A Course in Miracles Text Made Simple

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.

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Chapter 23: The War Against Yourself

Section I. The Irreconcilable Beliefs

Read ACIM Chapter 23, Section I (pages 486-489)

How do we remember God?

We remember God as we allow our mind to quiet and be still. We are so familiar with the constant chatter of the ego mind that we identify with this false mind and think that it is our real mind. Now we are learning that all these constantly changing thoughts that flow through are coming from the false mind. Now we are learning to laugh at the ego fear thoughts instead of taking them seriously. We stop giving them meaning.

As we see that fear thoughts are meaningless, we do not fight them but merely let them fall away because they mean nothing to us. We no longer see any reason to grab on to them and real-ize them. With the Holy Spirit we learn to laugh at fear thoughts because we see their nothingness.

The Mind of Love is constant and changeless. The Mind of Love is filled with peace and joy. “The memory of God comes to the quiet mind. It cannot come where there is conflict, for a mind at war against itself remembers not eternal gentleness. The means of war are not the means of peace, and what the warlike would remember is not Love.” (1:1-3)

What is the ego’s chosen home?

The ego’s chosen home is the body, which the ego thought system tells us is our real identity. When we join with the ego thought system of separation from God and every brother, we are joining with a mistaken idea. We are making up images of something that is not really there in truth. The Course calls this image making. We pretend that the images that we see through the body’s eyes are to be taken seriously because we are pretending they are real.

This is what the Course calls the war upon ourself. “Do you not realize a war against yourself would be a war on God? Is victory conceivable? And if it were, is this a victory that you would want? The death of God, if it were possible, would be your death. is this a victory? The ego always marches to defeat, because it thinks that triumph over you is possible. And God thinks otherwise. This is no war; only the mad belief the Will of God can be attacked and overthrown. You may identify with this belief, but never will it be more than madness. And fear will reign in madness, and will seem to have replaced Love there.” (2:1-10)

Do we really want to replace Love’s oneness by making up images of separate bodies?

If we are really honest with ourselves, we will recognize that this is not what we really want. We really want the peace and eternal happiness of our true Source. We really want to let go of the ego’s belief system of separation. We want to remember that we have never left Heaven and that we are still as God created us. Jesus tells us, “Let all this madness be undone for you, and turn in peace to the remembrance of God, still shining in your quiet mind.” (8:9)

What sweeps away all trace of false ideas of separation?

Forgiveness is the means by which we let go of what is not true. Forgiveness means letting go of the false ideas which make up illusions of separation. Forgiveness means letting go of the war on our one Self, our one Identity as Love. “You who are beloved of Him are no illusion, being as true and holy as Himself. The stillness of your certainty of Him and of yourself is home to both of You, Who dwell as one and not apart. Open the door of His most holy home, and let forgiveness sweep away all trace of the belief in sin that keeps God homeless and His Son with Him. You are not a stranger in the house of God. Welcome your brother to the home where God has set him in serenity and peace, and dwells with him. Illusions have no place where love abides, protecting you from everything that is not true.” (10:1-6)

How do we forgive illusions?

By choosing peace instead of the conflict that comes with believing in separation. When we choose peace we open the door to our right mind, where the Holy Spirit resides. As we let peace into our mind, it gladly replaces all thought of sin and guilt. “Conflict and peace are opposites. Where one abides the other cannot be; where either goes the other disappears. So is the memory of God obscured in minds that have become illusions’ battleground. Yet far beyond this senseless war it [peace] shines, ready to be remembered when you side with peace.” (12:6-9)

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