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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
CH 29 THE AWAKENING
IX. CHRIST AND ANTI-CHRIST
57 This is the anti-Christ---the strange idea there is a power past omnipotence, a place beyond the infinite, a time transcending the eternal. Here the world of idols has been set by the idea this power and place and time are given form and shape the world where the impossible has happened. Here the deathless come to die, the all-encompassing to suffer loss, the timeless to be made the slaves of time. Here does the changeless change; the peace of God, forever given to all living things, gives way to chaos. And the Son of God, as perfect, sinless and as loving as his Father, come to hate a little while; to suffer pain, and finally to die.
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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
WORKBOOK for STUDENTS
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio
Christ's Second Coming gives the Son of God
the gift to hear the Voice for God proclaim
that what is false is false, and what is true
has never changed. And this the judgment is
in which perception ends. At first you see
a world which has accepted this as true,
projected from a now corrected mind.
And with this holy sight, perception gives
a silent blessing and then disappears,
its goal accomplished and its mission done.
The final judgment on the world contains
no condemnation. For it sees the world
as totally forgiven, without sin,
and wholly purposeless. Without a cause,
and now without a function in Christ's sight,
it merely slips away to nothingness.
There it was born, and there it ends as well.
And all the figures in the dream in which
the world began go with it. Bodies now
are useless, and will therefore fade away,
because the Son of God is limitless.
You who believed that Gods last judgment would
condemn the world to hell along with you,
accept this holy truth: God's judgment is
the gift of the Correction He bestowed
on all your errors, freeing you from them,
and all effects they ever seemed to have.
To fear His saving grace is but to fear
complete release from suffering, return
to peace, security and happiness,
and union with your own Identity.
God's final judgment is as merciful
as every step in His appointed plan
to save His Son, and call Him to return
to the eternal peace He shares with him.
Be not afraid of Love. For It alone
can heal all sorrow, wipe away all tears,
and gently waken from his dreams of pain
the Son whom God acknowledges as His.
Be not afraid of this. Salvation asks
you give it welcome. And the world awaits
your glad acceptance, which will set it free.
This is God's final judgment: "You are still
My holy Son, forever innocent,
forever loving and forever loved,
as limitless as Your Creator, and
completely changeless and forever pure.
Therefore awaken and return to Me.
I am Your Father, and you are My Son.
~ Original Hand Script
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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
DAILY LESSONS
L e s s o n 311
I judge all things as I would have them be.
<AUDIO><VIDEO>
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio
Judgment was made to be a weapon used
against the truth. It separates what it
is being used against, and sets it off
as if it were a thing apart. And then
it makes of it what you would have it be.
It judges what it cannot understand,
because it cannot see totality,
and therefore judges falsely. Let us not
use it today, but make a gift of it
to Him Who has a different use for it.
He will relieve you of the agony
of all the judgments you have made against
yourself, and re-establish peace of mind
by giving you God's Judgment of His Son.
Father, we wait with open mind today,
to hear Your Judgment of the Son You love.
We do not know him, and we cannot judge.
And so we let Your Love decide what he
whom You created as Your Son must be.
~ Original Handscript of ACIM
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ACIM Edmonton - Sarah's Reflections
LESSON 311
I judge all things as I would have them be.
Sarah's Commentary:
Now we are being introduced to the idea of the Last Judgment. An important aspect of the discussion of the Last Judgment is that it undoes the association we have made of it with death. On the contrary, the Last Judgment is the recognition there is only life. Nothing is accomplished or achieved through death. Heaven is "When the Will of the Sonship and the Father are one, their perfect accord is Heaven." (T.3.II.4.6) (ACIM OE T.2.II.21) There is no condemnation in the Last Judgment, and thus, there is nothing fearful about it. Yet Jesus says, "The Last Judgment is one of the most threatening ideas in your thinking." (T.2.VIII.2.1) (ACIM OE T.2.VI.106) He also says, "It is a final healing rather than a meting out of punishment, however much you think that punishment is deserved." (T.2.VIII.3.3) (ACIM OE T.2.VI.108)
The Last Judgment signifies the end of false perception. It is the final proclamation that has always been: "You are still My holy Son, forever innocent, forever loving and forever loved" (W.PII.Q10.5.1) ---pure, and changeless. We have been misguided in who we think we are. The separation was the decision not to know ourselves as we are. With the Last Judgment comes the recognition that we have never changed ourselves. The concepts we hold of ourselves and others are all false. When we come to this realization, through the process of undoing all we have held to be true, we come to see ". . . what is false is false, and what is true has never changed." (W.PII.Q10.1.1)
This is the end of perception and the final realization it is impossible to have ever changed ourselves from the magnificence of our creation. Here is the end of learning. It is our return to the beginning. "All your difficulties stem from the fact that you do not recognize yourself, your brother or God. To recognize means to 'know again,' implying that you knew before." (T.3.III.2.1-2) (ACIM OE T.3.V.31) This is the end of conflict. We no longer vacillate ". . . between free and imprisoned will." (T.2.VIII.3.8) (ACIM OE T.2.VI.109) We are now guided only by the Voice of the Holy Spirit. All our former, inner conflict has dissipated. This is what is meant by accepting the Atonement for ourselves, for this is the Correction that ends the separation.
In the sorting out of what is false and what is true, Jesus says, "It simply means that everyone will finally come to understand what is worthy and what is not." (T.2.VIII.3.6) (ACIM OE T.2.VI.109) It is a process of letting go of all our false perceptions, recognizing we have been wrong about everything. What we have called our life has actually been a dream. As Jesus says, "No one who lives in fear is really alive." (T.2.VIII.5.4) (ACIM OE T.2.VI.111) Life is eternal and not defined by the body. While we appear to be in the body and the world, it gives us this seeming experience of time. "When everything you retain is lovable, there is no reason for fear to remain with you. This is your part in the Atonement." (T.2.VIII.5.10-11) (ACIM OE T.2.VI.111) Then, we can look on everything with love because love is in the mind, extending out to all.
When the mind is healed, the world has no cause. "Without a cause, and now without a function in Christ's sight, it merely slips away to nothingness." (W.PII.Q10.2.3) That is because the world is a reflection of the guilt in the mind. When guilt is gone, there is no more need for the world to be a classroom for the undoing of guilt.
Lesson 311 says, "I judge all things as I would have them be." In other words, I project my state of mind onto everything I see, making everything over in my image. What I am seeing is a hallucination. It is a projection of what is in my mind. "There are no strange images in the Mind of God, and what is not in His Mind cannot be in yours, because you are of one mind and that mind belongs to Him." (T.10.IV.6.2) (ACIM OE T.9.X.90) Yet in our minds, there are many strange images. Jesus tells us, "It is because the thoughts you think you think appear as images that you do not recognize them as nothing." (W.15.1.1) As thoughts show up in our minds, we start to run a movie. It may be a movie of disaster based on fear thoughts that we are holding, a fantasy movie based on hopes and wishes, a happy movie or sad movie based on our mood at the time, or any variety of themes. I notice I may be watching a program on TV and before I know it, I am watching my own inner movie based on some random thoughts. My mind is the cause of everything I see. It is all internal.
Lesson 304 reminds us, all we see is our state of mind reflected outward. It is a way of keeping truth away from us because all we do is make of everything what we would have it be. As I am thinking of a disturbance in my life today, I am reminded to turn away from the idea that something or someone in my life is the cause of this disturbance. I am the only source of my experience. Jesus urges us to "Come without all thought of what you ever learned before, and put aside all images you made." (T.31.II.8.2) (ACIM OE T.31.II.22)
Whenever we like or dislike what is happening, have opinions about anything, have differing views with someone, or judge a situation as good or bad, we are assuming we know what it is all for. To know what is good or bad about anything, we would have to be aware of an inconceivably wide range of things, past, present, and yet to come. Clearly, this is an impossibility. We would also have to be certain there is no distortion in our perception---also an impossibility. How many times have we experienced how wrong we have been about our judgments? How many times have we changed our minds when new information was provided or when time passes and we saw things differently? How can we trust that we know anything of what is good or bad or right or wrong?
As a parent, I felt I could protect my child from all kinds of unforeseen events. When I could not, and the situation seemed not to be in my control, I would worry about his well-being. I learned that my worry and my anxiety could never protect him. If anything, my fear thoughts were teaching him that the world is a place of extreme danger, and he is vulnerable. In trying to maintain undue diligence for the safety of our children, we are projecting our own extreme sense of vulnerability onto them. The guilt and fear we hold in our minds make for poor parenting.
With guilt, we project all our fears onto those we are trying to protect, and instead, we are teaching them this world is an unsafe place. In saying this, I am not speaking of the ordinary cautions and supportive behaviors we exhibit toward our children in creating safety for them; but I am speaking of the kind of overbearing concerns that come from a mind (mine) that imagines all kinds of negative possibilities. It is my fear projected out. Yes, we must teach our children, but teaching is more effective when taught from a place of peace and accompanied by trust. It is teaching by demonstration, by choosing this for ourselves. The only one that heals is my own mind.
I increasingly learned to put my faith and trust in the Holy Spirit. Whatever was to happen to my son happened for reasons helpful for his soul's purpose here, and I certainly don't know what that is. We are urged not to take anyone's classroom away from them. We don't have the perspective to be able to judge what is in anyone's best interests, including our own. I could not prevent him from experiencing whatever was in his script. None of us are victims of the world we perceive. Therefore, my judgment was of no value. What our judgments do is create a burden on our minds, which keep us from the truth of who we are. Of course, that is precisely the ego's agenda.
When I look back at my own life, things seemed to happen that at the time felt hurtful and I judged them to be bad. Now in retrospect, I can see why they were there for me, and why I chose them, at the level of the mind, for my soul's purpose. They took me deeper into my mind and brought a yearning to understand my purpose here. They took me on this journey. Would I change anything? No. All the things I thought should be different at the time I now trust as perfect for my journey of spiritual awakening.
The book, Eyes of an Angel, reminded me of the perfection of the people who show up in our lives for our learning. Paul Elder, the author, is a Canadian, previously mayor of Swift Current, Saskatchewan, and a businessman who, through several near-death and out-of-body experiences, developed an understanding of why we have incarnated with the people who are in our lives. It was another example of a perspective gained through the experiences of others. Even in dire examples of abuse and neglect, as described by Jeannette Walls in her book, The Glass Castle, we can see the lesson God would have us learn. His lesson is always that God's Son is innocent and everything is unfolding perfectly for this lesson to be finally accepted. We cannot judge because we cannot see the totality. We cannot see the beginning from the end. We cannot change the past. It is already done. What we can do is look at our state of mind as the outward picture of our inward condition.
Our judgments hurt us. When we see that this is the case, we will be motivated to give them up. When we judge anyone or think we know how to correct them, we are putting ourselves above them and making ourselves special. We make them guilty or wrong in the belief that we can look innocent by comparison, at their expense. This hurts us because in our condemnation of them, while we think we have elevated ourselves, in fact, we have condemned ourselves because whatever we give, we receive. Now we feel more guilty, and with guilt, comes the belief that we deserve punishment. This is how "It separates what is being used against it, and sets it off as if it were a thing apart," (W.311.1.2) because it takes a small part of totality and sees it as truth. In other words, we make our brother separate from us, believe he is different than us, and think what we are seeing in him is the truth. Until we let go of our judgments, we can't know the truth that we are all the same, and thus, we can't know ourselves when we separate from our brothers.
Today, we are called to ask for help. "He will relieve us of the agony of all the judgments we have made against ourselves, and re-establish peace of mind by giving us God's Judgment of His Son." (W.311.1.6) His judgment of us all is that we are the Christ Self, pure and innocent. The agony of judgment is how we keep ourselves prisoner to this world, in a state of guilt, and in fear of punishment.
We can only know ourselves when we see with the vision that excludes all judgment. With vision, we see no past in anyone. "And thus it serves a wholly open mind, unclouded by old concepts, and prepared to look on only what the present holds. It cannot judge because it does not know. And recognizing this, it merely asks, 'What is the meaning of what I behold?' Then is the answer given. And the door held open for the face of Christ to shine upon the one who asks, in innocence, to see beyond the veil of old ideas and ancient concepts held so long and dear against the vision of the Christ in you." (T.31.VII.13.3-7) (ACIM OE T.31.VII.80)
We must be vigilant and choose against the temptation to judge because it creates a burden and agony for us and keeps us mired in guilt. There is no peace with judgment. Today, instead of concluding that we know, let us ask for the meaning of what we behold from Someone Who does know, and let Him look on everything for us. This means we must surrender our knowing mind so the Holy Spirit can reveal to us the innocence and the love in everything. Only then can we know peace.
Apply this Lesson specifically to someone in your life you are holding judgments against. Look at how you see yourself elevated in light of your judgments and how you are making yourself feel better as a result. That is the reason for the judgments in the first place, to make ourselves better by comparison. This is where we need the courage and honesty to look at the darkness of the ego thought system, but then to recognize it has no effect and is not the truth. We willingly release these judgmental thoughts to the Holy Spirit. Judgment is a weapon we are using against ourselves. This Lesson is about asking to be relieved of this weapon and asking for help to see our brother as he truly is so we can know our Self as we truly are.
Love and blessings, Sarah
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IX. Christ and Anti-Christ
52 What is an idol? Do you think you know? For idols are unrecognized as such and never seen for what they really are. That is the only power which they have. Their
purpose is obscure, and they are feared and worshipped both
because you do not know what they are for and why they have been made. An idol is an image of your brother which you would value more than what he
is. Idols are made that he may be replaced, no matter what their form. And it is this which never is perceived and recognized. Be it a body or a thing, a place, a situation or a circumstance, an object owned or wanted, or a right demanded or achieved, it is the same.
53 Let not their form deceive you. Idols are but substitutes for your reality. In some way, you believe they will complete your little self for safety in a world perceived as dangerous, with forces massed against your confidence and peace of mind. They have the power to supply your lacks and add the value which you do not have. No one believes in idols who has not enslaved himself to littleness and loss. And thus must seek beyond his little self for strength to raise his head and stand apart from all the misery the world reflects. This is the penalty for looking not within for certainty and quiet calm which liberates you from the world and lets you stand apart in quiet and in peace.
54 An idol is a false impression or a false belief---some form of anti-Christ which constitutes a gap between the Christ and what you see. An idol is a wish made tangible and given form and thus perceived as real and seen outside the mind. Yet it is still a thought and cannot leave the mind that is its source. Nor is its form apart from the idea it represents. All forms of anti-Christ oppose the Christ. And fall before His face like a dark veil which seems to shut you off from Him, alone in darkness. Yet the light is there. A cloud does not put out the sun. No more a veil can banish what it seems to separate nor darken by one whit the light itself.
55 This world of idols
is a veil across the face of Christ because its
purpose is to separate your brother from yourself. A dark and fearful purpose, yet a thought without the power to change one blade of grass from something living to a sign of death. Its form is nowhere, for its source abides within your mind where God abideth not. Where is this place where what is everywhere has been excluded and been kept apart? What hand could be held up to block God's way? Whose voice could make demand He enter not? The "more-than-everything" is not a thing to make you tremble and to quail in fear. Christ's enemy is nowhere. He can take no form in which he
ever will be real.
56 What is an idol? Nothing! It must be believed before it seems to come to life and
given power that it may be feared. Its life and power are its believer's gift, and this is what the miracle restores to what
has life and power worthy of the gift of Heaven and eternal peace. The miracle does not restore the truth, the light the veil between has not put out. It merely lifts the veil and
lets the truth shine unencumbered, being what it is. It does not need belief to be itself, for it
has been created, so it
is. An idol is
established by belief, and when it is withdrawn, the idol "dies."
57 This is the anti-Christ---the strange idea there is a power past omnipotence, a place beyond the infinite, a time transcending the eternal. Here the world of idols has been set by the idea this power and place and time are given form and shape the world where the impossible has happened. Here the deathless come to die, the all-encompassing to suffer loss, the timeless to be made the slaves of time. Here does the changeless change; the peace of God, forever given to all living things, gives way to chaos. And the Son of God, as perfect, sinless and as loving as his Father, come to hate a little while; to suffer pain, and finally to die.
58 Where is an idol? Nowhere! Can there be a gap in what is infinite, a place where time can interrupt eternity? A place of darkness set where all is light, a dismal alcove separated off from what is endless,
has no place to be. An idol is beyond where God has set all things forever and has left no room for anything to be
except His Will. Nothing and nowhere must an idol be while God is everything and everywhere.
59 What purpose has an idol, then? What is it
for? This is the only question which has many answers, each depending on the one of whom the question has been asked. The world
believes in idols. No one comes unless he worshipped them and still attempts to seek for one that yet might offer him a gift reality does not contain. Each worshipper of idols harbors hope his special deities will give him more than other men possess. It
must be more. It does not really matter more of what-more beauty, more intelligence, more wealth, or even more affliction and more pain. But
more of something is an idol
for. And when one fails, another takes its place with hope of finding more of something else. Be not deceived by forms the "something" takes. An idol is a means for getting
more. And it is
this that is against God's Will.
60 God has not many sons, but only One. Who can have more, and who be given less? In Heaven would the Son of God but laugh if idols could intrude upon his peace. It is for him the Holy Spirit speaks and tells you idols
have no purpose here. For more than Heaven can you never have. If Heaven is within, why would you seek for idols which would make of Heaven less, to give you more than God bestowed upon your brother and on you as one with Him? God
gave you all there is. And to be sure you could not lose it, did He also give the same to every living thing as well. And thus
is every living thing a part of you, as of Himself. No idol can establish you as
more than God. But you will never be content with being
less.
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