"Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists.
Herein Lies the peace of God."
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A
Course in Miracles
TEXT
CHAPTER 25
The Remedy
IV. The Fundamental Law of Perception
23
To the extent to which you value guilt, to that extent will you perceive a world in which attack is justified. To the extent to which you recognize that guilt is meaningless, to that extent will you perceive attack cannot
be
justified. This is in strict accord with vision's fundamental law: you see what you believe is there, and you believe it there because you
want
it there. Perception has no other law than this. The rest but stems from this, to hold it up and offer it support. This is perception's form adapted to this world of God's more basic law that love creates itself and nothing
but
itself.
24
God's laws do not obtain directly to a world perception rules, for such a world could not have been created by the Mind to which perception has no meaning. Yet are His laws reflected everywhere. Not that the world where this reflection is, is real at all. Only because His Son believes it is, and from His Son's belief He could not let Himself be separate entirely. He could not enter His Son's insanity with him, but He could be sure His sanity went there with him so he could not be lost forever in the madness of his wish.
25
Perception rests on choosing; knowledge does not. Knowledge has but one law because it has but one Creator. But this world has two who made it, and they do not see it as the same. To each it has a different purpose, and to each it is a perfect means to serve the goal for which it is perceived. For specialness it is the perfect frame to set it off—the perfect battleground to wage its wars, the perfect shelter for the illusions which it would make real. Not one but it upholds in its perception; not one but can be fully justified.
26
There is another Maker of the world, the simultaneous Corrector of the mad belief that anything could be established and maintained without some link that kept it still within the laws of God; not as the law itself upholds the universe as God created it, but in some form adapted to the need the Son of God believes he has. Corrected error is the error's end. And thus has God protected still His Son, even in error. There is another purpose in the world that error made because it has another Maker Who can reconcile its goal with His Creator's purpose. In His perception of the world, nothing is seen but justifies forgiveness and the sight of perfect sinlessness. Nothing arises but is met with instant and complete forgiveness.
27
Nothing remains an instant to obscure the sinlessness that shines unchanged beyond the pitiful attempts of specialness to put it out of mind where it must be and light the body up
instead
of it. The lamps of Heaven are not for it to choose to see them where it will. If it elects to see them elsewhere from their home, as if they lit a place where they could never be, and
you
agree, then must the Maker of the world correct your error, lest you remain in darkness where the lamps are not. Everyone here has entered darkness, yet no one has entered it alone. [Nor need he stay more than an instant.] For he has come with Heaven's Help within him ready to lead him
out
of darkness into light at any time.
28
The time he chooses
can
be any time, for help is there, awaiting but his choice. And when he chooses to avail himself of what is given him, then will he see each situation that he thought before was means to justify his anger turned to an event which justifies his love. He will hear plainly that the calls to war he heard before are really calls to peace. He will perceive that where he gave attack is but another altar where he can with equal ease and far more happiness bestow forgiveness. And he will reinterpret all temptation as just another chance to bring him joy. How can a misperception be a sin? Let all your brother's errors be to you nothing except a chance for you to see the workings of the Helper given you to see the world He made, instead of yours.
29
What then
is
justified? What do you
want
? For these two questions are the same. And when you see them
as
the same, your choice is made. For it is seeing them as one that brings release from the belief there
are
two ways to see. This world has much to offer to your peace and many chances to extend your own forgiveness. Such its purpose is to those who
want
to see peace and forgiveness descend on them and offer them the light.
30
The Maker of the world of gentleness has perfect power to offset the world of violence and hate that seems to stand between you and His gentleness. It is not there in His forgiving eyes. And therefore it need not be there in yours. Sin is the fixed belief perception
cannot
change. What has been damned is damned and damned forever, being forever unforgivable. If then it
is
forgiven, sin's perception must have been wrong. And thus is change made possible. The Holy Spirit too sees what He sees as far beyond the chance of change. But on His vision sin cannot encroach, for sin has been
corrected
by His sight. And thus it must have been an error, not a sin. For what it claimed could never be has been. Sin is attacked by punishment and so preserved. But to forgive it is to change its state from error into truth.
31
The Son of God could never sin, but he
can
wish for what would hurt him. And he
has
the power to think he can be hurt. What could this be except a misperception of himself? Is this a sin or a mistake, forgivable or not? Does he need help or condemnation? Is it your purpose that he be saved or damned? Forgetting not that what he is to you will make this choice
your
future? For you make it
now
, the instant when all time becomes a means to reach a goal. Make then your choice. But recognize that
in
this choice the purpose of the world you see is chosen and
will
be justified.
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A
Course in Miracles
TEXT
CHAPTER 25
The Remedy
V. The Joining of Minds
32
Minds that are joined and
recognize
they are can feel no guilt. For they cannot attack, and they rejoice that this is so, seeing their safety in this happy fact. Their joy is in the innocence they see. And thus they seek for it because it is their purpose to behold it and rejoice. Everyone seeks for what will bring him joy as he defines it. It is not the aim as such that varies. Yet it is the way in which the aim is
seen
that makes the choice of means inevitable and beyond the hope of change unless the aim is changed. And then the means are chosen once again, as what will bring rejoicing is defined another way and sought for differently.
33
Perception's basic law could thus be said, "You will rejoice at what you see because you
see
it to rejoice." And while you think that suffering and sin will bring you joy, so long will they be there for you to see. Nothing is harmful or beneficent apart from what you wish. It is your wish that makes it what it is in its effects on you. Because you
chose
it as a means to gain these same effects, believing them to be the bringers of rejoicing and of joy. Even in Heaven does this law obtain. The Son of God creates to bring him joy, sharing his Father's purpose in his own creation that his joy might be increased and God's along with his.
34
You makers of a world that is not so, take rest and comfort in another world where peace abides. This world you bring with you to all the weary eyes and tired hearts that look on sin and beat its sad refrain. From you can come their rest. From you can rise a world they will rejoice to look upon and where their hearts are glad. In you there is a vision which extends to all of them and covers them in gentleness and light. And in this widening world of light, the darkness they thought was there is pushed away until it is but distant shadows, far away, not long to be remembered as the sun shines them to nothingness. And all their "evil" thoughts and "sinful" hopes, their dreams of guilt and merciless revenge, and every wish to hurt and kill and die will disappear before the sun you bring.
35
Would you not do this for the love of God? And for
yourself
? For think what it would do for you. Your "evil" thoughts that haunt you now will seem increasingly remote and far away from you. And they go farther and farther off because the sun in you has risen that they may be pushed away before the light. They linger for a while, a
little
while, in twisted forms too far away for recognition and are gone forever. And in the sunlight you will stand in quiet, in innocence, and wholly unafraid. And from you will the rest you found extend, so that your peace can never fall away and leave you homeless. Those who offer peace to everyone have found a home in Heaven the world cannot destroy. For it is large enough to hold the world within its peace.
36
In you is all of Heaven. Every leaf that falls is given life in you. Each bird that ever sang will sing again in you. And every flower that ever bloomed has saved its perfume and its loveliness for you. What aim can supersede the Will of God and of His Son that Heaven be restored to him for whom it was created as his only home? Nothing before and nothing after it. No other place, no other state nor time. Nothing beyond nor nearer. Nothing else. In any form. This can you bring to all the world and all the thoughts that entered it and were mistaken for a little while. How better could your own mistakes be brought to truth than by your willingness to bring the light of Heaven with you as you walk beyond the world of darkness into light?
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A Course in Miracles
WORKBOOK
Part II
What is the Body?
1
The body is a fence the Son of God imagines he has built to separate parts of his Self from other parts. It is within this fence, he thinks he lives, to die as it decays and crumbles. For within this fence he thinks that he is safe from love. Identifying with his safety, he regards himself as what his safety is. How else could he be certain he remains within the body, keeping love outside?
2
The body will not stay. Yet this he sees as double safety. For the Son of God's impermanence is "proof" his fences work and do the task his mind assigns to them. For if his oneness still remained untouched, who could attack and who could be attacked? Who could be victor? Who could be his prey? Who could be victim? Who the murderer? And if he did not die, what "proof" is there that God's eternal Son can be destroyed?
3
The body is a dream. Like other dreams, it sometimes seems to picture happiness but can quite suddenly revert to fear, where every dream is born. For only love creates in truth, and truth can never fear. Made to be fearful, must the body serve the purpose given it. But we can change the purpose which the body will obey by changing what we think that it is for.
4
The body is the means by which God's Son returns to sanity. Though it was made to fence him into hell without escape, yet has the goal of Heaven been exchanged for the pursuit of hell. The Son of God extends his hand to reach his brother and to help him walk along the road with him. Now is the body holy. Now it serves to heal the mind that it was made to kill.
5
You will identify with what you think will make you safe. Whatever it may be, you will believe that it is one with you. Your safety lies in truth and not in lies. Love is your safety. Fear does not exist. Identify with love, and you are safe. Identify with love, and you are home. Identify with love, and find your Self.
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A Course in Miracles
WORKBOOK
Lesson 269
My sight goes forth to look upon Christ's face.
1
I ask Your blessing on my sight today. It is the means which You have chosen to become the way to show me my mistakes and look beyond them. It is given me to find a new perception through the Guide You gave to me and through His lessons to surpass perception and return to truth. I ask for the illusion which transcends all those I made. Today I choose to see a world forgiven in which everyone shows me the face of Christ and teaches me that what I look upon belongs to me, that nothing is except Your holy Son.
2
Today our sight is blessed indeed. We share one vision as we look upon the face of Him Whose Self is ours. We are one because of Him Who is the Son of God, of Him Who is our own Identity.
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ACIM Edmonton
Sarah's Reflections
Lesson 269
My sight goes forth to look upon Christ's face.
Sarah's Commentary:
The illusion that transcends all those I made is the illusion of forgiveness
.
"I ask for the illusion which transcends all those I made."
(W.269.1.4) It is an illusion because there is nothing to forgive, but it is an illusion that ends all illusions we have made because through forgiveness, we see beyond illusions to the truth. Through forgiveness, we see our mistakes and are helped to
"look beyond them"
(W.269.1.2) to the truth. Our sight is blessed so that we can see the Christ in our brothers instead of seeing our guilt in them. It is based on a choice we must make as it is not thrust upon us. We must desire to see our brothers' innocence, but first, we must want to see our own mistakes. We won't see the Christ in our brother without first recognizing our own judgments about him. What I want to see in my brother
"belongs to me."
(W.269.1.5) For as I see the Christ in my brother and see his innocence and his holiness, I will know my own. It is now a very familiar process to us and yet we need to be reminded again and again of the power of forgiveness. Whatever we give, we receive for ourselves as we give it.
If we understood that
"All that I give is given to myself,"
(W.126) forgiveness would be effortless. We would be highly motivated to see innocence in everyone. There would be nothing to forgive. It is not about overlooking the terrible things someone has done. There is no gain to us in this kind of "charity." In fact, if I think you have done something to hurt me and yet I am required to forgive it, I am trying to forgive something I have made real. By bringing the error to the truth, the Holy Spirit heals our misperceptions, and we will then see that what we made real in our minds is not so.
"It is always an interpretation that gives rise to negative emotions, regardless of their seeming justification by what
appears
as facts."
(Manual for Teachers.17.4.2)
"If anger comes from an interpretation and not a fact, it is never justified."
(M.17.8.6) Ultimately, all of our anger comes only from our interpretations and that is what needs to be forgiven.
"Perhaps it will be helpful to remember that no one can be angry at a fact."
(M.17.4.1) The cause of my distress is never in the situation, but in my thoughts about it. It is only my thoughts that need to be brought to the truth.
When I am angry, irritated, confused, and disappointed with someone or simply don't like them, when I want them to change in some way so I can be happy, when I look at what someone should do or should not be doing, when I think about what I need from anyone for me to be happy, when I judge anyone, when I think about things I don't want to experience with someone, and when I want to win at someone's expense, then in all of these situations, I need to see: the projection of my own anger, my irritation, my confusion, my disappointment, my expectations, my judgments, my jealousies, and my own hatred. All of it is a projection of what is in my own mind.
"Perception is a mirror, not a fact."
(W.304.1.3) It is why it only takes one to heal any relationship. It does not require that we continue to be with the person in form for the relationship to be healed. It is only about what we are choosing in our own minds. The choice for truth requires the decision to forgive,
"which You have chosen to become the way to show me my mistakes, and look beyond them."
(W.269.1.2) The question is, "Am I willing?" And yes, it does take a lot of willingness when the ego is shouting for retribution.
Hate needs a target.
"Thus were specifics made."
(W.161.3.1) If I condemn others for gossiping about me or betraying me, I can be certain the judgment has started with my own unconscious guilt. Projecting it outward is a defense that protects us from looking within. We are convinced by our senses that what we see in the world is reality. The problem is that we have reversed cause and effect. Thus, we see events of the world as the cause of what we are feeling when, in fact, everything begins in our own minds. In other words, we have guilt in the mind that we don't want so we project it out and the world delivers the punishment we believe we have coming to us. Projection is how we disown responsibility for our own inward condition. Now, instead of unity and Oneness, we see a world of sickly forms.
This is our blasphemous sight. All of our self-attacks are seen in the sickly forms. With vision, we see the formless, divine nature of all beings. We see beyond the body and the personality to the essence of Being. None of this can happen by our own willpower. No matter how much we may want to see the Christ in our brother, it can only happen with the help of our Guide. Our part is to be willing to bring the blocks to true perception to the Holy Spirit for His interpretation.
Am I willing to let go of the way I set up the situation? Am I willing to allow a shift in my perception? It is simply a choice---a decision. The Holy Spirit is there in our minds, and help is available upon our sincere request. Notice how the ego resists. It yells loudly, "I am entitled to my way of seeing this situation. I am justified in my anger! And I am right!" Yet if someone says something to me that is painful, I can only be hurt if I believe this about myself. Otherwise, it would have no effect. The world is a mirror that shows me the state of my mind. How else would I ever know what is in my mind? How do I know the person who has just left me is not meant to be with me any longer? Simple. That person is no longer there! Our relationships are
"the means which You have chosen to become the way to show me my mistakes, and look beyond them."
(W.269.1.2)
Recently, I posted something on Facebook that reflected my thoughts about a political situation. The posting resulted in a comment that challenged my view. I immediately wanted to defend my position. Instead, I inquired as to what upset me about the comment. My first thought was of shame and guilt that I had done something that was not spiritual and thus did not live up to the concept I held of myself. I smiled as I noticed this thought and was grateful to see how I was trying to hold up a concept that blocked the truth of my Self. Earlier in the day, I had listened to Byron Katie who talked about the gift of criticism and how much she welcomed it into her life. I inquired about the gift that was there for me and recognized how what I saw as criticism was an opportunity to see the false self and see no value in it. It was another opportunity to give up the idea that we are separate.
Thus, it was a miracle that brought about a shift in perception to a place of peace, innocence, truth, and love, which can only happen when we are willing to bring our blocks to the Holy Spirit. The miracle allows for a change in the way we perceive now. Without thoughts of guilt, who would we be? How would we feel? What would we see? Only innocence! We would see the face of Christ (W.269.1.5) in everyone, and this is all there really is. What obscures it are the perceptions we have about the situation, the forms we see, the personalities we think define who others are and therefore ourselves. When the veil that keeps our sight focused on bodies, personalities, and behaviors of others, is lifted, the full glory of our Being is revealed to us in our brothers and in ourselves.
"We are one because of Him Who is the Son of God; of Him Who is our own Identity."
(W.269.2.3)
In practicing this Lesson today, think of people in your life with whom you have difficulties or challenges, and as you see them with your usual sight, recognize that this is not the truth of who they are, regardless of what they have done. Ask for help in releasing your judgments of them to see beyond
"flesh and bone, and recognize that Christ has come to you."
(W.161.12.3) Let the shining face of Christ be revealed to you and infuse you with peace and joy at the sight of holiness. This is who everyone is beyond the veil. This is the forgiven world. This is the truth about you. Allow forgiveness to show you the way to truth today. Take responsibility for what you are projecting onto others so you can know them for what they are in the light of Truth. Remember that others are not apart from you and are not
"able to behave in ways which have no bearing on your thoughts, nor yours on theirs."
(W.126.2.2) We are One Self.
Love and blessings, Sarah
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