from all there is.
Love and blessings, Sarah
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II. The Reinterpretation of Defenses
continued
36 The Atonement is the
only defense which cannot be used destructively. That is because, while everyone must eventually join it, it is
not a device which was generated by man. The Atonement
principle was in effect long before the Atonement itself began. The principle was love, and the Atonement itself was an
act of love. Acts were not necessary before the separation because the time-space belief did not exist. It was only after the separation that the defense of Atonement and the necessary conditions for its fulfillment were planned.
37 It became increasingly apparent that all of the defenses which man can choose to use constructively
or destructively were not enough to save him. It was therefore decided that he needed a defense which was so splendid that he could not misuse it, although he
could refuse it. His choice could not, however, turn it into a weapon of attack, which is the inherent characteristic of all other defenses. The Atonement thus becomes the
only defense which is
not a two-edged sword.
38 The Atonement actually began long before the crucifixion. Many Souls offered their efforts on behalf of the separated ones, but they could not withstand the strength of the attack and had to be brought back. Angels came, too, but their protection did not suffice because the separated ones were not interested in peace. They had already split their minds and were bent on further dividing rather than reintegrating. The levels they introduced into their minds turned against each other, and they established differences, divisions, cleavages, dispersions, and all the other concepts related to the increasing splits which they produced.
39 Not being in their right minds, they turned their defenses from protection to assault and acted literally insanely. It was essential to introduce a split-proof device which could be used
only to heal, if it were used at all. The Atonement was built into the space-time belief in order to set a limit on the need for the belief and ultimately to make learning complete. The Atonement
is the final lesson. Learning itself, like the classrooms in which it occurs, is temporary. The ability to learn has no value when change of understanding is no longer necessary. The eternally creative have nothing to learn. Only after the separation was it necessary to direct the creative forces to learning because changed behavior had become mandatory.
40 Men can learn to improve their behavior and can also learn to become better and better learners. This serves to bring them into closer and closer accord with the Sonship, but the Sonship itself is a perfect creation, and perfection is
not a matter of degree. Only while there are different degrees is learning meaningful. The "evolution" of man is merely a process by which he proceeds from one degree to the next. He corrects his previous missteps by stepping forward. This represents a process which is actually incomprehensible in temporal terms because he
returns as he goes forward.
41 The Atonement is the device by which he can free himself from the past as he goes ahead. It
undoes his past errors, thus making it unnecessary for him to keep retracing his steps without advancing to his return. In this sense the Atonement saves time, but like the miracle which serves, it does
not abolish it. As long as there is need for Atonement, there is need for time. But the Atonement as a completed plan does have a unique relationship
to time. Until the Atonement is finished, its various phases will proceed
in time, but the whole Atonement stands at time's end. At this point, the bridge of the return has been built.
42 The Atonement is a
total commitment. You still think this is associated with loss. This is the same mistake
all the separated ones make in one way or another. They cannot believe that a defense which cannot attack
is the best defense. This is what is meant by "the meek shall inherit the earth." They will literally take it over because of their strength. A two-way defense is inherently weak precisely
because it has two edges and can turn against the self very unexpectedly. This tendency cannot be controlled
except by miracles.
43 The miracle turns the defense of Atonement to the protection of the inner self, which, as it becomes more and more secure, assumes its natural talent of protecting others. The inner self knows itself as both a brother
and a Son. You know that when defenses are disrupted, there is a period of real disorientation accompanied by fear, guilt, and usually vacillations between anxiety and depression. This course is different in that defenses are
not being disrupted but
reinterpreted, even though you may experience it as the same thing. In the reinterpretation of defenses, only their use for
attack is lost. Since this means they can be used only
one way, they become much stronger and much more dependable. They no longer oppose the Atonement but greatly facilitate it.
44 The Atonement can only be accepted
within you. You have perceived it largely as
external thus far, and that is why your experience of it has been minimal. The reinterpretation of defenses is essential in releasing the
inner light. Since the separation, man's defenses have been used almost entirely to defend himself
against the Atonement and thus maintain the separation. They themselves generally see this as a need to protect the
body. The many body fantasies with which men's minds are engaged arise from the distorted belief that the body can be used as a means for attaining "atonement."
45 Perceiving the body as a temple is only the first step in correcting this kind of distortion. It alters part of the misperception but not all of it. It
does recognize, however, that the concept of Atonement in physical terms is not appropriate. However, the next step is to realize that a temple is not a building at all. Its
real holiness lies in the
inner altar around which the building is built. The inappropriate emphasis men have put on beautiful church buildings is a sign of their
fear of Atonement and their unwillingness to reach the altar itself. The
real beauty of the temple cannot be seen with the physical eye. The Spiritual eye, on the other hand, cannot see the building at all because it has perfect sight. It
can, however, see the altar with perfect clarity.
46 For perfect effectiveness, the Atonement belongs at the center of the inner altar, where it undoes the separation and restores the wholeness of the mind. Before the separation, the mind was invulnerable to fear because fear did not exist. Both the separation
and the fear are miscreations of the mind which must be undone. This is what is meant by "the restoration of the temple." It does not mean the restoration of the building but the opening of the altar to receive the Atonement. This heals the separation and places
within man the one defense against
all separation mind-errors which can make him perfectly invulnerable.
47 The acceptance of the Atonement by everyone is only a matter of time. In fact, both time
and matter were created for this purpose. This appears to contradict free will because of the inevitability of the final decision. If you review the idea carefully, however, you will realize that this is not true. Everything is limited in some way by the manner of its creation. Free will can temporize and is capable of enormous procrastination. But it cannot depart entirely from its Creator, Who set the limits on its ability to miscreate by virtue of its own
real purpose.
48 The misuse of will engenders a situation which in the extreme becomes altogether intolerable. Pain thresholds can be high, but they are not limitless. Eventually everyone begins to recognize, however dimly, that there
must be a better way. As this recognition becomes more firmly established, it becomes a perceptual turning-point. This ultimately reawakens the Spiritual eye, simultaneously weakening the investment in physical sight. The alternating investment in the two types or levels of perception is usually experienced as conflict for a long time and can become very acute, but the outcome is as certain as God.
49 The Spiritual eye literally
cannot see error and merely looks for Atonement. All the solutions which the physical eyes seek dissolve in its sight. The Spiritual eye, which looks within, recognizes immediately that the altar has been defiled and needs to be repaired and protected. Perfectly aware of the
right defense, It passes over all others, looking past error to truth. Because of the real strength of
Its vision, It pulls the will into Its service and impels the mind to concur. This reestablishes the true power of the will and makes it increasingly unable to tolerate delay. The mind then realizes with increasing certainty that delay is only a way of increasing unnecessary pain, which it need not tolerate at all. The pain threshold drops accordingly, and the mind becomes increasingly sensitive to what it would once have regarded as very minor intrusions of discomfort.
50 The Children of God are
entitled to perfect comfort, which comes from a sense of perfect trust. Until they achieve this, they waste themselves and their true creative powers on useless attempts to make themselves more comfortable by inappropriate means. But the real means is
already provided and does not involve any effort at all on their part. Their egocentricity usually misperceives this as personally insulting, an interpretation which obviously arises from their misperception of themselves. Egocentricity and communion
cannot coexist. Even the terms are contradictory.
51 The Atonement is the only gift that is worthy of being offered to the altar of God. This is because of the inestimable value of the altar itself. It was created perfect and is entirely worthy of receiving perfection. God
is lonely without His Souls, and
they are lonely without Him. Men must learn to perceive the world as a means of
healing the separation. The Atonement is the
guarantee that they will ultimately succeed.
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