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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
CH 2 "THE ILLUSION OF SEPARATION"
II. THE REINTERPRETATION OF DEFENSES
35 The means are easier to clarify after the value of the goal itself is firmly established. Everyone defends his own treasure. You do not have to tell him to do so because he will do it automatically. The real questions still remain.
What do you treasure, and
how much do you treasure it? Once you have learned to consider these two questions and to bring them into
all your actions as the true criteria for behavior, I will have little difficulty in clarifying the means. You have not learned to be consistent about this as yet. I have therefore concentrated on showing you that the means
are available whenever you
ask. You can, however, save a lot of time if you do not extend this step unduly. The correct focus will shorten it immeasurably.
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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 17
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio
1 This idea is another step in the direction of identifying cause and effect as it really operates. You see no neutral things because you have no neutral thoughts. It is always the thought that comes first, despite the temptation to believe that it is really the other way around. This is not the way the world thinks, but you must learn that it is the way you think. If it were not so, perception would have no cause and would itself be the cause of reality. In view of its highly variable nature, this is hardly likely.
2 In applying today's idea, say to yourself, with eyes open:
3
I see no neutral things because I have no neutral thoughts.
4 Then look about you, resting your glance on each thing that catches your eye long enough to say:
5
I do not see a neutral _____, because my thoughts
about _____ are not neutral.
6 For example, you might say:
7
I do not see a neutral wall, because my thoughts
about walls are not neutral.
I do not see a neutral body, because my thoughts
about bodies are not neutral.
8 As usual, it is essential to make no distinction between what you believe to be animate or inanimate, pleasant or unpleasant. Regardless of what you may believe, you do not see anything which is really alive and really joyous. That is because you are unaware as yet of any thoughts which are really true and therefore really happy.
9 Three or four specific practice periods are recommended and no less than three are required for maximum benefit even if you experience resistance. However, if you do, the length of the practice period may be reduced to less than the minute or so which is otherwise recommended.
~ Original Hand Script of ACIM
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ACIM Edmonton - Sarah's Reflections
Sarah's Commentary:
This Lesson continues to look at the relationship between what you think (cause) and what you see (effect). The truth is people, objects, and events outside of ourselves do not cause our perceptions. What we see is determined by our thoughts. What we believe we see and experience are the effects of our thoughts. We have a thought, and as a result of the thought in our mind, we project that thought onto the world of people, situations, things and events and see our thoughts reflected there. Yet we have forgotten. The cause is in our minds. We think the world is the cause and we are the effect. Thus, we feel like a victim of this world and helpless in the face of events, people and circumstances acting on us.
And so we wonder, "How did I get here (on this planet)?" "How did it happen that I have the parents that I do?" "Why am I so unhappy?" We don't see it is all our own decision. We truly have come to believe that none of this is our choice and that it is because of events outside of our own power that we feel and think as we do. This is a result of our free will whereby we chose to separate from God, but we do not want to take responsibility for that choice. Instead, we project our decision to separate onto God and now we see Him as abandoning us. It is how we have reversed cause and effect. This reversal forms our belief that the world is acting on us and there is nothing we can do about it. If this were the case, we truly would be victims of our circumstances, but all of this was set up by the ego to keep us in this illusion. If all the power were with outside events and circumstances, we would indeed be powerless.
What if we truly have been wrong, as Jesus says we are? "If it were not so, perception would have no cause, and would itself be the cause of reality. In view of its highly variable nature, this is hardly likely." (W.17.1.5-6) In other words, the world of perception would then be real and would be the cause of our experience, and there would be nothing we could do about it. We would then be caught in hopelessness. Now the conditions of the world become real, as does suffering and death. When we realize our minds are the cause, then there is something we can do to be released from this hopeless cycle of birth and death. Now Jesus is telling us that indeed there is a way out if we are willing to admit we have been wrong. "This is not the way the world thinks, but you must learn that it is the way you think." (W.17.1.4)
We have come to trust our way of seeing the world. The perpetrators of our experience are seen "out there." We trust our senses, and thus think that what we see and experience is the truth. We may wonder why we feel the way we do and start to look for the causes of these feelings, and what do we do? We start to look for things in the world we believe caused these feelings of anger, depression, sadness or happiness. We blame others for attacking us, betraying us, hurting us, upsetting us, etc. We are convinced the cause is outside ourselves, and not our own thoughts. We want to make sense of the snippets of things that have seemingly happened in our lives, so we tell a story that fits our experience. We weave it together in such a way that it seems to make rational sense.
For years, I told the story of victimization at the hands of my parents until one day the question put to me was, "What if I had chosen them?" What if they were absolutely perfect for what I came to this planet to learn? Contemplating this possibility changed everything for me, so that I am now very grateful for the events of my life. Increasingly, I see it is my script that serves my highest good. Though often painful to the ego, I can now see it is all for my awakening when used for this purpose.
Jesus is trying to help us see, nothing we see or interpret is the truth. Nothing! We are wrong about everything. It is impossible to see this until we are ready to admit our way does not work, no matter how hard we try to get our needs met, and no matter how much we try to avoid pain. At some point, we become motivated to listen to what Jesus is trying to help us see, but it is a process, and not an easy one for us. We will have many opportunities to help us in this regard. "Trials are but lessons that you failed to learn presented once again, so where you made a faulty choice before you now can make a better one, and thus escape all pain that what you chose before has brought to you." (T.31.VIII.3.1)(ACIM OE T.31.VIII.87) That is such an encouraging thought!
We are learning to see that our thoughts are where the power is, and not what others do. This is a reversal of how we think now. I find it helpful to think of myself as the director of this play of my life. I wrote the script for these characters in my dream. They just act out the script written by me. In my play, there are special people that take center stage. Some I love to hate, and others I think I love, but they hurt me, betray me and upset me, sometimes fulfilling my needs, and other times failing my requirements. They are the most difficult characters in my play. Then there are the irritating minor roles---the inconsiderate clerk in the store, the guy who cut me off in traffic, or the person who put graffiti on my wall---you get the picture. I keep forgetting that I wrote the scrip, and these are all my thoughts projected out and reflecting my own thoughts back to me. While I am seeing their actions as independent of my thoughts, there is nothing I can do. I think what I am seeing is a fact. After all, I am seeing it with my own eyes. I can make a convincing case that all of this is exactly the way it is. And every time I see it that way, I am telling Jesus he is wrong in what he says. I am telling him I am right about the way I see the situation and furthermore, I have the evidence and am prepared to make my case. Do you see how we do this over and over again every time we justify our feelings of being victimized?
Jesus tells us, "It is always the thought that comes first, despite the temptation to believe that it is the other way around." (W.17.1.3) This is the whole basis for forgiveness. To forgive is to see my own judgments and take responsibility that what I see in the world is a reflection of my thoughts. Now I have the power to change those thoughts. I can choose to look at my brother as the ego directs, which is to judge, attack and see guilt 'out there'. Or I could choose the Holy Spirit as my Guide and Teacher, and look within at my own condemning thoughts. While this is empowering, it is also difficult. Daily we find ourselves reacting to the external, but we must not judge ourselves for our mistakes. It is just another opportunity to recognize what we have done and give our judgments to the Holy Spirit. Being mindful as to how we are constantly pushing this teaching away and reacting to the external will help us to see how much we resist this idea. The ego set it up for us so we would never change our minds and be stuck in this cycle of sin, guilt and fear through myriad lifetimes, living at the mercy of a cruel world, suffering and dying with no hope of ever knowing true joy and peace.
Perception is an effect, caused by our own thoughts. Our perception is so variable, because our thoughts are so variable. One day, we see someone as very difficult. Then we change our minds and see we were wrong in what we saw previously. We can see the "highly variable nature" (W.17.1.6) of our perceptions. We can see the same person through judgment one day or through forgiveness the next, and thus it becomes a different picture we see. While perception is highly variable, reality is changeless.
The purpose of the Course is to help us see the sameness in all illusions. Some problems are not bigger than others, even though it appears so to us. Until we recognize that all illusions are the same, we find some more difficult than others. They have no meaning except the meaning we give them. Some we prefer more than others. Some we see as more difficult than others. Just as there is no hierarchy of illusions, there is also no hierarchy when it comes to miracles. The miracle does not regard some illusions more difficult or harder to address than others. "There is no order of difficulty in miracles. One is not 'harder' or 'bigger' than another. They are all the same. All expressions of love are maximal." (T.1.I.1.1)
"Regardless of what you may believe, you do not see anything that is really alive or really joyous. That is because you are unaware as yet of any thought that is really true, and therefore really happy." (W.17.3.2-3) What an amazing statement! It is certainly radical for us, because we think of this experience as our life. Yet Jesus says, "What you have given 'life' is not alive, and symbolizes but your wish to be alive apart from life, alive in death, with death perceived as life, and living, death." (T.29.II.6.2 )(ACIM OE T.29.III.15) We are told in the Course that the body does not die because it has never lived. What the Course calls life is what can never die, which is our eternal Self. The body and world are the effect of our choice for the ego thought system of sin, guilt and fear, projected out. Sin is the past, guilt is the present, and fear of consequences is the future. Thus, in the ego thought system, suffering, aging and death are part of the reality of time and space. When we accept this as life, there is nothing we can do about it except live our lives as best we can, avoiding pain and seeking pleasure. However, what we are learning in this Course is that suffering and death are the result of our thought system. We will come to know our innocent, eternal Self, which cannot suffer or die, when we learn to identify with the thought system of this teaching, rather than with that of the ego.
Nothing we see is true. Only God's thoughts are true. Only what God created is real. God created perfect love. Nothing real can be threatened (Spirit). Nothing unreal exists (body/form). Reality is everlasting, unchanging and true. Perceptions are temporary interpretations based on our beliefs, past experiences and associations. There is no objective world. There is only One Reality. There is only One Divine Mind and nothing apart from that. We believe we have separated from our Source, although this is not possible. What is possible is our lack of awareness of that connection. The belief we hold, that we have separated from our Source, has brought pain into our minds. The belief we have separated from God is the reason for our mountain of guilt, and this is what we now project.
More specifically, this Lesson is about helping us start to see that what we think determines what we see. Recently, as we were watching the news, Don and I were sharing our perceptions about what was said. I shared with him my judgment that one of the candidates for office (in my perception) had views that were dangerous and I didn't trust him. Don, on the other hand, saw him as benign. Who is right? Neither one of us is right. Obviously, our perceptions were not objective reality. They were, indeed, only the projections of the guilt in our own minds. "Nothing beyond yourself can make you fearful or loving, because nothing is beyond you. Time and eternity are both in your mind, and will conflict until you perceive time solely as a means to regain eternity. You cannot do this as long as you believe that anything happening to you is caused by factors outside yourself. You must learn that time is solely at your disposal, and that nothing in the world can take this responsibility from you." (T.10.in.1.1-4)(ACIM OE T.9.VIII.59)
Now for the practice for today, for one minute (or less if you feel a lot of resistance coming up), three or four times today with eyes open, say, "I see no neutral things because I have no neutral thoughts." (W.17.2.2) Then we look about and resting our glance on each thing we note long enough to say, "I do not see a neutral______, because my thoughts about ______ are not neutral." (W.17.2.4)
If you find you experience resistance, "the length of the practice period may be reduced to less than the minute or so that is otherwise recommended." (W.17.4.2) What a loving teacher we have who takes us through this process so gently, not asking us to strain. He recognizes this is challenging for us and we will have tremendous resistance. He does not wish for us to experience more guilt than we already have. He understands this idea runs contrary to everything we now believe. Noticing our fear and resistance can be helpful, so we can ask for help with it.
Love and blessings, Sarah
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PAUSED FOR WEEKEND
II. The Reinterpretation of Defenses
18 When you are afraid of
anything, you are acknowledging its power to hurt you. Remember that where your heart is, there is your treasure also. This means that you believe in what you
value. If you are afraid, you are
valuing wrongly. Human understanding will inevitably value wrongly and, by endowing all human thoughts with equal power, will inevitably
destroy peace. That is why the Bible speaks of "the peace of God which
passeth (human) understanding."
This peace is totally incapable of being shaken by human errors of
any kind. It denies the ability of
anything which is not of God to affect you in
any way.
19 This is the
proper use of denial. It is not used to
hide anything but to
correct error. It brings
all error into the light, and since error and darkness are the same, it corrects error automatically. True denial is a powerful protective device. You can and should deny any belief that error can hurt you. This kind of denial is not a concealment device but a correction device. The "right mind" of the mentally healthy
depends on it. You can do
anything I ask. I have asked you to perform miracles and have made it clear that miracles are
natural, corrective, healing, and universal. There is nothing good they cannot do, but they cannot be performed in the spirit of doubt.
20 God and the Souls He created are
completely dependent on each other. The creation of the Soul has already been perfectly accomplished, but the creation
by Souls has not. God created Souls so He could depend on them
because He created them perfectly. He gave them His peace so they could not be shaken and would be unable to be deceived. Whenever you are afraid, you
are deceived. Your mind is
not serving the Soul. This literally starves the Soul by denying its daily bread. God offers
only mercy.
Your words should reflect only mercy because that is what you have received, and that is what you should
give.
21 Justice is a temporary expedient or an attempt to teach man the meaning of mercy. Its judgmental side arises only because man is capable of
injustice if that is what his mind creates. You are afraid of God's Will because you have used your own will, which He created in the likeness of His own, to
miscreate. What you do
not realize is that the mind can miscreate
only when it is
not free. An imprisoned mind is not free by definition. It is possessed or held back by
itself. Its will is therefore limited and is not free to assert itself. The real meaning of "are of one kind," which was mentioned before, is "are of one mind or will." When the will of the Sonship and the Father are one, their perfect accord
is Heaven.
22 Denial of error is a powerful defense of truth. You will note that we have been shifting the emphasis from the negative to the positive use of denial. As we have already stated, denial is not a purely negative device; it results in positive miscreation. That is the way the mentally ill
do employ it. But remember a very early thought of your own-"Never underestimate the power of denial." In the service of the "right mind," the denial of
error frees the mind and reestablishes the freedom of the will. When the will is
really free, it
cannot miscreate because it recognizes
only truth.
23 False projection arises out of false denial,
not out of its proper use. My own role in the Atonement is one of
true projection; I can project to you the affirmation of truth. If you project error to me or to yourself, you are interfering with the process.
My use of projection, which can also be yours, is
not based on faulty denial. It
does involve, however, the very powerful use of the denial of errors. The miracle worker is one who accepts my kind of denial and projection, unites his own inherent abilities to deny and project with mine, and imposes them back on himself and others. This establishes the total
lack of threat anywhere. Together we can then work for the real time of peace, which is eternal.
24 The improper use of defenses is quite widely recognized, but their proper use had not been sufficiently understood as yet. They can
indeed create man's perception both of himself and of the world. They can distort or correct depending on what you use them
for.
25 Denial should be directed only to error, and projection should be reserved only for truth. You should truly give as you have truly received. The Golden Rule can work effectively only on this basis.
26 Intellectualization is a term which stems from the mind-brain confusion. "Right-mindedness" is the device which defends the
right mind and gives it control over the body. "Intellectualization" implies a split, while "right-mindedness" involves healing.
27 Withdrawal is properly employed in the service of withdrawing from the meaningless. It is
not a device for escape, but for consolidation. There
is only One Mind.
28 Dissociation is quite similar. You
should split off or dissociate yourself from error but only in defense of integration.
29 Detachment is essentially a weaker form of dissociation.
30 Flight can be undertaken in whatever direction you choose, but note that the concept itself implies flight
from something. Flight from error is perfectly appropriate.
31 Distantiation can be properly used as a way of putting distance between yourself and what you
should fly from.
32 Regression is an effort to return to your own original state. It can thus be utilized to
restore, rather than to go back to the
less mature.
33 Sublimation should be a redirection of effort to the sublime.
34 There are many other so-called "dynamic" concepts which are profound errors due essentially to the misuse of defenses. Among them is the concept of different levels of aspiration, which actually result from level confusion. However, the main point to be understood from this section is that you can defend truth as well as error and, in fact, much better.
35 The means are easier to clarify after the value of the goal itself is firmly established. Everyone defends his own treasure. You do not have to tell him to do so because he will do it automatically. The real questions still remain.
What do you treasure, and
how much do you treasure it? Once you have learned to consider these two questions and to bring them into
all your actions as the true criteria for behavior, I will have little difficulty in clarifying the means. You have not learned to be consistent about this as yet. I have therefore concentrated on showing you that the means
are available whenever you
ask. You can, however, save a lot of time if you do not extend this step unduly. The correct focus will shorten it immeasurably.
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