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 9: The Acceptance of the Atonement

Section III: The Correction of Error

Read ACIM Chapter 9, Section III (pages 166-168)

How do we help a brother who is having a bad dream?

If someone is having a bad dream, we don’t believe the dream. We help him by remembering the truth about him, not by trying to change the dream. The dream is simply the effect of what he is believing about himself in that moment. But the dream is not what he is or where he is. The dream is just a passing hallucination, reflecting his beliefs in the moment. We help him by remembering that beliefs do not change the truth about him. That is what the Holy Spirit does for us while we believe we are in this dream world of separation.

What is correction that really works?

Because the ego believes in form and disregards content, it will always try to make corrections by changing the form. But since form is merely an effect, changing the form does not change the cause. So the ego’s attempts to correct are always at a level where they cannot work. The ego “is unaware of what errors are and what correction is.” (2:2)

Correction needs to be made at the level of cause. The Holy Spirit offers us correction by disregarding the effects of our beliefs and always remembering us as God created us. The Self that God created is Love and nothing else. This remains unchanged, no matter what we believe we have made of ourselves. The ego, being the rejection of Love, “is always wrong, no matter what it says or does.” (2:10)

This section helps us understand the correction of error and what really works. Error is just mistaken thoughts and believing that they are real. “Errors are of the ego, and correction of errors lies in the relinquishment of the ego.” (2:3) The ego is just belief in the false idea of separation. It is not what we are. If we want to free ourselves from the ego, we will stop reinforcing this mistaken idea. The world of separation and everything in it is just mistaken thinking. Thinking that we can change the world by correcting the errors that we think are “out there” will never work. The dream we are dreaming is coming from our mind. The correction is made in our minds.

The Holy Spirit is not part of the dream we made. The Holy Spirit is not part of the false idea of separation. It is only the Holy Spirit That can correct the dream because the Holy Spirit is outside the box of false perception. To the Holy Spirit the whole box of false perception makes no sense. He does not try to change it. He just shows us its unreality. He shows us the truth that lies beyond the box of false perception. He disregards the dream and shows us what is real. He teaches us to see the truth in every brother who shows up in our dream. In this way He teaches us the truth about ourselves. “Unless this becomes the one way in which you handle all errors, you cannot understand how all errors are undone.” (5:4)

Why can’t we wake up from the dream on our own?

Because we are so used to thinking that our dream of separation is real, we do not know how to wake up from the dream on our own. Condemning anything or anyone in the dream only makes it more real to us. Letting the Holy Spirit show us the unreality of the dream is how all errors are forgiven. True forgiveness is the recognition that the error never really happened. True forgiveness recognizes that what is not Love could never be real. True forgiveness recognizes that only oneness is true and separate bodies are not real. False ideas are not real. This is the true correction of error. Letting go of the ego involves seeing that all the effects of the ego’s false ideas are really nothing. We do not try to change them; we merely disregard them for the nothingness they are.

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