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A COURSE IN MIRACLES CH 21 THE INNER PICTURE
VI. REASON AND PERCEPTION
53 God's plan for your salvation could not have been established without your will and your consent. It must have been accepted by the Son of God, for what God wills for him he
must receive. For God wills not apart from him, nor does the Will of God wait upon time to be accomplished. Therefore, what joined the Will of God must be in you
now, being eternal. You must have set aside a place in which the Holy Spirit can abide and where He
is. He must have been there since the need for Him arose and was fulfilled in the same instant. Such would your reason tell you if you listened.
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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
WORKBOOK for STUDENTS
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio
Salvation is a promise, made by God,
that you would find your way to Him at last.
It cannot but be kept. It guarantees
that time will have an end, and all the thoughts
that have been born in time will end as well.
God's Word is given every mind that thinks
that it has separate thoughts, and will replace
these thoughts of conflict with the Thought of peace.
The Thought of peace was given to God's Son
the instant that his mind had thought of war.
There was no need for such a Thought before,
for peace was given without opposite,
and merely was. But when the mind is split,
there is a need of healing. So the Thought
Which has the power to heal the split became
a part of every fragment of the mind
which still was one, but failed to recognize
its oneness. Now it did not know itself,
and thought its own identity was lost.
Salvation is undoing in the sense
that it does nothing, failing to support
the world of dreams and malice. Thus it lets
illusions go. By not supporting them,
it merely lets them quietly go down
to dust. And what they hid is now revealed;
an altar to the holy Name of God,
whereon His Word is written, with the gifts
of your forgiveness laid before It, and
the memory of God not far behind.
Let us come daily to this holy place,
and spend a while together. Here we share
our final dream. It is a dream in which
there is no sorrow, for it holds a hint
of all the glory given us by God.
The grass is pushing through the soil, the trees
are budding now, and birds have come to live
within their branches. Earth is being born
again in new perception. Night has gone,
and we have come together in the light.
From here we give salvation to the world,
for it is here salvation was received.
The song of our rejoicing is the call
to all the world that freedom is returned,
that time is almost over, and God's Son
has but an instant more to wait until
his Father is remembered, dreams are done,
eternity has shined away the world,
and only Heaven now exists at all.
~ Original Hand Script October 1, 1970
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L e s s o n 240 Fear is not justified in any form.
<AUDIO><VIDEO>
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio
Fear is deception. It attests that you have seen yourself as you could never be,
and therefore look upon a world which is
impossible. Not one thing in that world
is true. It does not matter what the form
in which it may appear. It witnesses
but to your own illusions of yourself. Let us not be deceived today. We are the Son of God. There is no fear in us, for we are each a part of Love Itself.
How foolish are our fears! Would You allow
Your Son to suffer? Give us faith today
to recognize Your Son and set him free. Let us forgive him in Your Name, that we may understand his holiness, and free. Let us forgive him in Your Name, that we may understand his holiness, and feel the love for him that is Your own as well.
~ Original Handscript of ACIM
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ACIM Edmonton - Sarah's Reflections
LESSON 240
Fear is not justified in any form.
Sarah's Commentary:
To us, who identify with this body and the world, fear certainly does seem to be justified. There are many dangers we have learned to protect ourselves from. We fear being hurt by others and of getting sick. We are afraid of germs, of pollution, and of insects. We fear losing our material goods, our friends, those we are attached to, and ultimately we fear death. I could go on and on, but you get the point. We have thousands of fear thoughts. Our lives here are all about fear. Fear is the content of the ego mind. In fact, all the ego is, is a fear thought. It is the imposter, the false self. It is deception because, although we have bought into it, it is not real. And now, "It attests that you have seen yourself as you could never be, and therefore look upon a world which is impossible." (W.240.1.2)
In Lesson 153, Jesus tells us this sense of threat we live with is much deeper than we even realize, but we cover it up with our many distractions. The ego needs to keep us from seeing how much fear we are in. If we were more aware of this deep level of threat, we would become more motivated to learn the truth about ourselves. All of our fear comes from our belief in the guilt from thinking we have done something wrong for which we deserve to be punished.
The core of our learning today is, "Not one thing in this world is true." (W.240.1.3) If that is so, what would there be to fear? All of our fears would truly be foolish because if there is nothing true in this world or about this world and all the forms of this world (including our bodies) are false beliefs, our fears are about nothing. In fact, the ego is nothing but a falsely held belief about ourselves, and we can choose to withdraw our belief in it. Our decision not to listen to the ego is the same as surrender. We do this when we become aware that we are not the victim of our ego. We are not trapped in its grasp. Our experiences in the world are there because we have chosen to listen to the ego, but we can make another choice.
The Course has been summed up by the words, "Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God." (T.IN.2.2) (ACIM OE T.IN.4) This is it in a nutshell. It is all there is for us to recognize. No more than that. Jesus tells us this in any number of ways in the Course. Yet it does take some effort for us to become sufficiently motivated and determined to no longer choose to listen to the ego's seeming dictates and no longer experience its effects on us.
The world of form is all an illusion, but it is valuable for your learning because "It witnesses but to your own illusions of yourself." (W.240.1.5) In other words, we can see our own guilt and self-attacking thoughts reflected back at us. Everything starts in our own minds and all effects are a result of our own thoughts. The guilt in our minds is projected onto people and situations in the world. Now the world delivers us what we think we have coming to us. The punishment that seems to be delivered by the world simply reinforces the belief we are bodies, guilty of having killed God in order to experience our individual will. We believe we have caused pain to others. We believe there is a real world that has real effects on us. It all witnesses to the thought system of the ego. Whatever is in our own minds is now reflected in everything we see in the world.
Since our experiences in this seeming reality are all witnessing to our self-attacking thoughts, we can use these experiences as learning opportunities to look at our fearful thoughts and release them to the Holy Spirit. Increasingly, we recognize "How foolish are our fears!" (W.240.2.1) We then gain faith in our true reality as the Son of God, unlimited, eternal and ". . . a part of Love Itself." (W.240.1.8) What can we fear if we accept this as the truth? The truth is that we are completely innocent. Nothing we think we have done has actually happened in reality. As we start to accept the truth of this for ourselves, our sense of safety and security is enhanced. When we put the truth to the test in our life experiences, we gain faith in the strength and power available to us.
When I am afraid, I don't think I am deceiving or fooling myself. I think there is something real threatening my well-being so my defenses go up, and I put strategies in place to protect myself. When we really look deeply at our experiences here, we will become aware that we are afraid all the time. Oh, we might have moments of peace and release from fear in the holy instant, but mostly we are reminded daily of our fears. We look out at a world we think has the power to hurt us. By valuing anything outside of ourselves, we give it power. We feel manipulated and controlled by forces seemingly outside of our own minds, and we build defenses against them. Thus, we keep reinforcing our fears. Yet Jesus reminds us that through forgiveness our fears are released because our guilt is released. He assures us when we accept our innocence, we will know nothing can harm us because we will no longer identify with the body. When our minds are healed and we live in the happy dream, we will no longer be controlled by anything outside the mind.
Recently I picked up some stinging nettles out of my garden. Unfortunately for me, I did not wear gloves. The pain felt very intense. My immediate reaction was to look to magic for relief. I checked on the internet for remedies and went through any number of options, only to experience continued discomfort. It was when the remedies had no effect I put my mind to a higher power than relying on my own attempts at solving the problem. I realized I did not have to see this situation as a problem, nor did I need to identify with the pain. I reminded myself I am not this body and the pain I was feeling was being projected by my mind. I inquired further and noticed I had recently made a judgment for which I felt guilty. I reminded myself a healed mind would not be upset but simply be willing to release the mistake. I inquired why I thought the punishment was warranted for my judgment. What I uncovered when I went deeper was a feeling of unworthiness or the "I am bad" thought. I recognized this could not be the truth about me. I gave this thought over to the Holy Spirit. It was not the truth. With this deeper work, the pain eased considerably, and I gave it no more attention.
We do think our bodies and our personalities define us, but as we progress on this journey and continue to apply these Lessons to the situations in our lives, our hold on our false beliefs loosens. We no longer put our trust in the elusive, changeable, and temporary things of this world. We are not called to stop enjoying the things of this world, nor do we have to give them up. We simply stop believing they could ever bring us happiness, or we could be threatened by anything in this world. To withdraw our beliefs is to question their reality. To go within is to ask for another way of seeing every situation that confronts us.
In the Manual for Teachers, Section 16 "How should the teacher of God spend his day?" we are reminded, "There is one thought in particular that should be remembered throughout the day. It is a thought of pure joy; a thought of peace, a thought of limitless release, limitless because all things are freed within it. You think you made a place of safety for yourself. You think you made a power that can save you from all the fearful things you see in dreams. It is not so. Your safety lies not there. What you give up is merely the illusion of protecting illusions. And it is this you fear, and only this. How foolish to be afraid of nothing! Nothing at all! Your defenses will not work, but you are not in danger. You have no need of them. Recognize this, and they will disappear. And only then will you accept your real protection." (M.16.6.1-14)
We can still lock our doors and take our medicine when we are sick if we are still too fearful to put our faith in God. Nor should we increase our guilt by deriding ourselves for not being further along in our healing. As a friend and teacher reminded me, "The slow way is the fast way." In other words, we may wish to be further along in our undoing process than we are, but this is not helpful because it is a self-judgment. It is better to be in the acceptance of where we are, which will allow us to stop and look more deeply at the roadblocks we are setting up. It is not unlike the tortoise and the hare. Slow and steady will get us to our goal, but we must be clear on our goal. What is it we want? If we want to wake up, we simply continue to use each situation that arises where our fear comes up and bring it forward for healing. "By not supporting them, it [salvation] merely lets them quietly go down to dust." (W.PII.Q2.3.3)
When we do this kind of healing of our own minds, we give healing to the world. "The song of our rejoicing is the call to all the world that freedom is returned, that time is almost over, and God's Son has but an instant more to wait until his Father is remembered, dreams are done, eternity has shined away the world, and only Heaven now exists at all." (W.PII.Q2.5.2)
Remember to be content with your learning and not to be impatient with yourself, which is just another attack on the mind. We have guilt and fear as a result of our belief in separation from God, and we have now made a choice for healing. The entire Course is one of making this choice over and over with each problem, with each seeming difficulty, with each fear that comes up, and with all of our grievances. This choice seems to be spread over a long period of time, but time, too, is an illusion. We are already what we are seeking, but we can now use time for our benefit to remember the truth of what we already are.
To remember God is to reflect His Oneness in each brother. Every attack we make reinforces our guilt and keeps us unaware of our Oneness. It is what the ego would have us do in order to keep us locked into this cycle of guilt and fear, but we have been given a way out. Jesus is the way-shower. He tells us that in giving up grievances and attack thoughts, we can return to the truth of who we are, and thus fear dissipates because there is no longer any justification for it.
Love and Blessings, Sarah
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PAUSED FOR WEEKEND
VI. Reason and Perception
49 Perception selects and makes the world you see. It literally picks it out as the mind directs. The laws of size and shape and brightness would hold, perhaps, if other things were equal. They are
not equal. For what you look for you are far more likely to discover than what you would prefer to overlook. The still small Voice for God is not drowned out by all the ego's raucous screams and senseless ravings to those who
want to hear it. Perception is a
choice and not a fact. But on this choice depends far more than you may realize as yet. For on the voice you choose to hear and on the sights you choose to see, depends entirely your whole belief in what you
are. Perception is a witness but to this and
never to reality. Yet it can show you the conditions in which awareness of reality is possible or those where it could never be.
50 Reality needs no cooperation from you to be itself. But your awareness of it needs your help because it is your choice. Listen to what the ego says and see what it directs you see, and it is sure that you will see yourself as tiny, vulnerable, and afraid. You will experience depression, a sense of worthlessness, and feelings of impermanence and unreality. You will believe that you are helpless prey to forces far beyond your own control and far more powerful than you. And you will think the world you made directs your destiny. For this will be your
faith. But never believe because it is your faith it makes reality.
51 There is another vision and another Voice in which your freedom lies awaiting but your choice. And if you place your faith in them, you will perceive another Self in you. This other Self sees miracles as natural. They are as simple and natural to It as breathing to the body. They are the obvious response to calls for help, the only one It makes. Miracles seem unnatural to the ego because it does not understand how separate minds can influence each other. Nor
could they do so. But minds cannot
be separate. This other Self is perfectly aware of this. And thus It recognizes that miracles do not affect another's mind, only Its own. [They always change
your mind.] There
is no other.
52 You do not realize the whole extent to which the idea of separation has interfered with reason. Reason lies in the other Self you have cut off from your awareness. And nothing you have allowed to stay in it is capable of reason. How can the segment of the mind devoid of reason understand what reason is or grasp the information it would give? All sorts of questions may arise in it, but if the basic question stems from reason, it will not ask it. Like all that stems from reason, the basic question is obvious, simple, and remains unasked. But think not reason could not answer it.
53 God's plan for your salvation could not have been established without your will and your consent. It must have been accepted by the Son of God, for what God wills for him he
must receive. For God wills not apart from him, nor does the Will of God wait upon time to be accomplished. Therefore, what joined the Will of God must be in you
now, being eternal. You must have set aside a place in which the Holy Spirit can abide and where He
is. He must have been there since the need for Him arose and was fulfilled in the same instant. Such would your reason tell you if you listened. Yet such is clearly not the ego's "reasoning." Its alien nature to the ego is proof you will not find the answer there. Yet if it must be so, it must exist. And if it exists for you and has your freedom as the purpose given it, you must be free to
find it.
54 God's plan is simple-never circular and never self-defeating. He has no Thoughts except the Self-
extending, and in this your will must be included. Thus, there must be a part of you that knows His Will and shares it. It is not meaningful to ask if what must be is so. But it
is meaningful to ask why you are
unaware of what is so, for this must have an answer if the plan of God for your salvation is complete. And it must
be complete because its Source knows not of incompletion. Where would the answer be but in the Source? And where are
you but there, where this same answer is? Your Identity, as much a true effect of this same Source as is the answer, must therefore be together and the same.
55 Oh yes, you know this and more than this alone. Yet any part of knowledge threatens dissociation as much as all of it. And all of it
will come with any part. Here is the part you can accept. What reason points to you can see because the witnesses on its behalf are clear. Only the totally insane can disregard them, and you have gone past this. Reason is a means which serves the Holy Spirit's purpose in its own right. It is not reinterpreted and redirected from the goal of sin as are the others. For reason is beyond the ego's range of means.
56 Faith and perception and belief can be misplaced and serve the great deceiver's needs as well as truth. But reason has no place at all in madness, nor can it be adjusted to fit its end. Faith and belief are strong in madness, guiding perception toward what the mind has valued. But reason enters not at all in this. For the perception would fall away at once if reason were applied. There
is no reason in insanity, for it depends entirely on reason's absence. The ego never uses it because it does not realize that it exists. The partially insane have access to it, and only they have need of it. Knowledge does not depend on it, and madness keeps it out.
57 The part of mind where reason lies was dedicated by your will in union with your Father's to the undoing of insanity. Here was the Holy Spirit's purpose accepted and accomplished both at once. Reason is alien to insanity, and those who use it have gained a means which
cannot be applied to sin. Knowledge is far beyond attainment of any kind. But reason can serve to open doors you closed against it.
58 You have come very close to this. Faith and belief have shifted, and you have asked the question which the ego will
never ask. Does not your reason tell you now the question must have come from something that you do not know but must belong to you? Faith and belief, upheld by reason, cannot fail to lead to changed perception. And in this change is room made way for vision. Vision extends beyond itself, as does the purpose which it serves and all the means for its accomplishment.
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