To gain the most from A Course in Miracles Lesson Insights, we recommend
that you read the corresponding lesson in the Workbook of the Second or
Third Edition of A Course in Miracles published by the Foundation for Inner Peace.
“Let me forget my brother’s past today.”
The Course tells us that the world we see is entirely a projection of our minds. In one lesson it says point blank, “There is no world.” It sure doesn’t seem that way when I miss the nail and hammer my thumb. This idea is completely the opposite of everything we seem to experience in the world. It is why the Course says it is leading us to a complete thought reversal.
Since the world is a projection from my own mind, then what I perceive as my brother’s past is also a projection of my own mind. By forgetting my brother’s past, I am forgetting my own projections of a past. This is forgiveness. The past that I have attached to an image of a person in another body is purely a figment of my imagination, a projection that does not exist outside of my mind.
But in this world images of other bodies seem very real and I’m not being asked to deny that I believe they are real. I am simply being asked to forget what I believe they did. The process of forgetting the past of “others” will lead automatically to the recognition that I have truly forgiven myself. With my strong investment in the belief in an outer world, I am not being asked to find my own way to stop believing in it. I am being asked to bring these beliefs and perceptions to the Holy Spirit.
As I learn to open my mind to His teaching, He will show me step-by-step that what I have hung on to in my mind about the past is not here and is not real and is therefore nothing. My job is to bring all those thoughts and perceptions to Him and then open my mind to His gentle correction.
It is not my job to do the correcting. To attempt on my own to correct my mistaken beliefs is like the blind leading the blind. Belief in illusion will only foster more belief in illusion. But with my willingness to accept the Holy Spirit’s intervention, I can learn to recognize the illusion for what it is. Thus it is with the Holy Spirit’s help that I learn to forget my brother’s past today.
The Course tells us that time and space have never been. It tells us that time and space are the mechanisms of illusion in which we write stories of being separate people leading separate lives. The Course reminds us gently, again and again, that these stories are not true. It reminds us that any thoughts regarding having a past or future could never be real. It reminds us that we are still a Thought in the Mind of God, Which remains changeless and eternal.
In this lesson we are being gently reminded to let go of the past. Letting go of our brother’s past helps us let go of what we may think of as our past. Because we are one, it is all the same. No one’s past is real. There is only the eternal present in God. There is only Heaven. Believing in anything else is really holding a grievance against the truth. It is resistance to accepting the truth.
The whole journey Home is a process of letting go of what never could be real. This is what the Course calls forgiveness. As we let go of what could never be real, what lies behind those false stories becomes clear to us. All is still as God created it. Everyone is still as God created them. Nothing could ever happen but God. Love is all there is.
While I am thinking that I move in a world of time and space, seeing my brother differently with the help of the Holy Spirit is the way the dream gets dissolved. Letting go of the past is the way the dream gets dissolved. Opening to Holy Spirit’s Light again and again will show me the consistency of the eternal presence of Love. This habit will heal my mind of all belief in time and space. This habit will gently undo all grievances I have against God’s oneness.
There is not now or ever could be a past or a future. There is only the eternal now. Today I would watch my thinking and see where I am making the past appear real, which means I am making the false stories appear real. I would take each circumstance to the Holy Spirit to receive another perception. This is true forgiveness. This is how the dream is undone in my mind.
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