DAILY LESSON

 

L e s s o n  14

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¹The idea for today is, of course, the reason why a meaningless world is impossible. What God did not create does not exist. And everything that does exist exists as He created it. The world you see has nothing to do with reality. It is of your own making, and it does not exist. 

²The exercises for today are to be practiced with eyes closed throughout. The mind searching period should be short, a minute at most. Do not have more than three practice periods with today's idea unless you find them comfortable. If you do, it will be because you really understand what they are for. 

³The idea for today is another step in learning to let go the thoughts which you have written on the world, and see the Word of God in their place. The early steps in this exchange, which can truly be called salvation, can be quite difficult and even quite painful. Some of them will lead you directly into fear. You will not be left there. You will go far beyond it. Our direction is toward perfect safety and perfect peace. 

⁴With eyes closed, think of all the horrors in the world that cross your mind. Name each one as it occurs to you, and then deny its reality. God did not create it, and so it is not real. Say, for example: 

God did not create that disaster [specify], and so it is not real.

⁶Suitable subjects for the application of today's idea also include anything you are afraid might happen to you or to anyone about whom you are concerned. In each case, name the "disaster" quite specifically. Do not use general terms. For example, do not say, "God did not create illness," but, "God did not create cancer," or heart attacks, or whatever may arouse fear in you. 

⁷This is your personal repertory of horrors at which you are looking. These things are part of the world you see. Some of them are shared illusions, and others are part of your personal hell. It does not matter. What God did not create can only be in your own mind apart from His. Therefore, it has no meaning. In recognition of this fact, conclude the practice periods by repeating today's idea: 

⁸God did not create a meaningless world. 

⁹The idea for today can, of course, be applied to anything that disturbs you during the day, aside from the practice periods. Be very specific in applying it. Say: 

which is disturbing you], and so it is not real.

ACIM Edmonton - Sarah's Reflections 

 LESSON 14      

Yesterday we read in the lesson that "nothing without meaning exists." So a meaningless world cannot exist because the only thing that is real is the eternal, the formless; that which has no limits; that which is perfect. Therefore the world of time, space, bodies, anything of this world cannot be real because the world is a place of limitation, always changing and forever imperfect. Thus God would not have created any of it. It is all of our own making. Everything else, but what God created as eternal, is an illusion. None of it is anything but a projection of our meaningless thoughts. While this is very hard for us to accept, because this world seems very real and solid and our identities seem to be who we are, to me,  it is a relief that I do not have to try to reconcile the death, destruction and injustices of this world, with God's Love.

But if God is not responsible for the pain and suffering in the world, then who is?  We are. We are told in the course that it is it is all made up. The source of it is our own thoughts. It is all a dream of our own making. It is a projection of our thought system of sin, guilt and fear. It is an experience of duality which can't exist because Oneness is all there is. God is perfect Oneness and perfect love. Nothing outside of that perfection exists. And that is precisely the Thought that we are so defended against. Our defenses protect what we have made and what we now give value to. Our only way back to the truth of who we are, is to negate that which is not the truth. It is removing that which blocks the love that we are. And those blocks can only be removed when we bring awareness to them and when we put them on the altar to light. What we hide from Love, cannot be healed.

The idea that we are somehow responsible for all of this can be hard to take and can make us feel very guilty. But if we truly are responsible for the events of this world then we have the power to change our minds. We can make new choices. We can heal our minds by recognizing our defenses and thus exposing the ego. As the ego is exposed, we see what it is up to and we can then choose to bring our mistaken perceptions to the light of truth. We are not helpless victims. I find that to be an empowering thought. I am also relieved to think of God as only love, only eternal, and never responsible for the messes of this world. Our unhealed minds have made it all up and now we are taking small steps, as we progress through these lessons, so that our minds can be healed of our mistaken perceptions.

Think about it-if God is only love then His nature cannot bring about destruction. However, if we try to figure out God's nature from what we see as the wars and disasters in the world then we need to reconcile a loving God with a wrathful God which is what most religions have tried to do. Thus, God's nature is not being determined by what He actually is, as all loving, but by what we try to impose on Him from what we see around us. This is actually the God of the ego and reflects the third law of chaos. In that law we tell God what He is.  "For if God cannot be mistaken, He must accept His Son's belief in what he is, and hate him for it," (T. 23.II.6.5) meaning that we tell God who he is and he must accept our definition of Him.

So the lesson denies that anything that is not of God can have any reality or be of his making. We think of denial as a negative thing yet in Chapter 2 Jesus talks of the positive use of denial. He tells us that we have been using defenses against the Atonement, meaning that we have been setting up defenses against the truth by investing belief in the reality of the body and the world. He now urges us to use denial as a way of affirming that anything not of God can have any affect on us. Thus the disasters of this world or of our lives really can't have any real affect on us because they are just part of this dream. Clearly they can affect us in the dream but we are not in the dream. The mind is outside of the dream and not affected by what seems to be happening in the dream, not unlike what our sleeping dreams show us.

We are learning to allow our minds to be opened to what lies beyond the concrete world of bodies, form, time and space. We are opening our minds to the truth of who we are as eternal beings who are, and always have been, innocent. We do this by letting go of the thoughts that we have written on this world. "The idea for today is another step in learning to let go the thoughts that you have written on the world, and see the Word of God in their place." (3.1)   Jesus understands that this can bring up a lot of fear for us. But he assures us that we will not be left in fear. We just need to transition through the fear and doubt thoughts by acknowledging and releasing them.  So it is a journey through the darkness to the light.

There is no way around the darkness. Trying to do a spiritual bypass will not work. We have to look at our judgments, our grievances, our anger, our control, our worry thoughts, our shame and guilt, and all of the ways we try to protect and defend ourselves.  "Some of them will lead you directly into fear.  You will not be left there. You will go far beyond it. Our direction is toward perfect safety and perfect peace." (3.3-6)  We need to trust that    there is a way out of this cycle of sin, guilt and fear that we live daily. But the way out is not through affirmations, not through manifestations, but by being willing to look at how our ego shows up in the world. What do I value more than love? How do I try to win at someone's expense? How do I see myself as different than, and better than, my brother? How much do I want to justify my positions? How much do I want to hold onto past grievances? What is the payoff for me for withholding forgiveness? What does my salvation (happiness) depend on? What am I invested in having my way?

 It is not helpful to our awakening to deny and resist the fear. It is the way to rediscover the truth of ourselves as the love that we are. We have made up images of a world of separation that is not real. We feel separate and alone and in competition with each other. And none of it is the truth. It is just a mind that has gone to sleep and is now dreaming of exile from its Source. But it is, nevertheless a dream. 

We are all here doing these lessons because we have the willingness to undertake this journey back to our Selves.  Yes, resistance to the ideas will come up but don't let that stop you. Jesus is very gentle with us. He does not make demands of us which is why he asks us to be gentle with ourselves. Notice that your ego is the tyrant. It is the voice that makes demands of you. Jesus is gentle with us because he knows that these lessons challenge us. Our minds have been conditioned to cover over our fears and anxieties and be strong in the face of adversity. We are reluctant to expose our hate and our murderous thoughts. We cover them over by pretending they are small irritations, slight impatience, occasional anger, little annoyances. We  justify these feelings in the face of what we think others have done to us. I told Don this morning that a broadcaster's voice irritated me as I was watching TV. But I immediately recognized that the irritation was in me already. It was simply being exposed. A peaceful mind, which is what we are, can't be irritated. This is what makes the course so difficult. We don't want to take responsibility for everything believing instead that our reactions are triggered by outside events. We want to put the guilt for how we feel on others when in fact, it is our own guilt projected out. If I can see others responsible, then I can feel innocent. But this is a false innocence.  

The lesson today asks us to think of all of the horrors of the world, name each one and then deny its reality because God did not create it so it is not real. Closer to home, we are also asked to look at what we are afraid might happen to us specifically and to anyone we are concerned about and affirm that God did not create any of it. This is "part of your personal hell." (6.3). Other disasters are a reflection of our "shared illusions."  (6.3)  This is what we all uphold as true. So the wars, death and destruction all are part of our shared illusion while my fears about my health, my future, my ability to share this message all becomes part of my personal thought system, none of which is real.  Just because a billion people share in these beliefs  it does not make them true.

Your mind might be rebelling at this point with "what do you mean none of this is real?" You may be experiencing a very painful illness or a painful divorce which certainly feels real. The news of disasters feels real. The death of someone dear to us feels real. But personally I find it reassuring that none of it is God's creation but of our own making and thus we can let the Holy Spirit give everything His interpretation. He can bring new perspective to what we think we are seeing and believing. I love this story which is all about perspective as it shows us that there is always another way to see everything,  and as we do, our perspective changes. Here it is:

 One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to a farm with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip? "It was great, Dad."  "Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked.  

"Oh yeah," said the son.  "So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.  

The son answered:  "I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others.  

We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them." The boy's father was speechless. Then his son added, "Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are."  

 Isn't perspective a wonderful thing? Makes you wonder what would happen if we all were able to be in a state of gratitude. Should I be grateful for the difficulties in my life? Increasingly I am finding that I am seeing them as opportunities to look at my responses and recognize that I can choose again.

So, today, as well as practicing this lesson as described, we are also reminded that we can use this thought anytime during the day when we feel a loss of peace or are disturbed by anything that happens in the day. I am disturbed by a huge increase in my tax assessment on my property. I can apply this lesson today to my disturbance by reminding myself that God did not create a meaningless world. He did not create this disturbing tax situation. God has nothing to do with any of it. Notice how often when difficulties arise that we ask God how He could allow this to happen? Why would we turn to such a God for comfort? Isn't it more assuring to know that He is not responsible for anything but the Love that is always available regardless of our perceived problems? And so we undertake this lesson to help us see that the interpretations we put on this world, and as a result on ourselves as well as on God, are wrong.

Love and blessings, Sarah 

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Quotes in this article are from Foundation for Inner Peace edition; To locate the same quotes in the 'Original Edition', use this link:  http://www.jcim.net/acim_us/Acim.php    

A Course in Miracles   
TEXT 

Chapter Two

The Illusion of Separation

I. Introduction   

¹ This section deals with a fundamental misuse of knowledge, referred to in the Bible as the cause of the "fall," or separation. There are some definitions which I asked you to take from the dictionary which will be helpful here. They are somewhat unusual since they are not the first definitions which are given. Nevertheless, the fact that each of them does appear in the dictionary should be reassuring.

² Project (verb): to extend forward or out.
  Project (noun): a plan in the mind.
  World: a natural grand division.

³ We will refer later to projection as related to both mental health and mental illness. We have already observed that man can create an empty shell, but he cannot create nothing at all. This emptiness provides the screen for the misuse of projection.

⁴ The Garden of Eden, which is described as a literal garden in the Bible, was not an actual garden at all. It was merely a mental state of complete need-lack. Even in the literal account, it is noteworthy that the pre-separation state was essentially one in which man needed nothing. The "tree of knowledge" is also an overly literal figure. These concepts need to be clarified before the real meaning of the separation, or the "detour into fear," can be fully understood.

⁵ To "project," as defined above, is a fundamental attribute of God which He gave to His Son. In the creation, God projected His creative ability from Himself to the Souls He created, and He also imbued them with the same loving will to create. The Soul has not only been fully created but has also been created perfect. There is no emptiness in it. Because of its likeness to its Creator, it is creative. No Child of God can lose this ability because it is inherent in what he is, but he can use it inappropriately. Whenever projection is used inappropriately, it always implies that some emptiness or lack exists and that it is in man's ability to put his own ideas there instead of truth.

⁶ If you consider carefully what this entails, the following will become quite apparent:

⁷ First, the assumption is implicit that what God created can be changed by the mind of man.

⁸ Second, the concept that what is perfect can be rendered imperfect or wanting is accepted.

⁹ Third, the belief that man can distort the creations of God, including himself, is accepted.

¹⁰ Fourth, the idea that since man can create himself, the direction of his own creation is up to him is implied.

¹¹ These related distortions represent a picture of what actually occurred in the separation. None of this existed before, nor does it actually exist now. The world was made as "a natural grand division," or a projecting outward of God. That is why everything that He created is like Him. Projection, as undertaken by God, is very similar to the kind of inner radiance which the Children of the Father inherit from Him. It is important to note that the term "project outward" necessarily implies that the real source of projection is internal. This is as true of the Son as of the Father.

¹² The world, in the original connotation of the term, included both the proper creation of man by God and the proper creation by man in his right mind. The latter required the endowment of man by God with free will because all loving creation is freely given. Nothing in these statements implies any sort of level involvement or in fact anything except one continuous line of creation in which all aspects are of the same order.

¹³ When the "lies of the serpent" were introduced, they were specifically called "lies" because they are not true. When man listened, all he heard was untruth. He does not have to continue to believe what is not true unless he chooses to do so. All of his miscreations can literally disappear in "the twinkling of an eye" because they are merely visual misperceptions. Man's Spiritual eye can sleep, but a sleeping eye can still see. What is seen in dreams seems to be very real. The Bible mentions that "a deep sleep fell upon Adam," and nowhere is there any reference to his waking up.

¹⁴ The history of man in the world as he sees it has not yet been marked by any genuine or comprehensive reawakening or rebirth. This is impossible as long as man projects in the spirit of miscreation. It still remains within him, however, to project as God projected His own Spirit to him. In reality, this is his only choice because his free will was given him for his own joy in creating the perfect.

¹⁵ All fear is ultimately reducible to the basic misperception that man has the ability to usurp the power of God. It can only be emphasized that he neither can nor has been able to do this. In this fact lies the real justification for his escape from fear. The escape is brought about by his acceptance of the Atonement, which places him in a position to realize that his own errors never really occurred. When the "deep sleep" fell upon Adam, he was in a condition to experience nightmares because he was asleep. If a light is suddenly turned on while someone is dreaming a fearful dream, he may initially interpret the light itself as a part of his own dream and be afraid of it. However, when he awakens the light is correctly perceived as the release from the dream, which is no longer accorded reality.

¹⁶ It is quite apparent that this release does not depend on the kind of "knowledge" which is nothing more than deceiving lies. The knowledge which illuminates rather than obscures is the knowledge which not only sets you free, but which also shows you clearly that you are free. Whatever lies you may believe are of no concern to the miracle, which can heal any of them with equal ease. It makes no distinctions among misperceptions. Its sole concern is to distinguish between truth on the one hand and all kinds of errors on the other. Some miracles may seem to be of greater magnitude than others. But remember the first point in this course-that there is no order of difficulty in miracles.

¹⁷ In reality, you are perfectly unaffected by all expressions of lack of love. These can be either from yourself and others or from yourself to others or from others to you. Peace is an attribute in you. You cannot find it outside. All mental illness is some form of external searching. Mental health is inner peace. It enables you to remain unshaken by lack of love from without and capable through your own miracles of correcting the external conditions which proceed from lack of love in others.

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