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A COURSE IN MIRACLES CH 21 THE INNER PICTURE
VII. REASON AND CORRECTION
65 Reason, like love, would reassure you and seeks not to frighten you. The power to heal the Son of God is given you because he
must be one with you. You
are responsible for how he sees himself. And reason tells you it is given you to change his whole mind, which is one with you, in just an instant. And any instant serves to bring complete correction of his errors and make him whole. The instant that you choose to let
yourself be healed, in that same instant is his whole salvation seen as complete with yours. Reason is given you to understand that this is so. For reason, kind as is the purpose for which it is the means, leads steadily away from madness toward the goal of truth. And here you will lay down the burden of denying truth.
This is the burden that is terrible, and not the truth.
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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
WORKBOOK for STUDENTS
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio
The world is false perception. It is born
of error, and it has not left its source.
It will remain no longer than the thought
that gave it birth is cherished. When the thought
of separation has been changed to one
of true forgiveness, will the world be seen
in quite another light; and one that leads
to truth, where all the world must disappear,
and all its errors vanish. Now its source
has gone, and its effects are gone as well.
The world was made as an attack on God.
It symbolizes fear. And what is fear
except love's absence? Thus the world was meant
to be a place where God could enter not,
and where His Son could be apart from Him.
Here was perception born, for knowledge could
not cause such insane thoughts. But eyes deceive,
and ears hear falsely. Now mistakes become
quite possible, for certainty has gone.
The mechanisms of illusion have
been born instead. And now they go to find
what has been given them to seek. Their aim
is to fulfill the purpose which the world
was made to witness and make real. They see
in its illusions but a solid base
where truth exists, upheld apart from lies.
Yet everything which they report is but
illusion which is kept apart from truth.
As sight was made to lead away from truth,
it can be redirected. Sounds become
the call of God. And all perception can
be given a new purpose, by the One
Whom God appointed Saviour to the world.
Follow His light, and see the world as He
beholds it. Hear His Voice alone in all
that speaks to you. And let Him give you peace
and certainty, which you have thrown away,
but Heaven has preserved for you in Him.
Let us not rest content until the world
has joined our changed perception. Let us not
be satisfied until forgiveness has
been made complete. And let us not attempt
to change our function. We must save the world.
For we who made it must behold it through
the eyes of Christ, that what was made to die
can be restored to everlasting life.
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L e s s o n 241 This holy instant is salvation come.
<AUDIO><VIDEO>
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio
What joy there is today! It is a time
of special celebration, for today
holds out the instant to the darkened world
where its release is set. The day has come
when sorrows pass away, and pain is gone.
The glory of salvation dawns today
upon a world set free. This is the time
of hope for countless millions. They will be
united now, as you forgive them all,
for I will be forgiven by you today.
We have forgiven one another now,
and so we come at last to You again.
Father, Your Son, who never left, returns
to Heaven and his home. How glad are we
to have our sanity restored to us,
and to remember that we all are one.
~ Original Handscript of ACIM
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ACIM Edmonton - Sarah's Reflections
LESSON 241
This holy instant is salvation come.
Sarah's Commentary:
We are now looking at the question "What is the World?" (W.PII.Q3) It is so important to reflect on this because our current perceptions are based on the belief that the world is real and is the cause of our difficulties, making us its effect and thus at its mercy. But the world is illusory. Its origin is in the ego's thought system of separation, which contains the belief in sin, guilt, and fear. Sin, guilt, and fear, projected out from the wrong mind, make a world of time and space. Sin reflects the belief we have done something wrong in the past. Now we feel guilt in the present and we fear retribution in the future. We now believe we must atone for our sins. It is important to see how we have been caught up in this dream that has no reality in truth. Yet Jesus tells us, the world can serve a different purpose than the one we gave it. We can see it as a classroom for undoing our false perceptions. Now everything in the world has an important purpose for undoing our misperceptions instead of reinforcing our wrong-minded beliefs about ourselves.
"The world is false perception. It is born of error and it has not left its source."
(W.PII.Q3.1.1-2) Jesus is teaching us that ideas have not left their source in the mind. So the source of this world is the false idea we hold in our minds that we have left our home in Heaven and are now separate from God, wandering lost and alone in an illusory world of time and space. It is a mistaken thought because we cannot leave the mind of God, since ideas leave not their source. As an idea in the Mind of God, we cannot leave our Source except in dreams. Believing we have left our Source, we have become lost in our dream, forgetting we are the dreamer. Now, everything that arises in our minds is no longer true. Thus, the world projected from our belief in a separated state has no foundation that is real. It is nothing but a projection of the thought system of separation.
In reality, the separation never happened. We are still at home in God, only dreaming there is a world where we see ourselves and others as dream figures, playing out make-believe parts. The source of this dream is our own mind, and thus it is an illusion that will not last past the thought that gave rise to it. It reflects our belief in sin and guilt and is healed when we withdraw our belief in what was never real. "When the thought of separation has been changed to one of true forgiveness, will the world be seen in quite another light; and one which leads to truth, where all the world must disappear and all its errors vanish." (W.PII.Q3.1.4)
It is not unlike a nighttime dream, where we wake up and realize nothing that seemed to happen in the dream was true. Everything in the dream came from our own minds. When we wake up and are now outside of the nighttime dream, we look at it from another perspective, and we see that we are still as we were before we fell into this dream state. This is a good analogy for how we can look at the dream of this separated world, where we think we are bodies with unique characteristics as individuals, all different and separate from each other and separate from God. When we completely step out of this dream that we take so very seriously, the world will vanish. This is then the happy dream of the awakened mind. Until then, we experience this interval out of time and space as the holy instant. In the holy instant, we return to an experience of the unlimited Self. This is not possible in time and space.
The Lesson today is all about our responsibility, should we choose to accept it, to set ourselves and the world free through forgiveness. It takes faith to accept that through forgiveness we can change the world. In fact, that is the only change possible. That is why Jesus tells us, "This is the time of hope for countless millions." (W.241.1.6) The impact of choosing to forgive our false perceptions is beyond our ability to perceive. It only makes sense from the perspective that there is only One Mind. As miracle workers, we must accept the Atonement for ourselves. When we accept the Atonement, (Correction) in our own minds we accept it for everyone. This is how healing happens.
In the state of the happy dream, we are still in the world, but experience it from outside of the dream. As we increasingly withdraw meaning from the events of the world, we see it is an illusion. That is why, as part of our healing, we are called more and more to be the witness of the events of our lives. As a witness, we can go through experiences that can be painful, disturbing, and distressing but not engage in them. We are removed from them as we watch the experience from above the battleground. We witness them without judging them or ourselves. As Ken Wapnick says, we might see ourselves sitting with Jesus next to us in the theater, watching our lives as we might see a movie. The important thing is to watch our movie without judgment. Ultimately, the world will vanish when we completely awaken from this dream, and God takes the last step.
The content of this world is fear, no matter how pretty the illusion can seem to us at times. The ground beneath our feet seems solid, but there is nothing solid about the world. It is a place of decay and destruction, where death prevails and all things ultimately rot and disappear. It is a world where we all believe we need protection, and thus we erect defenses. It is a world of attack. "The world was made as an attack on God. It symbolizes fear. And what is fear except love's absence." (W.PII.Q3.2.1-3) It is not real. Jesus says, "There is no life outside of Heaven." (T.23.II.19.1) (ACIM OE T.23.III.37) If we accept this, then there must be no life in this world! "Life not in Heaven is impossible, and what is not in Heaven is not anywhere. Outside of Heaven, only the conflict of illusion stands; senseless, impossible and beyond all reason, and yet perceived as an eternal barrier to Heaven." (T.23.II.19.6-7) (ACIM OE T.23.III.37)
We take the forms in the world as reality and do not recognize the content of guilt and hate they contain. If we did, would we still want them? Jesus asks us, "Can you paint rosy lips upon a skeleton, dress it in loveliness, pet it and pamper it, and make it live?" (T.23.II.18.8) (ACIM OE T.23.III.36) This is what we apparently do, being fooled by the appearance and losing sight of the content of hate. We try to make believe it is a beautiful world with lovely sentiments as expressed in the song, "It's a Wonderful World." Instead, we are being told it is a world born of error. The cause of the world is the error in the mind. It is therefore not a creation of God and there is no way of reconciling our false perception, based on our guilt, with the glory we want to see in the world. The world will simply remain no longer than the thought that gave birth to it. When that thought of separation is no longer cherished, the world will be no more. It must then vanish. Healing the guilt in the mind brings about the end of the world.
The world was born in the choice made by the Son of God for the ego rather than the Holy Spirit. When this choice was made, the memory of God, as reflected by the Holy Spirit, was buried in our minds. Now we feel separate from our Source, and the world that arose from this choice has all the attributes of the thought system of the ego, which is all about self-interest and competition. There are winners and losers. This means we want our separate, individual self, and fear that God will punish us for this. So we continue to hide out in the world, fearing His punishment. God is only love. Yet we identify with the fear because it keeps His Love out. In fact, we fear love because we fear the annihilation of our separate self.
Instead of the Oneness of Heaven where there is nothing to perceive, we have a world of duality instead where "The mechanisms of illusion have been born instead." (W.PII.Q3.3.1) These mechanisms are our senses, which report the world as real. God did not create our bodies nor our bodily senses. "But eyes deceive, and ears hear falsely. Now mistakes become quite possible, for certainty has gone." (W.PII.Q3.2. 6-7) The purpose is to deceive us by witnessing to something not real. It seems real to us because the eyes and ears bring back information to the brain, convincing us that what we see is out there rather than a projection or hallucination of our own minds. "They see in its illusions but a solid base where truth exists, upheld apart from lies." (W.PII.Q3.3.4) The truth now seems like a lie, and the illusion feels to us to be real and solid.
Our choice for our mistaken thought system resulted in guilt because of our belief that we have left our Source and made a world of differences. Now we can see our guilt projected onto others and seen outside of our own minds. Very convenient! It keeps us believing in our own innocence at the expense of others. It keeps us thinking we are victims of the world. It keeps us invested in our bodies and our individuality. Thus, our mistakes are now elevated to reality, and God's love is seen as the illusion.
When Jesus says, "For I will be forgiven by you today," (W.241.1.8) my first reaction is to wonder what we are to forgive him for? In effect, with each brother we forgive, Jesus, as part of the one mind, is also being forgiven, as we all are. Every act of forgiveness with anyone brings forgiveness to all. Our function is to overcome the world as Jesus did, not to try to change it. As David Hawkins says, the world is a place of maximum karmic opportunity where we can go all the way to enlightenment. The opportunity we have in the world is maximum for our awakening, which means that in every event and every circumstance in our lives, no matter how challenging it seems, there is maximum potential for healing. And in the holy instant, when we enter the quiet space within the mind where truth abides, there is no time, there are no demands, there is no body, and there is no world.
The Lesson today is of hope and of release from the belief in victimhood and in karma. We can wake up from this dream. There is no need to delay, as it only causes more suffering. This is a day where we can choose to bring release to this darkened world, so sorrows can indeed pass away and pain is gone. Our healing can thus make a tremendous difference in the world. It is up to us to accept the gift of healing and be an example of healing. This is how we come back to God. "We have forgiven one another now, and so we come at last to You again." (W.241.2.1) That is our way back home. And yes, we need not wait. Everything changes when our entire purpose is focused on healing through forgiveness. We choose Heaven or hell in every moment and in every decision. The way out is by forgiving, which is a choice for joy, as we release our grievances. We forgive every confusion, every sense of failure to listen, every projection, every time we need to be right, every time we try to get others to do it our way, every fear, every sense of self righteousness, every judgment we have against anyone, every instance of intolerance, every failure to love, every lie, every involvement in issues not our affair, every lack of compassion, every time we feel separate and alone, every time we get invested in gossip, any judgment we hold against ourselves, and any moment we are seeing ourselves as superior to anyone. It is a decision for peace instead of war. It offers us a profound leap forward.
Accept the gift of healing today. This is the gift we accept for the world. This is the hope for us all. Let us focus on this deep desire for reconciliation today. Who are you having a struggle with? Who do you have grievances with today? Remind yourself, "This holy instant is salvation come" (W.241) because I have chosen forgiveness instead of attack. We remind ourselves today that we hold the desire for peace as more important than any conflict. Each time we choose forgiveness, we bring more illumination to this tired world. We recognize the love we are when we leave the hell made by our belief in the ego story.
Love and Blessings, Sarah
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VII. Reason and Correction
59 Reason cannot see sin but
can see errors and leads to their correction. It does not value them, but their correction. Reason will also tell you when you think you sin, you call for help. Yet if you will not accept the help you call for, you will not believe that it is yours to give. And so you will not give it, thus
maintaining the belief. For uncorrected error of any kind deceives you about the power that is in you to
make correction. If it can correct and you allow it not to do so, you deny it to yourself and to your brother. And if he shares this same belief, you both will think that you are damned. This you could spare him and
yourself. For reason would not make way for correction in you alone.
60 Correction cannot be accepted or refused by you
without your brother. Sin would maintain it can. Yet reason tells you that you cannot see your brother or yourself as sinful and still perceive the other innocent. Who looks upon himself as guilty and sees a sinless world? And who can see a sinful world and look upon himself apart from it? Sin would maintain you must be separate. But reason tells you that this must be wrong. If you are joined, how could it be that you have private thoughts? And how could thoughts that enter into what but seems like yours alone have no effect at all on what
is yours? If minds are joined, this is impossible.
61 No one can think but for himself, as God thinks not without His Son. Only were both in bodies could this be. Nor could one mind think only for itself unless the body
were the mind. For only bodies can be separate and therefore unreal. The home of madness cannot be the home of reason. Yet it is easy to leave the home of madness if you see reason. You do not leave insanity by going somewhere else. You leave it simply by accepting reason where madness was. Madness and reason see the same things, but it is certain that they look upon them differently.
62 Madness is an attack on reason that drives it out of mind and takes its place. Reason does not attack but takes the place of madness quietly, replacing madness if it be the will of the insane to listen to it. But the insane know not their will. For they believe they see the body and let their madness tell them it is real. Reason would be incapable of this. And if you would defend the body against your reason, you will not understand the body or yourself.
63 The body does not separate you from your brother, and if you think it does, you are insane. But madness has a purpose and believes it also has the means to make its purpose real. To see the body as a barrier between what reason tells you
must be joined must be insane. Nor could you see it if you heard the voice of reason. What can there be that stands between what is continuous? And if there is nothing in between, how can what enters part be kept away from other parts? Reason would tell you this. But think what you must recognize if it be so.
64 If you choose sin instead of healing, you would condemn the Son of God to what can never be corrected. You tell him by your choice that he is damned---separate from you and from his Father forever and without a hope of safe return. You teach him this, and you will learn of him
exactly what you taught. For you can teach him only that he is as you would have him, and what you choose he be is but your choice for
you. Yet think not this is fearful. That you are joined to him is but a fact, not an interpretation. How can a fact be fearful unless it disagrees with what you hold more dear than truth? Reason will tell you that this fact is your
release. Neither your brother nor yourself can be attacked alone. But neither can accept a miracle instead
without the other being blessed by it and healed of pain.
65 Reason, like love, would reassure you and seeks not to frighten you. The power to heal the Son of God is given you because he
must be one with you. You
are responsible for how he sees himself. And reason tells you it is given you to change his whole mind, which is one with you, in just an instant. And any instant serves to bring complete correction of his errors and make him whole. The instant that you choose to let
yourself be healed, in that same instant is his whole salvation seen as complete with yours. Reason is given you to understand that this is so. For reason, kind as is the purpose for which it is the means, leads steadily away from madness toward the goal of truth. And here you will lay down the burden of denying truth.
This is the burden that is terrible, and not the truth.
66 That you are joined is your salvation---the gift of Heaven, not the gift of fear. Does Heaven seem to be a burden to you? In madness, yes. And yet what madness sees must be dispelled by reason. Reason assures you Heaven is what you
want, and
all you want. Listen to Him Who speaks with reason and brings your reason into line with His. Be willing to let reason be the means by which He would direct you how to leave insanity behind. Hide not behind insanity in order to escape from reason. What madness would conceal, the Holy Spirit still holds out for everyone to look upon with gladness.
67 You
are your brother's savior. He is
yours. Reason speaks happily indeed of this. This gracious plan was given love by Love. And what Love plans is like Itself in this: being united, It would have you learn what
you must be. And being one with It, it must be given you to give what It has given and gives still. Spend but an instant in the glad acceptance of what is given you to give your brother, and learn with him what has been given
both of you. To give is no more blessed than to receive. But neither is it less.
68 The Son of God is
always blessed as one. And as his gratitude goes out to you who blessed him, reason will tell you that it cannot be you stand apart from blessing. The gratitude he offers you reminds you of the thanks your Father gives you for completing Him. And here alone does reason tell you that you can understand what you must be. Your Father is as close to you as is your brother. Yet what is there that could be nearer you than is your Self?
69 The power that you have over the Son of God is not a threat to his reality. It but
attests to it. Where could his freedom lie but in himself if he be free already? And who could bind him but himself if he deny his freedom? God is not mocked; no more His Son can be imprisoned save by his own desire. And it is by his own desire that he is freed. Such is his strength and not his weakness. He
is at his own mercy. And where he chooses to be merciful, there is he free. But where he chooses to condemn instead, there is he held a prisoner, waiting in chains his pardon on himself to set him free.
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