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 15: The Holy Instant

Section VI: The Holy Instant and the Laws of God

Read ACIM Chapter 15, Section VI (pages 314-316)

Why do we experience guilt when we try to change the laws of God?

God’s Love is one and universal. God’s all inclusive Love is a total giving of all Love to All. There is nothing outside of this all inclusive Love. The laws of God do not change.

When we try to change the laws of God’s Love, we will experience guilt. “And there will be guilt as long as you accept the possibility, and cherish it, that you can make a brother into what he is not, because you would have him so.” (1:6) We are trying to make a brother into what he is not when we believe he is separate from us and different from others or ourselves. We are trying to make a brother into what he is not when we choose to withhold love from one or reserve special love for another. The law of Love is that Love is all inclusive, so if we exclude anyone, we will feel guilty.

What is it that we share with all our brothers?

The Course tells us in many ways that only Love is real and Love is strength. Here we are being reminded that this Love is in us. Love is our true Self and it is this Self that we share with all our brothers. Because of the all inclusive nature of Love, perfect Love is the same everywhere, always.

What causes us to feel weak, lacking and guilty?

It is the unwillingness to accept the Love that is in us that causes us to feel weak, guilty and lacking. This world is the effect of believing that we are separate from God’s universal Love. The sense of lack that this belief induces causes us to search to try to fill the lack. Convinced that we are separate, we look outside ourselves to fill this imagined need, unaware that the Love we seek is What we are. We believe the brothers we see as outside of us are equally as limited as we are.

What happens to our vision when we accept the holy instant?

Fortunately Jesus does not buy into this mistaken image we have made of ourselves. He has perfect faith in the truth about us that we are Love and nothing else. He sees God’s universal Love in every brother, recognizing them all as the holy Son of God and one with himself. The Holy Spirit in our minds shares this recognition. In the holy instant, our minds are open to this shared vision of the holiness of God’s Son. Thus in that holy instant we are able to love all our brothers equally.

How does Jesus describe Love as different from the love found in this world?

God (Love) is the idea of sharing one Identity. Inherent in Love is giving Love. Love must give of Itself to be Itself. Love is the idea of giving all of Itself to all of Itself. As we learn to see our brothers as part of our one Self, we will naturally give all of our Love to every part of our Self. The Course tells us, “...like your Father, you are an idea. And like Him, you can give yourself completely, wholly without loss and only with gain. Herein lies peace, for here there is no conflict.” (4:5-7)

Inherent in accepting the Love that we are is giving the Love that we are and seeing the Love that we are in everyone. In Love there is total oneness. There is total equality. There is total inclusiveness. We are learning that there is nothing outside of Love. As we return to accepting Love as Love is, we see that if it is not Love it is an illusion and therefore nothing. Love is constant and does not change with time. We learn about the laws of Love from the Holy Spirit, our one true Guide out of the loveless world we have made for ourselves.

It is the Holy Spirit That brings us the change of mind that is needed to bring us into full communication with the truth of all Love everywhere. The Holy Spirit brings us to the holy instant. “In the holy instant God is remembered, and the language of communication with all your brothers is remembered with Him. God and the power of God will take Their rightful place in you, and you will experience the full communication of ideas with ideas.” (8:1,6)

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Chapter 15: The Holy Instant

Section V: The Holy Instant and Special Relationships

Read ACIM Chapter 15, Section V (pages 312-314)

What does the Course mean by ‘special love’?

This world was made as a place to experience special love — love that we do not share with the All, love that we could call ours alone. In this world we experience being special and unique. We have special people who we share special love with, excluding others. In helping us understand a better way, Jesus explains to us, “We have said that to limit love to part of the Sonship is to bring guilt into your relationships, and thus make them unreal. If you seek to separate out certain aspects of the totality and look to them to meet your imagined needs, you are attempting to use separation to save you. How, then, could guilt not enter?” (2:2-4)

Why do our special relationships bring guilt with it?

Jesus is helping us understand that when we believe we are separate, there is an automatic unconscious belief that we are guilty. This is because when we believe we are separate, we are denying our oneness with our Source and this is seen as an attack. Believing we have attacked our Creator, we believe we are guilty. Thus any relationship that separates us from the whole will bring guilt with it.

In this world we have learned that there are people we like and some we don’t like. There are some who seem to make us happy and some who make us angry. Sometimes these are even the same person. We use our learning from the past to evaluate every situation to determine whether it is good or bad for us. Should we run, fight or enjoy the moment? We are not seeing the situation in the present, but always looking at it through the filter of our past learning.

How does the Holy Spirit give us lessons in Love through our relationships?

When we open our minds to be taught by the Holy Spirit, we learn the difference between special love and perfect Love. As our minds open to the Holy Spirit’s change of perception, the Holy Spirit brings us to the holy instant. “The holy instant is the Holy Spirit’s most useful learning device for teaching you love’s meaning.” (1:1) In the holy instant our judgments, based on what we think is true, are replaced by the Holy Spirit’s kind and gentle vision. The ego dissolves in Its healing Light. “Under His teaching, every relationship becomes a lesson in Love.” (4:6)

In this world, everyone we see is perceived through either the ego’s false filter of separation, or through the Holy Spirit’s pure Light of oneness. When we see ourselves as without Love, we see our brothers as without Love. As we let our mind be purified, we see everyone in the world differently. “In the holy instant no one is special, for your personal needs intrude on no one to make your brothers seem different. Without the values from the past, you would see them all the same and like yourself. Nor would you see any separation between yourself and them” (8:2-4)

We have built a frame of reference from our past experience. We give meaning to everyone we see based on this past experience. If someone reminds us of our mother, we judge her based on our past experience with our mother. When we open our minds to the holy instant, the past is gone, making room for the Holy Spirit to substitute His frame of reference in exchange for the one we made. His frame of reference is simply Love’s oneness. Since only Love is real, the Holy Spirit disregards everything else because He knows it does not exist. Thus the Holy Spirit shows us the Love that is ever present in us. “With Love in you, you have no need except to extend It.” (11:3)

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Chapter 15: The Holy Instant

Section IV: Practicing the Holy Instant

Read ACIM Chapter 15, Section IV (pages 309-311)

As we continue through the Text, Jesus reinforces again and again that only what God wills is true. He has not willed separation and so nothing in this world of separate and unique forms is true. In this section Jesus tells us, “This course is not beyond immediate learning, unless you believe that what God wills takes time. And this means only that you would rather delay the recognition that His Will is so. The holy instant is this instant and every instant.” (1:1-3)

How do we become aware of the holy instant?

We must want the holy instant to know we have it. It is not forced upon us against our will. It comes as we are willing to accept that God’s Will is ours and we share God’s Will with all that is real. When we choose to value separation, which is valuing littleness, we are opposing all that the holy instant would bring us. That is why Jesus tells us, “Your practice must therefore rest upon your willingness to let all littleness go. The instant in which magnitude dawns upon you is but as far away as your desire for it. As long as you desire it not and cherish littleness instead, by so much is it far from you. By so much as you want it will you bring it nearer.” (2:1-4)

Let all littleness go. This means letting everything in this world of separate bodies go. What does letting it go mean? It means letting go of our belief in it, which is what brings it in to our experience. If we want a new experience, we need to let go of the ideas we are holding on to in our mind. We need to hand our false ideas of littleness over to the Holy Spirit, Who will show us a different view — a view of wholeness and oneness. Jesus tells us, “Be humble before Him, yet great in Him. And value no plan of the ego before the plan of God.” (3:1-2)

What does Jesus mean when he says that our mind is host to God’s Mind?

The plan of the ego is to be separate from God’s oneness and not share God’s one Mind. The plan of the ego is to make it look like we are separate beings in a world of separate bodies with unique personalities. We are told, “And it is your mind that is host to Him.” (3:7) Let’s think about what this means. Our mind is host to God’s Mind. It is the home of changeless Love. It is the home of the holy instant. Jesus encourages us to make the holy instant ours now, “...for the release from littleness in the mind of the host of God depends on willingness, and not on time.” (5:3)

How do we increase our willingness to accept the truth?

By realizing that the world cannot offer us lasting happiness. The whole world is based on a lie — that it is possible to be separate, which is littleness. We think we have made a little life of our own, but this could never be true. Jesus is teaching us that there is no life but the Life we share with God. He is teaching us that we are Love and Love is sharing all in the one Mind of God. In God there is no individual ownership, there is no greater or lesser.

Why does Jesus tell us that the Course is really very simple?

The lesson Jesus is teaching us is really very simple. He tells us, “The reason this course is simple is that truth is simple. Complexity is of the ego, and is nothing more than the ego’s attempt to obscure the obvious.” (6:1-2) There is a very simple reason why we do not experience the holy instant now and forever. The foundation of separation is the unwillingness to share. Sharing is total communication, withholding nothing so that we freely receive and freely give only God’s Will. God’s Will is that we are one with Him and there is nothing outside of this oneness. Jesus tells us, “The holy instant is a time in which you receive and give perfect communication. This means, however, that it is a time in which your mind is open, both to receive and give. It is the recognition that all minds are in communication. It therefore seeks to change nothing, but merely to accept everything.” (6:5-8)

How is a willingness to share connected with the free flow of God’s Love?

This is an important key to our freedom. The reason we do not experience the holy instant now is because our minds are closed. We are refusing to accept God’s Will, which is total sharing in the one Mind of Love. Willingness to share is how we open our minds to the free flow of God’s Love. We cannot want to keep specialness and be unique and at the same time be open to the idea that all minds are the same and are in complete communication. All our thoughts are shared with all because our only real thoughts are thoughts of Love. As we learn to accept and give only Love, our minds open to the holy instant. Thoughts of littleness fall away. The idea of private thoughts disappears.

Believing that individuality is real keeps the experience of separation in place and is a barrier to the holy instant. Jesus tells us exactly how we do it. “You believe you can harbor thoughts you would not share, and that salvation lies in keeping thoughts to yourself alone. For in private thoughts, known only to yourself, you think you find a way to keep what you would have alone, and share what you would share.” (7:3-4) We need to ask ourselves, “Who do I think I am and where do I think I am? Am I keeping thoughts based on a belief in being a separate person, unique and different from everything I see around me?” The way out of this is to learn to recognize thoughts of being separate and hand them over to the Holy Spirit to be undone.

While we are dreaming of a world of individuality with separate bodies, we will have thoughts that do not reflect perfect Love. The key to release from the dream is that we must not want to keep these thoughts. Detaching from a world of separation requires detaching from its thoughts. As we develop the practice of turning all unloving thoughts over to the Holy Spirit to receive His gentle correction, we move toward welcoming the holy instant. We open our minds to the free flow of God’s Love. “In your practice, then, try only to be vigilant against deception, and seek not to protect the thoughts you would keep to yourself. Let the Holy Spirit’s purity shine them away, and bring all your awareness to the readiness for purity He offers you. Thus will He make you ready to acknowledge that you are host to God, and hostage to no one and to nothing.” (9:8-10)

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Chapter 15: The Holy Instant

Section III: Littleness versus Magnitude

Read ACIM Chapter 15, Section III (pages 306-309)

What does Jesus mean by ‘seeking for littleness’?

Seeking for individuality is seeking for littleness. The world we see through the body’s eyes is a world that comes from thoughts of littleness. Jesus tells us, “When you strive for anything in this world in the belief that it will bring you peace, you are belittling yourself and blinding yourself to glory.” (1:6)

We were created by Love as Love’s extension. As Love’s extension, we remain one with It. Since only Love is real, we remain one with All That Is and all of Reality is ours. When we try to set ourselves apart as an individual, we lose awareness of Reality because oneness and individuality cannot coexist, being diametrically opposed.

To be an individual, we must separate ourselves and thus we have chosen to believe that we no longer have everything. The images of the world were made as a substitute for having everything. The images give us the appearance of being able to have something — some form that we can identify with that seems to give us value. Yet because it is the denial of all that is real, this world can only offer us empty images that can never bring us contentment. No matter how much we strive for things in this world, there is always an awareness in our minds that there is something more.

Why can our memory of unity never be obliterated?

The memory of our unity with All That Is can never be completely obliterated because it is the memory of our Self. Thus anything this world appears to offer will always fall short as a substitute for the experience of having everything that is real.

When we identify with the ego thought system, we choose the images of the world because we treasure individuality. But the call to return Home to the magnitude of All That Is will never disappear completely. The call of Love in our hearts reminds us of What we are in truth. Our job now is to learn to recognize the ego’s empty substitutes for what they are. This is a lesson we owe ourselves to learn because no matter what choices we have made in the past, we still deserve to know the magnitude of Reality as ours.

How do we become aware that we are host to God?

Magnitude is already ours. But because we believe we are in a world of littleness, it requires vigilance to keep our attention on recognizing our real magnitude, our oneness with Love. But Love is our Reality given us by God, so our holding the awareness of Love is supported by the full power of God. “God is not willing that the His Son be content with less than everything. For He is not content without His Son, and His Son cannot be content with less than His Father has given Him.” (4:10-11)

Whenever we are making a decision, Jesus encourages us to let the Holy Spirit ask us this question: “Would you be hostage to the ego or host to God?” (5:1) The ego is the thought system of limitation and littleness and therefore limits and imprisons us. But when we welcome the oneness of Love into our hearts, we become host to the Love of God and become aware of Love’s magnitude. “Every decision you make is for Heaven or hell, and brings you the awareness of what you decided for.” (5:7)

If we wish to become aware that we are host to God, we must not decide against Love. It is the Holy Spirit that holds this clear awareness safely in our mind eternally. As we are willing to join with the Holy Spirit in all decisions, we are deciding for God. With the Holy Spirit’s help we see past the little images of the world of separate bodies and see the magnitude of our brothers and ourselves. This is the only meaningful purpose we have in the world. Jesus tells us, “It is our task together to restore the awareness of magnitude to the host whom God appointed for Himself. For God would give Himself through you. He reaches from you to everyone and beyond everyone to His Son’s creations, but without leaving you.” (7:2,4-5)

When we are willing to be host to Love, the Prince of Peace is born in us. We join with the Christ Mind and see through the eyes of Christ. Jesus tells us, “My birth in you is your awakening to grandeur. Welcome me not into a manger, but into the altar to holiness, where holiness abides in perfect peace.” (9:5-6) As we do this we realize we are not of this world. We will never be content with anything but the Love of God, which is His Will for us. Dreams of littleness are seen as nothing compared to the magnitude of our true Nature. “When you have learned to accept what you are, you will make no more gifts to offer to yourself, for you will know you are complete, in need of nothing, and unable to accept anything for yourself. But you will gladly give, having received. The host of God needs not seek to find anything.” (10:7-9)

To help in our joint task of being host to God, it is helpful to say to ourselves now and many times each day: Am I willing to be host to God right now? Am I willing to make room for Christ’s vision? I remember I have all the help I need. With this in mind we accept the help that is always there for us right now. We do not delay His coming but welcome the Prince of Peace into our hearts and minds. When we do this we will, “Call forth in everyone only the remembrance of God, and of the Heaven that is in him.” By being vigilant for the Love in everyone, we remember the Love we are, disregarding the images of littleness the world offers. “God’s power is forever on the side of His host, for it protects only the peace in which He dwells.” (12:5)

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Chapter 15: The Holy Instant

Section II: The End of Doubt

Read ACIM Chapter 15, Section II (pages 304-306)

Why does Jesus tell us not to be concerned with time?

In this section we are being encouraged to let go of the importance we place on time. The ego uses time to reinforce the seeming reality of separation. The importance we place on time is the basis for much stress that we experience in life. Our days are filled with schedules and deadlines. We are always preparing for the future and planning in order to keep ourselves safe. All of this carries with it an underlying belief in time and concern for what time will bring.

Here the Course is telling us to not be concerned with time. “Do not be concerned with time, and fear not the instant of holiness that will remove all fear.” (2:1) This seems like a big step. But it seems big only because we have so strongly identified ourselves with the ego. There are things to do while we believe we are in the world. If we let the ego guide us, time is used to reinforce our sense of lack, guilt and fear. The Holy Spirit will always use time on behalf of release from fear. The Holy Spirit uses time to teach us that we always have everything we need. As we learn to let the Holy Spirit guide us throughout the day, we will be guided how to use time effectively in this world in a way that does not reinforce separation. Guided by the Holy Spirit, our doing will be peaceful.

Our true Self, which knows our oneness with God’s timelessness, is not concerned with the illusion of time. Our true Self is fully aware of the changeless Love we are. There can be no fear in Love. That is why the Holy Spirit’s lesson teaches us what we are in truth. It is a lesson in Love and therefore the release from fear. Without fear it is thus also a lesson in peace. As we are willing, the Holy Spirit translates each hellish thought of separation into the joyous awareness of our unity with Love. It is in Love that God would have us be.

What happens when we accept the holy instant?

It doesn’t take time to be where we already are. But because we have identified so strongly with the ego, which is the denial of what and where we are, it takes time to change our minds to open to the recognition of where and what we have always been. Jesus encourages us to accept the holy instant, which is there for us every moment. He tells us, “The blessed instant reaches out to encompass time, as God extends Himself to encompass you. In this holy instant you will unchain all your brothers, and refuse to support either their weakness or your own.” (3:4,6)

Why does what we see in our brothers show us if we are aligning ourselves the ego or Holy Spirit?

Whatever we perceive is a reflection of what we believe about ourselves. When we believe we are the ego, with a separate self identity, we project that belief onto everything we behold. And so we see our brothers as confirmation of what we believe about ourselves. We see them as separate, guilty, capable of harm and loss. This perception is untrue, but we believe in it because we believe that about ourselves. But we have the means within our mind to change what we believe about ourselves. It is the Holy Spirit. If we shift our attention from the ego thought system to the Holy Spirit, He will show us our brother in a whole new light. Our brother then becomes a witness to the Light in us instead of confirmation of the ‘reality’ of separation and fear.

What we believe we are seeing in our brother shows us whether we are aligning ourselves with the ego or the Holy Spirit. The Light in our brother that the Holy Spirit shows us is so bright and clear that his holiness cannot be denied. This brilliant Light is only dimmed by our unwillingness to see it. The unwillingness to see the Light is simply unforgiveness. Unforgiveness causes us to project our guilt making the Light invisible. But in truth, it has no effect whatsoever on the eternal Light we all are.

Every brother can serve as a means for reinforcing our dream of separation or witnessing for the Holy Spirit. “It is, therefore, your choice whether they support the ego or the Holy Spirit in you.” (4:5) We will have doubt until we have completely released the past for just an instant when we look upon our brother. In that instant, “You will be sure because the witness to Him will speak so clearly of Him that you will hear and understand. And then you will doubt no more.” (4:12,14)

What brings us the end of doubt?

Since the holy instant brings the end of doubt, if we experience doubt, we have not yet experienced the holy instant. But there are steps that we can practice that will bring us closer to that moment when we can completely release ourselves and our brothers from the past. “Start now to practice your little part in separating out the holy instant. You will receive very specific instructions as you go along. To learn to separate out this single second, and to experience it as timeless, is to begin to experience yourself as not separate.” (6:1-3) The lessons of the Workbook are carefully orchestrated to help us release the ego perception of our brother and open to the inner instruction of the Holy Spirit. As we follow this practice, we are opening to the power of God in us.

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Chapter 15: The Holy Instant

Section I: The Two Uses of Time

Read ACIM Chapter 15, Section I (pages 301-304)

In this section Jesus very clearly describes the difference between how the Holy Spirit uses time and how the ego uses time. Depending on how we use our time, we free ourselves or bind ourselves to the ego thought system. Our job now is to consistently learn only from the Holy Spirit.

What is time for according to the Holy Spirit?

With the Holy Spirit we learn to use time as a means to end all need for time. The Holy Spirit is not bound by time and with His help we are brought out of time into timelessness. We are brought to the eternal Life we live in God. We are told, “Can you imagine what it means to have no cares, no worries, no anxieties, but merely to be perfectly calm and quiet all the time? Yet that is what time is for; to learn just that and nothing more.” (1:1-2)

What are the ego’s underlying motives for our experience of death?

The ego’s mantra is separation and since death is the ultimate “proof” that separation is real, the ego’s goal is always death. In the ego’s insane thought system, death is seen as proof that the ego is real. With identification with the ego comes the belief in hell and the experience of fear and guilt. “For the ego must seem to keep fear from you to hold your allegiance. Yet it must engender fear in order to maintain itself.” (4:10-11)

We are being shown the ego’s underlying motives to help us realize that we do not want anything that the ego offers. The belief in hell that the ego engenders prevents us from recognizing the purity of Love that is the eternal present.

What does the Holy Spirit help us realize?

As we listen to the Holy Spirit, we realize that there is no hell. The Holy Spirit helps us understand that, “Fear is not of the present, but only of the past and future, which do not exist. There is no fear in the present when each instant stands clear and separated from the past, without its shadow reaching out into the future. Each instant is a clean, untarnished birth, in which the Son of God emerges from the past into the present. And the present extends forever. It is so beautiful and so clean and free of guilt that nothing but happiness is there. No darkness is remembered, and immortality and joy are now.” (8:2-7)

How do we free ourselves from the past?

In paragraph 9 we are given a way to practice the Holy Spirit’s lesson that each moment is free of the past and future because the miscreations of the mind do not exist. Jesus suggests a process to help us experience the holy instant: Imagine yourself in the present moment, completely untouched by anything from the past… Recognize that this present instant is all there is… See that there is no past for which you can be condemned, and thus there is no cause for guilt… Know that you are completely free and wholly without condemnation… There is no sense of change with time and so you are at peace… Recognize that all change is illusion and so guilt is an illusion…

He tells us, “There is no change in Heaven because there is no change in God. In the holy instant, in which you see yourself as bright with freedom, you will remember God. For remembering Him is to remember freedom.” (10:6-8) It doesn’t take the Holy Spirit long to give us the holy instant when we are willing to receive it. What takes time is teaching us to be willing to let go of identification with the ego so that we will accept the Holy Spirit’s gift. We will not be able to accept the holy instant until we are willing to see the truth in our brothers. With the Holy Spirit, we give the holy instant to our bothers on behalf of their release. “For the instant of holiness is shared, and cannot be yours alone. Miracles are the instants of release you offer, and will receive.” (12:2,4)

What demonstrates that we are willing to be released from the ego?

Our willingness to see the Light of God in every brother demonstrates that we are willing to be released. By doing so, we are using time to heal the thought of separation and return to the oneness in which we were created. Jesus encourages us to, “Practice giving this blessed instant of freedom to all who are enslaved by time, and thus make time their friend for them. The Holy Spirit gives their blessed instant to you through your giving it. As you give it, He offers it to you.” (13:3-5)

The good news is that despite the ego’s dreams of separation, we, the Son of God, could never be changed from the pure Love we were created to be and still remain. As we learn to give time to the Holy Spirit for His use, He gives us the holy instant which we share with every brother. In the holy instant, “Time stands still in [our brother’s] holiness, and changes not. And so it is no longer time at all. For caught in the single instant of the eternal sanctity of God’s creation, it is transformed into forever.” (15:7-9)

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Chapter 14: Teaching for Truth

Section XI: The Test of Truth

Read ACIM Chapter 14, Section XI (pages 296-300)

What does Jesus tell us is essential that we learn?

One of the central teachings of the Course is that of ourselves alone, we know absolutely nothing. Since an image of being alone in a body is an illusion, there is no way for this image to have any awareness of reality. That is why Jesus tells us that, “Yet the essential thing is learning that you do not know.” (1:1) If we think we know, our minds are closed to learning the Holy Spirit’s message that will free us from the limitation, fear and guilt we have taught ourselves.

What causes us to believe that we are powerless?

We have taught ourselves that we are disconnected from God’s power. If we believe we are separate and different from God, we will believe we are powerless, since all power is of God. We have and are the power of God, yet we have taught ourselves that we are not what we are. Jesus tells us, “For you have taught yourself how to imprison the Son of God, a lesson so unthinkable that only the insane, in deepest sleep, could even dream of it.” (2:2)

We have rejected What we are and, feeling the effects of our choice to be independent, we make pitiful attempts to show strength in our own power in order to hide our underlying sense of weakness. In our insane dream of separation we are constantly encountering circumstances that confirm our belief in our powerlessness and that we really have separated ourselves from God. Feeling weak, we defend ourselves by judging others and feeling justified in our anger and attack. This may show up in our thoughts, our words or even physical attack.

What is the answer that will undo our perceived weakness?

We are reminded in this section that our perceived weakness is not true. “Yet all that stands between you and the power of God in you is but your learning of the false, and of your attempts to undo the true.” (1:9) Until we are willing to let go of what we have taught ourselves, we will continue to experience the cycle of the ego’s dream of fear, guilt and death. Jesus gives us the answer that will undo all this. “You need only recognize that everything you learned you do not want. Ask to be taught, and do not use your experiences to confirm what you have learned.” (6:4-5)

It is the Holy Spirit Who teaches us what our true Reality is now. It is the Holy Spirit that shows us the difference between the real and the unreal. It is the Holy Spirit that brings us to the awareness that the illusions of differences we have made up are unreal. We do not know anything on our own. That is why we are guided to say to ourselves whenever our peace of threatened, “I do not know what anything, including this, means. And so I do not know how to respond to it. And I will not use my own past learning as the light to guide me now.” (6:7-9) Holding this awareness that we do not know what anything means on our own keeps us open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit as we go through our day.

By choosing against our unity with God we made miracles necessary. We could not really become independent from God. But we could make ourselves unaware of His Love by hiding It behind images of separation. Thus it was necessary to provide the means for us to learn that those barriers have no substance because they are merely illusions.

Why doesn’t God compel us to return to Him?

God gives His creations all of Himself — all His Love, all His strength, all His joy, all His peace. This means, “He cannot compel His Son to turn to Him and remain Himself.” (7:4) If God were to compel us to turn to Him, it would mean that He had reserved some power for Himself that He had not given His Son. The truth is that we are God’s extension and there is no distance or difference between us. We are one united whole. Love is one and there is nothing else. The miracle shows us that this one Reality remains unchanged by showing us that the appearance of anything else is an illusion.

What limits our understanding of the truth?

We receive these miracles of understanding the truth from the Holy Spirit. This understanding is limited only when we believe there is anything we understand on our own. “It is only because you think that you can run some little part, or deal with certain aspects of your life alone that the guidance of the Holy Spirit is limited.” (8:4) The Holy Spirit knows that all the illusions we have made never were and had no real consequence. Thus they could never be justification for guilt. The Light he brings frees us from the past. “He has made you free of what you made. ...He would establish His bright teaching so firmly in your mind, that no dark lesson of guilt can abide in what He has established as holy by His Presence.” (10:4,7)

What happens when we accpt Holy Spirit’s miracles?

When we accept the Holy Spirit’s miracles, we are accepting our true inheritance. What He brings us is the awareness of what God gave us in our creation. It has always been ours. That is why Jesus tells us, “Thank God that He is there and works through you. And all His works are yours. He offers you a miracle with every one you let Him do through you.” (10:8-10) He offers the remembrance of our oneness in God. As we listen in silence, we learn the miracle of oneness and all differences disappear.

What does Jesus mean when he says the test of truth is perfect peace?

We are given a key to help us recognize when we are believing in the ego thought system of separation. We are told, “Think not you understand anything until you pass the test of perfect peace, for peace and understanding go together and can never be found alone. Each brings the other with it, for it is the law of God that they be not separate. They are cause and effect, each to the other, so where one is absent the other cannot be.” (12:4-6) When we open to the Holy Spirit’s understanding of oneness, we will receive peace. So if we are not at peace, it is a clear signal that we do not understand and we need to step back and ask for Holy Spirit’s vision. “The Holy Spirit will, of Himself, fill every mind that so makes room for Him.” (13:6)

What must we want to be successful learners?

To be successful learners we must want peace and nothing else. This means we want the Holy Spirit’s miracle lesson of oneness and nothing else. In oneness we see no value in defense and attack. To understand oneness we must let go of our desire to maintain a separate and unique identity. As we let go of separation we receive the peace and understanding that comes with remembering the oneness we share with God and all our brothers. “Make way for peace, and it will come. For understanding is in you, and from it peace must come.” (14:7-8) This is the test of truth. When we accept God’s oneness, we are at peace. We are accepting the truth.

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Chapter 14: Teaching for Truth

Section X: The Equality of Miracles

Read ACIM Chapter 14, Section X (pages 293-296)

What helps us realize we have a shared Identity?

Even though in this world of separation it looks like there are many different beings, the miracle (which is a correction of our perception), reminds us that we have a shared Identity. The miracle reminds us that every brother is equally the one Son of God. “We have already learned that this Identity is shared. The miracle becomes the means of sharing It. By supplying your Identity wherever it is not recognized, you will recognize It. And God Himself, Who wills to be with His Son forever, will bless each recognition of His Son with all the Love he holds for him.” (12:5-8)

How do we reflect the peace of Heaven here?

By recognizing God’s Son as the truth in everyone, we reflect the peace of Heaven here. This is how we bring the world to Heaven. “And thus, remembrance of his Father dawns on him, and he can no longer be satisfied with anything but his own reality.” (2:3) We are finding that we no longer need to believe in thoughts of limitation regarding ourselves or our brother. We are learning to let go of belief in limits and accept God’s limitlessness instead. As we accept miracles from the Holy Spirit, we are reminded of the truth — the equality of everyone’s oneness. “The miracle is the one thing you can do that transcends order, being based not on differences but on equality.” (2:7)

Why do we need to resign as the judge of anything?

We are constantly trying to classify and categorize our thoughts and perceptions in an attempt to bring order out of chaos. We do not see anything as equal. Because the ego is chaos, it is wholly unstable and this state is intolerable to us. But as long as we align our thoughts with the ego thought system, our attempts to stabilize by categorizing will be unsuccessful because stability cannot come from chaos (the ego). That is why we need to resign as the judge of anything and turn over all judgment to the Holy Spirit. As we accept the Holy Spirit’s perception, we receive a miracle, which comes from beyond the ego thought system we have identified with. We call it a miracle because it is a complete reversal of what we have believed and could not have come from our limited perception.

Jesus wants us to understand that as long as we identify with the ego, the thoughts of the ego will continue to hide the reflection of Heaven. It is only when we give the function of judging to the Holy Spirit that all belief in limitation is removed. “If you would remember your Father, let the Holy Spirit order your thoughts and give only the answer with which He answers you.” (10:4) The reason we are to put the Holy Spirit in charge of all judgment is that we are still limited by belief in form.

It is only the Holy Spirit Who is able to see past limitation to the limitlessness in every brother. It is only the Holy Spirit in your mind that can show you that there are only two categories, Love or a call for Love. “Every interpretation you would lay upon a brother is senseless. Let the Holy Spirit show him to you, and teach you both his love and his call for love. Neither his mind nor yours holds more than these two orders of thought.” (11:4-6) As we open to Holy Spirit’s miracles, we will remember this and let the ego’s thoughts fade away to the nothingness from which they came.

How are we to respond to every situation in this world?

Jesus gives us a significant message that helps us know how to respond to every situation in this world. He tells us, “Where there is Love, your brother must give It to you because of what It is. But where there is a call for Love, you must give [Love] because of What you are.” (12:2-3)

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Chapter 14: Teaching for Truth

Section IX: The Reflection of Holiness

Read ACIM Chapter 14, Section IX (pages 291-292)

This section gives us the way to wake up from dreams of death and despair. It tells us, in very practical terms, the way to find true and everlasting happiness. Jesus says, “Bringing the ego to God is but to bring error to truth, where it stands corrected because it is the opposite of what it meets. It is undone because the contradiction can no longer stand.” (2:1-2)

How do we bring the ego to God?

We can’t bring illusion to truth ourselves because our belief in the thought system of the ego makes us blind to the truth. But we can recognize the symptoms of illusion — anger, fear, guilt and our belief in time and separate bodies — and we can bring all these thoughts to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit shows us their unreality and they disappear. The undoing of these false ideas is the undoing of fear, guilt and loss in our mind. The Holy Spirit replaces our belief in time with timelessness, which alone is true. Jesus tells us, “The making of time to take the place of timelessness lay in the decision to be not as you are. Thus truth was made past, and the present was dedicated to illusion.” (1:7-8)

Why were we born into a world of time?

We were born into a world of time because we made a decision to reject the timelessness of God. Yet that decision had no effect on reality. Our job now is to reverse the decision by allowing the Holy Spirit replace all our false ideas with the truth. This means stepping back from deciding what anything means on our own. At this stage, we do not know what reality is and have no true basis with which to discern illusion from truth. But the Holy Spirit in our mind does. The Holy Spirit leads us to see, “Different realities are meaningless, for reality must be one. It cannot change with time or mood or chance. Its changelessness is what makes it real.” (2:6-8)

What does Jesus tell us is the remedy to replace our false ideas?

We must be willing to step back and listen. We must be willing to receive the Holy Spirit’s thought reversal. Jesus tells us, “The past that you remember never was, and represents only the denial of what always was.” (1:10) At first this thought reversal process seems quite confusing to us. We are still holding on to what is not true but do not realize it. We think we already know what is true based on what we learned from the past. So we do not think to ask the Holy Spirit regarding many things we take for granted to be true.

The undoing process that the Holy Spirit leads us through is gentle and gradual. As we bring our false ideas to the Holy Spirit, His Light gently shines them away. “The Atonement is so gentle you need but whisper to it, and all its power will rush to your assistance and support. You are not frail with God beside you. Yet without Him you are nothing.” (3:2-4)

How do we become a clear reflection of Heaven?

As we continue this process of letting go of everything that we have believed in the past, we move towards becoming a clear reflection of Heaven. The dark images of illusion no longer interfere because we have withdrawn our faith in them. “Earth can reflect Heaven or hell; God or the ego. You need but leave the mirror clean and clear of all the images of hidden darkness you have drawn upon it. God will shine upon it of Himself. Only the clear reflection of Himself can be perceived upon it.” (5:4-7)

No matter what we believe we are, holiness remains unchanged within us. Yet the illusions we believe in block our awareness of this holiness. As we practice bringing all our problems to the Light of holiness, we clean the mirror of our mind. The Light of our holiness shines brighter and brighter for all to see. It is our function to share this healing Light with everyone. When we have learned to offer only healing, we are ready for Heaven. We have accepted the state of holiness that is the condition of Heaven. We know that we are truth.

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Chapter 14: Teaching for Truth

Section VIII: The Holy Meeting Place

Read ACIM Chapter 14, Section VIII (pages 289-290)

To awaken, what is our job in this world?

Earlier in this chapter it was reinforced that illusion and truth, darkness and Light, cannot coexist. When we deny our union with Love (God) we cannot know the glory that God shares with us. Yet that does not change the fact that God’s glory remains ours. It only makes it unknown to us. Our job in this world is to bring all of our dark thoughts, our thoughts of fear and guilt and loss, to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit’s judgment is always that these thoughts are nothing and have no effect. So when we bring these thoughts to Him, His judgment undoes them and the glory they hid is revealed.

What wish shuts out God?

In our quest for a special and unique identity, we turned our back on God. Because God is oneness, He could not grant the wish for a separate, individual identity. Thus the wish for specialness shuts out God, keeping Him hidden from us behind doors of rejection. “It is the closing of the doors that interferes with recognition of the power of God that shines in you. Banish not power from your mind, but let all that would hide your glory be brought to the judgment of the Holy Spirit, and there undone.” (1:4-5)

What do we share with God?

No matter what we may believe we are, we cannot change the fact that, as God’s Son, we remain united with Him. Being united with God, we share in all that God is. The Love that God is, we are. Since God is only Love, we are only Love. If we judge a brother as being anything other than Love, we are making that same judgment of God. This judgment makes our brother, the Son of God, unknown to us and it also makes God unknown to us. Jesus tells us, “Can you offer guilt to God? You cannot, then, offer it to His Son. For they are not apart, and gifts to one are offered to the other. You know not God because you know not this. And yet you do know God and also this. All this is safe within you, where the Holy Spirit shines.” (2:5-10)

What will we remember when we open to the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit shines in the part of our mind that knows our oneness with our Creator and with all His creations. In this place our communication, our union with God remains unbroken. When we open to the Holy Spirit we will remember that, “Unbroken and uninterrupted Love flows constantly between the Father and the Son, as both would have it be. And so it is.” (2:15-16)

We have wandered through darkened corridors with thoughts of individuality and with the guilt that comes from holding these dark thoughts. Because we believe they are real, we cannot lead ourselves out of this darkness. But God appointed the Holy Spirit to guide us out of our self-imposed darkness into His oneness, where separation vanishes. We are guided to the holy meeting place of God and His Son. In this meeting place we see that we are all united in one Reality. There is no ‘other’ in truth.

What is God’s Will for us?

God has given Himself to us, His creation. Union with Him is His gift. “Heaven Itself is union with all of creation, and with Its one Creator. And Heaven remains the Will of God for you.” (5:2-3) When we desire nothing else, Heaven is what we will experience. Heaven is here now. In reality, there is nothing else. We will recognize that this is true when we let go of our desire to keep an individual identity.

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Chapter 14: Teaching for Truth

Section VII: Sharing Perception with the Holy Spirit

Read ACIM Chapter 14, Section VII (pages 287-289)

How do we share perception with the Holy Spirit?

If we want to share perception with the Holy Spirit, we will. However if we want to keep our private world which we share with no one, the truth the Holy Spirit offers is invisible to us. “What do you want? Light or darkness, knowledge or ignorance are yours, but not both.” (1:1-2)

The ego made perception to make the illusion of separation appear real. The Holy Spirit gives perception a new purpose by using it as a means to bring ignorance to knowledge. He does this by showing us that union is the only truth. The way to find the truth of union is to search out everything in our mind that interferes with our awareness of union. We do this by bringing all our fears to the Holy Spirit and opening our minds to His interpretation.

When we do not want to see union, we will not see it. We will see separate bodies with separate minds instead. We deceive ourselves by hiding union behind the ego’s false image making. Jesus tells us, “It is there, wherever you are, being within you. Yet it can be recognized or unrecognized, real or false to you. If you hide [union], it becomes unreal to you because you hid it and surrounded it with fear. Under each cornerstone of fear on which you have erected your insane system of belief, the truth lies hidden.” (2:4-7)

What is the mechanism we use to avoid seeing union?

The good news is that as soon as we are willing to see the truth of union, the Holy Spirit will show it to us because it is always there to remember. The truth of our union has never left us even though we have dissociated from it. Jesus explains this insane process of dissociation and how we use it to avoid seeing union. “Dissociation is a distorted process of thinking whereby two systems of belief which cannot coexist are both maintained. If they are brought together, their joint acceptance becomes impossible. But if one is kept in darkness from the other, their separation seems to keep them both alive and equal in their reality. Their joining thus becomes the source of fear, for if they meet, acceptance must be withdrawn from one of them.” (4:3-7)

What does the Holy Spirit need from us in order to enter?

If we want to maintain a separate identity we will be afraid of remembering union. So the whole thing comes around to what do we want? Do we want to maintain the illusion of separation or would we give these false images to the Holy Spirit to be undone? “Open every door to Him, and bid Him enter the darkness and lighten it away. At your request He enters gladly. He brings the light to darkness if you make the darkness open to Him. But what you hide He cannot look upon. He sees for you, and unless you look with Him He cannot see. The vision of Christ is not for Him alone, but for Him with you.” (6:2-7)

Since truth is union, truth must be shared to be recognized. That is why we must join with the Holy Spirit in sharing His perception because that is how it becomes real to us. “Seeing with Him will show you that all meaning, including yours, comes not from double vision, but from the gentle fusing of everything into one meaning, one emotion and one purpose.” (7:5) As we share the Holy Spirit’s vision, our oneness with all shines brightly in our minds with an appeal so great that we want nothing but to share it with all.

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Chapter 14: Teaching for Truth

Section VI: The Light of Communication

Read ACIM Chapter 14, Section VI (pages 285-286)

What does the Course meany by ‘the sentinels of darkness’?

We thought we broke off communication when we believed we had separated from our Father. With this decision to see ourselves as separate, we felt guilty and feared punishment because we thought we had usurped His power. What we thought we had made has made us fearful, but we feared God’s retribution even more. To keep ourselves safe, we erected barriers, which the Course calls ‘the sentinels of darkness,’ to keep the memory of God out. “What is kept apart from Love cannot share Its healing power, because it has been separated off and kept in darkness. The sentinels of darkness watch over it carefully, and you who made these guardians of illusion out of nothing are now afraid of them.” (2:4-5)

How can we now use ‘the power of decision’ on our behalf?

We made the power of decision when we thought there was value in being separate from God. In the oneness of God, there is nothing to decide between and thus no need for the power of decision. Our only need in Heaven is to extend Love, or to create. “The power of decision, which you made in place of the power of creation, He would teach you how to use on your behalf. You who made it to crucify yourself must learn of Him how to apply it to the holy cause of restoration.” (5:6-7)

How do we let the Holy Spirit re-establish true communication?

Our belief in what is not true has kept us ignorant of the truth. Because the Holy Spirit is the part of our mind that returns us to the truth, it is the Holy Spirit that re-establishes communication in our fearful mind. Communication brings Light and understanding and thus release from fear. “[The Holy Spirit] knows you are not separate from God, but He perceives much in your mind that lets you think you are. All this and nothing else would He separate from you.” (5:4-5)

The Holy Spirit will not take from us what we are not willing to let go of. If we want to be free of fear, we need to bring all of our dark and fearful thoughts to the Holy Spirit and let Him gently teach us that there is nothing to fear, because they are not real. “We must open all doors and let the Light come streaming through.” (8:5) As we stop hiding our dark and fearful thoughts and bring them to the Holy Spirit, He will shine the darkness away, so that only the Light of Love remains. Because only Love is real, everything but Love will disappear.

Because we do not remember true communication, it is the Holy Spirit’s job to separate the meaningful from the meaningless in order to restore us to true communication. “You who speak in dark and devious symbols do not understand the language you have made. It has no meaning, for its purpose is not communication.” (6:1-2) In darkness, we express only conflict. We do not know how to communicate truly and so our job now is to leave all communication to the Holy Spirit. With the Holy Spirit we are learning to exchange our ignorance for the Light of understanding. “Leave what you would communicate to Him. He will interpret it to you with perfect clarity, for He knows with Whom you are in perfect communication.” (6:6-7)

Perfect communication means perfect communion, or perfect unity. It is the Holy Spirit in our mind that is in total communication with the Holy Spirit in every mind that thinks it is divided. Another way to say this is the Truth in our mind sees the Truth in every mind and recognizes Its oneness.

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Chapter 14: Teaching for Truth

Section V: The Circle of Atonement

Read ACIM Chapter 14, Section V (pages 282-284)

What happens as we play our part in the circle of Atonement?

With the Atonement, all of our mind will be transformed into a radiant message of God’s Love, shared with all. The circle of Atonement excludes no one, being the principle of oneness. God does not will that we be separate from Him and so we remain forever changeless in His oneness. Our acceptance of this is the Atonement.

Though we have denied our oneness, the Holy Spirit remains in our mind, bringing us God’s eternal message of our innocence and His Love for us. “The only part of your mind that has reality is the part that links you still with God.” (1:1) We learn the Holy Spirit’s lesson of unity and innocence by applying it to everyone. When we do this without exception, the Atonement is accomplished and we remember our place in Heaven. Thus our part in the Atonement is to give a single message to all: “God’s Son is guiltless.” (2:1) This is the path to freedom from guilt. This is what we are to learn by teaching.

How do we teach and what do we teach?

We teach through demonstration. “Your only calling here is to devote yourself, with active willingness, to the denial of guilt in all its forms. To accuse is not to understand.” (3:5-6) We demonstrate guiltlessness by allowing no thoughts of condemnation to remain in our minds. Thus we teach the innocence that is the right of all God’s creation.

In order to be a teacher of innocence what must we remember?

The ego’s judgments deny the purity of God’s Son because they attempt to bring guilt to the eternally innocent. If we would remember our true inheritance as part of God’s Kingdom, we must not accept the ego’s judgments as our own. We must remember the purity of every part of the Sonship, which remains innocent as God created It. As we accept the miracle by letting the Holy Spirit show us the innocence beyond the veil of our misperception, we become teachers of innocence. “Yet those who have failed to learn need teaching, not attack.” (5:7) If we judge another, we are unable to see the innocence in them and thus do not learn of our own innocence.

As we learn to see everyone as the Holy Spirit sees them, we join His single purpose of release from guilt. This release overcomes all pain, all trials, all fear. As we see that everyone is still as God created them — whole, perfect and complete — we heal and are healed. We experience the peace that comes with this acknowledgment. We experience the circle of Atonement. “The power of God draws everyone to its safe embrace of love and union. Stand quietly within this circle, and attract all tortured minds to join with you in the safety of its peace and holiness.” (8:5-6)

How do we join Jesus in the circle of Atonement?

Jesus is asking us to join with him in the circle of Atonement. In the circle we teach peace and remember our Father’s power that is given us. In this way we, “Restore to God His Son as He created him, by teaching him his innocence.” (9:10) As long as we perceive ourselves or anyone as outside the circle, crucifixion is our goal. “Whom you perceive as guilty you would crucify.” (10:4) We must turn all our judgments over to the Holy Spirit and let Him judge on our behalf. He will show us our brother’s innocence and thus teach us of ours.
This is how we become teachers of peace and join the holy circle of Atonement. Jesus says, “Come gladly to the holy circle, and look out in peace on all who think they are outside. Cast no one out, for here is what he seeks along with you. Come, let us join him in the holy place of peace which is for all of us, united as one within the Cause of peace.” (11:7-9)

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Chapter 14: Teaching for Truth

Section IV: Your Function in the Atonement

Read ACIM Chapter 14, Section IV (pages 279-281)

We are learning that it is our job to let ourselves be shown our brother’s guiltlessness. As we go to the Holy Spirit for all things, we are shown that everyone is still as God created him. As we allow ourselves to see the truth, we are able to recognize that, “Beyond the First [God] there is no other, for there is no order, no second or third, and nothing but the First.” (1:8)

What is our job in reaching the state of guiltlessness?

It is only because we have believed in guilt that we need help to reach a state of guiltlessness. While we believe in guilt we cannot accept our oneness with God. It is not our job to remove the guilt, but it is our job to give all our thoughts of guilt to the Holy Spirit, Who will undo them for us. As we forgive by taking our thoughts of guilt to the Holy Spirit, we reach the state of guiltlessness, which clears the way for us to know that we remain in God as we were created. As the thoughts of guilt are removed, the truth that they obscured becomes more and more clear to us. “On earth this is your only function, and you must learn that it is all you want to learn.” (3:7)

What must we ultimately decide?

When we choose to make a world of separation real, we are trying to change ourselves to fit an image of being separate from God. But no matter what we decide to believe, we cannot change our Identity. We cannot change the fact that we are Love and nothing else. “Decide that God is right and you are wrong about yourself. He created you out of Himself, but still within Him. He knows what you are. Remember that there is no second to Him. There cannot, therefore, be anyone without His Holiness, nor anyone unworthy of His perfect Love.” (4:5-9, italics added)

As we see our brother’s guiltlessness we are refusing to accept what could never be. We are refusing to believe that there could be anything that is not of God. When we see the truth we will love it and know that it is ours. The truth is there in every brother to see and love.

This world is the effect of deciding against extending the Love that we were given in our creation. We decided against our function in Heaven. Since it is impossible to change what God created, this world must therefore be an illusion. It is a place made to look like we can make decisions on our own that seem to have an effect. But the consequence of believing in this world is that we have lost awareness of what we are, or have lost awareness of our function, and thus have no meaningful basis for making decisions. That is why it is our job to, “Leave all decisions to the One Who speaks for God, and for your function as He knows it. So will He teach you to remove the awful burden you have laid upon yourself by loving not the Son of God, and trying to teach him guilt instead of Love.” (5:4-5)

Reality and unreality are mutually exclusive. There can be no part of unreality within reality, nor can there be any part of reality in unreality. Since only God (Love) and His Creation is real, anything that is not Love, not of God, cannot be real. We were created as Love by Love. Love is one and cannot sin or be guilty. Therefore we must be guiltless. If we believe in guilt, we are believing in unreality and this belief makes reality unknown to us.

How do we come to know Reality again?

To know Reality once again, we must let go of our belief in the unreal. We must recognize our guiltlessness. “The Holy Spirit, Who remembers [what you are and what your Father is] for you, merely teaches you how to remove the blocks that stand between you and what you know.” (9:5) Our job is to be open to the Holy Spirit’s teaching. His teaching will restore guiltlessness to our minds so that we can again recognize our brothers and our Self as God created us. The Holy Spirit teaches us how to decide with God. When we let the Holy Spirit make all our decisions, there is no conflict and no efforting. It is more restful than sleep.

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Chapter 14: Teaching for Truth

Section III: The Decision for Guiltlessness

Read ACIM Chapter 14, Section III (pages 274-278)

In this section Jesus teaches us how to be happy learners by making the decision for guiltlessness. He shows us the difference between the two decisions and the effects of each decision. He helps us understand that guilt is the glue that keeps the ego together. The ego thought system always wishes to see guilt because that is how it maintains its perception of separation. When we join with the ego we are joining with guilt, which is depressing and not a happy experience. Seeing guilt anywhere and thinking that it is real is the same as being attracted to the pain of guilt and deciding against our happiness.

Why does guilt come with belief in separation?

We are seeing that guilt comes with believing in the ego thought system because it is believing that the Son of God changed himself from how he was created by God. This is why the pain of guilt comes with believing this world is real. This is why guilt is inherent with believing in unique personalities. Jesus explains that we have a choice and we are choosing between the ego thought system and the Holy Spirit all the time. “The ego is the choice for guilt; the Holy Spirit is the choice for guiltlessness. The power of decision is all that is yours. What you can decide between is fixed, because there are no alternatives except truth and illusion.” (4:2-4)

When we join with Holy Spirit, what do we offer every brother and ourselves?

When we remember that the Son of God cannot change himself from how he was created by God, we are remembering the truth. When we join with the Holy Spirit, this is what we will offer to every brother, no matter what he thinks he has made of himself. When we offer only truth to our brother, truth is what we will receive. “The cost of giving is receiving. Either it is a penalty from which you suffer, or the happy purchase of a treasure to hold dear.” (5:8-9) Believing that our brother could be different from how he was created by God will bring us suffering and depression. Remembering that he is still as God created him brings us happiness and joy. This is the choice that is always before us. Do we want to believe in illusions of separation or do we want to remember the eternal truth? Remembering the truth is the decision for guiltlessness.

What other benefits come from seeing that separate bodies are not real?

Another benefit of being willing to see that illusions are illusions is that we recognize our invulnerability. We know illusions cannot hurt us. When we do not make illusions real, we remember that we cannot be harmed. “Teach no one he has hurt you, for if you do, you teach yourself that what is not of God has power over you.” (8:2)

Jesus wants us to see past illusions because he knows that it will make us happy and we will remember that we are still joined with our Source because we have never left. We will remember that everyone remains as God created them. We will remember that if we try to see them as something else, we are trying to usurp God’s Will and we will feel guilty. He tells us, “Remember always that Mind is one, and Cause is one. You will learn communication with this oneness only when you learn to deny the causeless, and accept the Cause of God as yours.” (8:5-6) This means that we heal as we learn to deny the denial of the truth. As we are willing to let go of the meaning we have given to our illusions of separation we will see that, “What cannot happen can have no effects to fear.” (15:4)

How do we accept Holy Spirit’s help?

Because we are so attached to believing in this world we made, we need help in returning to the truth. Jesus tells us how to accept this help when he says, “Say to the Holy Spirit only, ‘Decide for me,’ and it is done. For His decisions are reflections of what God knows about you, and in this light, error of any kind becomes impossible. Why would you struggle so frantically to anticipate all you cannot know, when all knowledge lies behind every decision the Holy Spirit makes for you? Learn of His wisdom and His Love, and teach His answer to everyone who struggles in the dark. For you decide for them and for yourself.” (16:1-5)

God created us as Love like Himself. Love is guiltless. But we have taught ourselves to deny Love and have chosen isolation instead of oneness. This is completely opposite of our nature. The world we see is the effect of having taught ourselves that we are what we are not. We have blinded ourselves to the truth, but this has not changed the truth. We cannot lose the Love that we are.

What is the Holy Spirit’s job?

The Holy Spirit’s job is to help us unlearn what we have taught ourselves so that we can return to the full awareness of the Self that God created us to be. Because the Holy Spirit’s teaching is the opposite of what we have taught ourselves, there is a reluctance to trust Him. But the Holy Spirit is gentle and brings us lessons that will help us recognize that we do want what He is offering us. Gradually we learn to trust His message of Love and guiltlessness. Through his gentle teaching we learn to recognize the innocence that has always been there. With the Holy Spirit’s help we learn to see it in our brothers and thus recognize it in ourselves.

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