To gain the most from A Course in Miracles Text Made Simple, we recommend that
you read the corresponding chapter and section in the Text of the Second or
Third Edition of A Course in Miracles published by the Foundation for Inner Peace.
Read ACIM Chapter 13, Section I (pages 237-39)
Guilt is a barrier to the awareness of Love’s presence. “Love and guilt cannot coexist, and to accept one is to deny the other.” (1:4) The Course says in the introduction that its aim is to remove the blocks to the awareness of Love’s presence. Thus it could be said that the Course’s aim is the release of guilt, which clears our vision to see the innocent Son of God as he is. That is why forgiveness, or letting go of the guilt that keeps the ego going, is a thread that weaves through the entire Course.
The Course equates sin with lack of Love or separation from Love. When we believe in the thought system of the ego, we believe that separation from Love is real and therefore believe sin is real and guilt is justified. Since the Son of God could never in truth be separate from His Father, belief in separation from Love (sin) makes awareness of the innocent Son of God impossible. It is only our belief in separation from Love that makes the illusionary world we see seem real. The world of separate and unique identities is a substitute for the oneness of God’s Love. But despite our dreams of separation, the truth about us as the guiltless Son of God remains unchanged.
The idea of time with a past and future is an integral part of the belief in separation. Here we are learning that everything that appears to happen within the realms of time never was and disappears as we are willing to let these false ideas go. Within the realm of time it appears that we really have separated or sinned, but because there is no time in reality, nothing has ever really happened to the Son of God. Love remains changeless in eternity and eternity is all that is real.
We are learning that imagining that time is real is a useless and painful journey. But we have another choice. “The Father is not cruel, and His Son cannot hurt himself.” (4:2) The Holy Spirit knows the way out of this painful, illusionary journey. It is through the Holy Spirit, Which resides in our mind, that we learn what we have imagined is not true. The Holy Spirit teaches us of our innocence by helping us see that the world we made is not real. “Deny your world and judge him not, for his eternal guiltlessness is in the Mind of his Father, and protects him forever.” (5:8)
To know our Self as God created It, we must let go of guilt because guilt maintains the belief in separation. The Self is one and cannot be recognized as long as there is a perception of separation. Self condemnation is inevitable as long as we believe we are separate from the Love that created us and Where we abide in truth. That is why we need to learn of our blamelessness from our inner Teacher, Who will guide us to see the holiness in all our brothers, and thus recognize it in ourselves. As we learn to see the Light in our holy companions, the darkness we have believed is in us is shined away.
The ego’s plan for guilt is to make it real and then pay for it through punishment. That is why we make up dreams of sickness and death. Through the Holy Spirit we learn that none of this dream of separation has ever been real, and so the past is not real. Since there is no past, there is no justification for guilt and thus no need to fear punishment. “... by accepting your guiltlessness you learn that the past has never been, and so the future is needless and will not be.” (9:1) As we recognize that there is no past and no future but only the eternal now, we learn that separation could never have occurred. With no separation, there is no dream of guilt. There is no dream of individuality. Nothing but God’s eternal Love has ever been or could ever be.
It is reassuring to know that God has never condemned us, His Son. Love does not condemn because Love knows only the truth. Because only Love is real, It knows no opposite. The fact that we are Love and can never change our reality guarantees our harmlessness and innocence. “And being wholly pure, you are invulnerable.” (11:8)
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