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.
“I judge all things as I would have them be.”
Before the ego — the thought of separation — there was no judgment. There was no sense of an ‘other’ to judge or evaluate. But with the idea of separation, there needed to be a mechanism to hold separation in place so it would seem to be real. For this purpose the ego made judgment. “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.” (1:1-2)
God, in His grace, provided an antidote for this poisonous thought system. Because we had already embraced the “reality” of judgment, He needed to use this mechanism for a different purpose that would lead to the point where judgment is recognized as no longer needed. This antidote is the Holy Spirit. While the ego judges from a limited perspective that cannot see the whole, the Holy Spirit judges from the point of seeing totality. Thus His judgment is very simple. He recognizes all things as either real or unreal. What is real is Love and nothing else. What is unreal is nothing and is disregarded as meaningless and without effect.
As we learn to practice giving all our judgments to the Holy Spirit, our burden is lightened and we walk with an easy step. Our judgments with the ego always carry guilt and weigh us down with the fear of punishment for that guilt. As we release our judgments to the Holy Spirit, He undoes the guilt, for He knows that nothing could ever change the holy Son of God, our Self. This process of turning over every judgment to the Holy Spirit to let Him judge on our behalf is the way out of hell and the return to our Home in God.
We do not need to know how the Holy Spirit undoes the guilt. We need only relieve ourselves of the burden of judgment by giving it all to Him. He returns to us the gift of freedom and God’s eternal peace. We give Him nothing and He gives us everything. It is the exchange of illusion for reality. In deep gratitude I give thanks to God for His Answer to the insane idea of separation and judgment. Thank You God. I love You God.
Freedom comes as I let the Holy Spirit judge all things for me. The ego has judged all things as separate and alone. The ego’s judgment tries to place its guilt outside itself. That is why it needs an ‘outside.’ On the other hand, the Holy Spirit sees all as one. The Holy Spirit shows me there is no outside. There is no guilt. When I hold hands with the Holy Spirit, all I see is innocence.
There is only one Christ Mind that is real. The Holy Spirit reminds me of the unreality of separation. The Holy Spirit shows me the meaninglessness of a world of separation. It is only when I am willing to go to the Holy Spirit that I will receive the Holy Spirit’s judgment. The Holy Spirit shows me the difference between the real and the unreal, and through this I find freedom from the bondage of the ego thought system of separation.
Today is a day of letting the Holy Spirit judge for me. Today I would practice refraining from judging on my own. Today I would practice holding Holy Spirit’s hand and receiving Christ’s vision. Today I would take one more step towards accepting the freedom that is mine.
All last week I ate a lot of stuff that is not normally on my diet and was afraid I had gained some weight. When I got on the scale, I saw that I had and felt bad about it. I told myself that it was no big deal and I would just lose it.
When I read today’s lesson I realized that I was just kidding myself about it being no big deal. It was really weighing heavily on my mind and I quickly saw it for what it was. I was judging myself as being weak willed and foolish. I was using this judgment to convince myself that I am a body and powerless.
And, of course, I am seeing myself as separate. After all, not everyone has a problem controlling their weight. In fact my weight problems are worse that everyone else’s… or so I tell myself and thus I guarantee the illusion of being special and thus separate.
I visualized setting down my heavy sack of “special feelings.” I took each one out and showed it to Holy Spirit. One by one, we looked at them together. We looked at my dread of being powerless, at my belief that my problems were worse than everyone else’s, at my embarrassment at once again having “failed.” We looked at each sense of specialness until the bag was empty. Then Holy Spirit took both my hands and we smiled at the insubstantial pile of illusions as they began to fade away into the nothingness they are without the support of my belief in them.
This stuff is a big deal only if I refuse to look at it. Then it gets heavy and dark and weighs down my steps as I go through the day. Looking at it with Holy Spirit shows it for the nothingness it is. I thank staff for pointing the way to this healing and I am so grateful that God provided me with a way out of my illusion.
I love the way these lessons explain to us how our minds think and how we use them; they tell us the problem and then give us the solution. I, too, so many times, have issues with a certain person(s) or a situation and I dread facing it, to the point where the thought of it ruins my day. So rather than to look at it, I tell myself it’s not a big deal and attempt to ignore it, I guess hoping it will go away. I also see myself as separate and judge the person, the situation, and myself, which makes me separate even more.
So today I ask the Holy Spirit to judge my brother/myself for me and I also recognize that this is one more step towards my freedom.
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