A Course in Miracles Text Made Simple

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Chapter 30: The New Beginning

Section II. Freedom of Will

Read A Course in Miracles, Chapter 30, Section II. (pages 629-630)

What does the Holy Spirit tell us when we are willing?

The Holy Spirit lets us know our real will. When we joined with the thought system of separation, we lost sight of our real will and as a result, we experience an underlying sense of loss and lack. That is why we constantly feel a need to look for something outside ourselves for our happiness. Jesus explains: “[The Holy Spirit] tells you but your will; He speaks for you. In His Divinity is but your own. And all He knows is but your knowledge, saved for you that you may do your will through Him.” (1:2-4)

What is our true will?

In truth, joining with Heaven’s oneness is our will. Heaven is our Source, our beingness, our Essence. Heaven is our true Identity. Another way to put this is that Heaven is the Mind of God, Which we never left.

Our real will is to return to the awareness that we never left Heaven. We are still safe in the Mind of God and in Reality, we never left. When we are willing to let go of the false belief in separation, the Holy Spirit brings us back to the awareness that we never left Heaven. We never left God’s oneness. God is our Friend, not our enemy. God’s all encompassing Love is What we all are. Returning to our true Identity is our freedom from all the perceived limitation and lack that we find in our dream of separation from God’s oneness.

Why did God give us the Holy Spirit?

God gave us the Holy Spirit to insure that we would never lose our will. Jesus tells us, “Hear [the Holy Spirit] now, that you may be reminded of His Love and learn your will. God would not have His Son made prisoner to what he does not want. He joins with you in willing you be free. And to oppose Him is to make a choice against yourself, and choose that you be bound.” (2:7-10)

Here we see why it is so important to devote time to stepping back from our story to listen to our inner Teacher, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit only comes to us when we give Him welcome. As we are willing to relax and listen, the still, small Voice of Love will be there. You can tell you are truly giving Him welcome when you feel His peace, comfort and sense of well-being. As you rest in His peace, what you need to know will be there in your awareness. You will be able to laugh with Holy Spirit at the ego’s stories instead of taking illusions of separation seriously.

How do we extend freedom instead of bondage?

Jesus answers it this way: “This world awaits the freedom you will give when you have recognized that you are free. But you will not forgive the world until you have forgiven Him Who gave your will to you. For it is by your will the world is given freedom. Nor can you be free apart from Him Whose holy Will you share.” (4:6) Believing we are separate from God is bondage because we believe we are not free to express our real will which we share with God.

Why does Jesus say that when we forgive our brother, we are forgiving God?

We forgive God when we remember that our brother is not our enemy, but our friend. Because every brother is really the Christ and not the separated body that we think is there, when we let go of this false idea or forgive, we are allowing the truth to return to our mind. Because minds are joined and not separated, as we allow our mind to be healed by the Holy Spirit, our healed mind is shared by every brother.

Jesus tells us: “God turns to you to ask the world be saved, for by your own salvation is it healed. And no one walks upon the earth but must depend on your decision, that he learn death has no power over him, because he shares your freedom as he shares your will. It is your will to heal him, and because you have decided with him, he is healed. And now is God forgiven, for you chose to look upon your brother as friend.” (5:1-4)

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Chapter 30: The New Beginning

Introduction & Section I. Rules for Decision

Read A Course in Miracles, Chapter 30, Introduction & Section I. (pages 625-629)

What is our focus in this chapter?

Our focus now is on a new beginning, where we practice the steps that lead us away from judgment and toward forgiving dreams. This new practice leads us away from dreams of fear. Our focus now is to develop new habits based on joining with the Holy Spirit instead of joining with the thoughts of the ego.

What do we do when we find that our resistance is strong?

Jesus tells us, “And if you find resistance strong and dedication weak, you are not ready. Do not fight yourself. But think about the kind of day you want, and tell yourself there is a way in which this very day can happen just like that. Then try again to have the day you want. The outlook starts with this: “Today I will make no decisions by myself.” (1:6-9, 2:1-2)

Because we have had the habit of identifying with the thoughts of the split mind that thinks independently of God, we do not know what is in our best interest. We have joined with thoughts that have made us think we were separate and alone. We have joined with thoughts that have made us think we were weak, vulnerable and unsafe. We have joined with fear thoughts and have thought they were valid and sure. Now we are focusing on a new beginning, where we step back from what we thought before.

What would help us to let go of deciding on our own?

Jesus gives us the following suggestions to tell ourselves when we forget:

“Throughout the day, at any time you think of it and have a quiet moment for reflection, tell yourself the kind of day you want; the feelings you would have, the things you want to happen to you, and the things you would experience, and say: “If I make no decisions by myself, this is the day that will be given me.” (4:1-2)  “I have no question. I forgot what to decide.” (6:4-5)  “At least I can decide I do not like what I feel now.” (8:2)  “And so I hope I have been wrong.” (9:2)  “I want another way to look at this.” (11:4) “Perhaps there is another way to look at this. What can I lose by asking?” (12:3-4)

What tells us that we have judged already?

Jesus knows how our mind automatically works while we are still under the influence of ego thoughts. We still want to think we already know and be right instead of receiving the happiness Holy Spirit brings us. This is why he tells us: “But there will still be times when you have judged already. Now the answer will provoke attack, unless you quickly straighten out your mind to want an answer that will work. Be certain this has happened if you feel yourself unwilling to sit by and ask to have the answer given you.” (5:1-3)

We have judged already if we feel anger, frustration, fear or anything other than the perfect peace and happiness that comes with joining with the Holy Spirit. When we feel any of these things we can recognize that we have judged already. We can then choose once again to step back and ask for Holy Spirit’s perspective. We do this by quietly opening our mind for His gift of peace until we will receive the peace we ask for. From this place of peace comes the understanding that will help us have the day of happiness and peace we really want.

Why does Jesus say our decisions are not made in isolation?

Jesus tells us that we are either making our decisions with the ego (choosing idols to replace the truth of oneness), or we are making decisions with the Holy Spirit, Who brings awareness of the truth of oneness to our minds. He tells us, “[Decisions] are made by you and your adviser, for yourself and for the world as well. The day you want you offer to the world, for it will be what you have asked for, and will reinforce the rule of your adviser in the world. Whose kingdom is the world for you today? What kind of day will you decide to have?” (16:6-9)

Jesus is encouraging us to join with the Holy Spirit when he tells us, “It needs but two [you and Holy Spirit] to understand that they cannot decide alone, to guarantee the joy they asked for will be wholly shared. For they [you and Holy Spirit] have understood the basic law that makes decision powerful, and gives it all effects that it will ever have. It needs but two. These two [you and Holy Spirit] are joined before there can be a decision. Let this be the one reminder that you keep in mind, and you will have the day you want, and give it to the world by having it yourself. Your judgment has been lifted from the world by your decision for a happy day. And as you have received, so must you give.” (17:2-8 italics added)

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Chapter 29: The Awakening

Section IX. The Forgiving Dream

Read A Course in Miracles, Chapter 29, Section IX. (pages 622-624)

What are we to ask ourselves about our story in this world?

Jesus tells us, “Hear, then, your story in the dream you made, and ask yourself if it be not the truth that you believe that it is not a dream.” (1:4) As long as we believe that our story of separate bodies is the truth, we will continue to be a willing slave of the ego’s idols. Jesus is encouraging us to let go of worshiping what has no life. He says, “What happened to the holy Son of God that this could be his wish; to let himself fall lower than the stones upon the ground, and look to idols that they raise him up?” (1:3)

How can God’s Son waken from the dream?

We wake up from the dream when we let go of judgment. Jesus is very specific when tells us, “Judge not for he who judges will have need of idols, which will hold the judgment off from resting on himself. Nor can he know the Self he has condemned. Judge not, because you make yourself a part of evil dreams, where idols are your ‘true’ identity, and your salvation from the judgment laid in terror and in guilt upon yourself.” (2:7-9)

We are being guided here to let go of deciding what anything means. We are being guided to become as little children, asking our Father what is the truth. This letting go of judgment leaves an opening for the Holy Spirit to lift the veil of the ego’s lies of separation and bring to our awareness the truth that idols of separation have no life in truth. As we are willing to let go of deciding what anything means we are reminded to see the Love beyond the guilt… to feel the peace beyond the conflict… to let go of being slave to the ego’s lies of separation.

In truth there is no outer world that is a threat to us. In truth there is no world of separate bodies, where everything is judged as separate and alone. What makes this world seem real is only the ego’s judgment, the judgment of the split mind that the thought of separation (ego) made up to deny God’s oneness.

How does Jesus help us out of the predicament we appear to be in?

He helps us see that we are only dreaming a dream and that the content of the dream is not true. He helps us see the truth about ourselves that is beyond the dream. He likens our dreams to the games that little children play when they pretend in a sand box that the toy soldiers are really having a battle to the death.

Jesus tells us, “Yet everything their toys appear to do is in the minds of those who play with them. But they are eager to forget that they made up the dream in which their toys are real, nor recognize their wishes are their own.” (4:7-8)

Why do God’s Children want to forget that they made up the dream?

Jesus tells us that God’s Children are eager to forget that they made up the dream because, “he fears his thoughts and gives them to the toys instead. And their reality becomes his own, because they seem to save him from his thoughts. Yet do they keep his thoughts alive and real, but seen outside himself, where they can turn against him for his treachery to them. He thinks he needs them that he may escape his thoughts, because he thinks the thoughts are real. And so he makes of anything a toy, to make his world remain outside himself and play that he is but a part of it.” (5:5-9 italics added)

This is a very clear explanation of why we resist knowing that this is just a dream. We have played that we are not our Father’s Son and we feel guilty for this thought so we attempt to give these guilty thoughts to “others” that we have made up in the dream. We now see the guilty ones outside us in order to relieve ourselves of the guilt. It is helpful for us to know that whenever we see someone outside us as guilty, this is what is going on.

The good news is that we do not have to continue this game of projecting the guilt outside us. We can recognize that nothing has happened to change God’s one Son. We have simply been pretending like little children playing a foolish game. And now it is time to give up the toys of children. Now is the time to let this game of fear go.

What replaces the dream of judgment?

Forgiving dreams replace the dream of judgment. When we realize that thoughts do not leave their source, we acknowledge that what we are seeing is coming from our own mind. We no longer need to project guilt but now see the constant Light of God that is really there. We let the truth return that nothing has happened to change God’s one Son. We are now willing to see the truth of innocence instead of the ego’s fearful separate forms. We give up the dream of needing to project guilt outside us.

Jesus tells us, “And what was once a dream of judgment now has changed into a dream where all is joy, because that is the purpose that it has. Only forgiving dreams can enter here, for time is almost over. And the forms that enter in the dream are now perceived as brothers, not in judgment, but in love.” (7:6-8)

Why are forgiving dreams filled with kindness?

Jesus answers this when he says, “Forgiving dreams remind you that you live in safety and have not attacked yourself. So do your childish terrors melt away, and dreams become a sign that you have made a new beginning, not another try to worship idols and to keep attack. Forgiving dreams are kind to everyone who figures in the dream. And so they bring the dreamer full release from dreams of fear. He does not fear his judgment for he has judged no one nor has sought to be released through judgment from what judgment must impose. And all the while he is remembering what he forgot when judgment seemed to be the way to save him from its penalty.” (10:1-6 italics added)

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Chapter 29: The Awakening

Section VIII. The Anti-Christ

Read A Course in Miracles, Chapter 29, Section VIII. (pages 619-621)

What is an idol and what gives it power?

An idol is our replacement for our true Identity as one with God. Jesus tells us that, “An idol is an image of your brother that you would value more than what he is.” (1:6) When we see ourselves and our brothers as bodies, we are wanting to see separation instead of the oneness that is really there. When we don’t recognize the idols (separate forms) we have made for what they are, we give them power over us. We look to idols (the images of separate bodies we have made) to keep us safe instead of going within and finding our one true Self there.

How do we make idols?

We make up idols through desire to be something different from God, our Father. When we wish for idols, the power of our mind makes them seem real to us. “An idol is a wish, made tangible and given form, and thus perceived as real and seen outside the mind. Yet it is still a thought, and cannot leave the mind that is its source. Nor is its form apart from the idea it represents.” (3:2-4)

How are idols the same as the anti-Christ?

Jesus describes it in this way: “An idol is a false impression, or a false belief; some form of anti-Christ that constitutes a gap between the Christ and what you see. …All forms of anti-Christ oppose the Christ. And fall before His face like a dark veil that seems to shut you off from Him, alone in darkness.” (3:1,5-6)

What happens when we believe in our replacement for God?

We feel separated from our Father and suffer a sense of littleness and loss. Jesus explains it this way: “And thus (he) must seek beyond his little self for strength to raise his head, and stand apart from all the misery the world reflects. This is the penalty for looking not within for certainty and quiet calm that liberates you from the world, and lets you stand apart, in quiet and in peace.” (2:6-7)

What happens when we let go of our belief in separate bodies?

Jesus answers it this way: “An idol is established by belief and when it is withdrawn the idol ‘dies.’ ” (6:1) As we are willing to let go of our belief in separation (our belief in individuality and differences), the veil of insanity is lifted and the truth of oneness returns to our awareness. As we are willing to hand over all our perceptions of separation and specialness to the Holy Spirit, they are returned to us washed clean of what was never true. We return to seeing God’s Son as the united extension of God’s Love.

What happens as we return to the awareness that we are still in Heaven?

We would laugh at the idea that there could be more or less for any part of the one Son of God. Jesus reminds us, “God gave you all there is. And to be sure you could not lose it, did He also gave the same to every living thing as well. And thus is every living thing a part of you, as of Himself. No idol can establish you as more than God. But you will never be content with being less.” (9:7-11)

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Chapter 29: The Awakening

Section VII. Seek Not Outside Yourself

Read A Course in Miracles, Chapter 29, Section VII. (pages 617-619)

Where is eternal peace found?

In paragraph one, Jesus tells us that peace can only be found in Heaven. Because our true Identity is Heaven, we can only find eternal peace and happiness as we are willing to let ourselves be aware of our true Identity in God’s oneness. “Heaven cannot be found where it is not, and there can be no peace excepting there (in Heaven).” (1:3) This means that peace will never be found as long as we choose the illusionary experience of being separated from God’s oneness. This desire to be separate from oneness is the cause of all fear, which is the opposite of peace.

Where does all our pain come from?

Jesus tells us, “For all your pain comes simply from a futile search for what you want, insisting where it must be found.” (1:7, italics added)

When we seek outside our one Self (God’s oneness) to find happiness, we are seeking for empty idols. We are seeking for the ego’s replacement for the peace of God. When we join with the idea that a world of separate bodies is real, we are asking to experience the specialness that God cannot give. What God’s oneness cannot give (specialness and differences) is merely delusions of what could never be. This means we are asking for the experience of being the opposite of our true Identity as part of God’s oneness. In this section we are seeing that when we ask for the experience of being split off from God’s oneness, we are asking for pain and suffering. We are asking for death because we are asking to be separate from the Source of Life.

Why does Jesus ask us, “Do you prefer that you be right or happy?”

In this world we have thought that our happiness is found in being special. We have attempted to achieve this specialness by dreaming up a world of uniqueness, differences and individuality. We do this by making up a world of separate bodies, which we identify with as our separate self. In this world we compete for special attention and have thought that ‘winning’ this specialness will make us happy and give us what we want.

We are now learning that seeking for specialness will only bring us unhappiness, pain and sorrow. “Be you glad that you are told where happiness abides, and seek no longer elsewhere. You will fail. But it is given you to know the truth, and not to seek for it outside yourself.” (1:10-12)

Why does Jesus say that we are seeking to kill God’s Son within?

When we want a world of time and differences, of uniqueness and specialness, we are seeking to destroy awareness of our true eternal Identity as God’s Son (Love’s extension). We can never really leave our true Identity, but we can deny awareness of Love’s presence by replacing It with images of separate bodies. This is the same as trying to sacrifice the truth of oneness in order to experience getting a little for ourselves alone. “To sacrifice is to give up, and thus to be without and to have suffered loss. And by this giving up is [our true Life] renounced. Seek not outside yourself (seek not outside God). The search implies you are not whole within and fear to look upon your devastation, but prefer to seek outside yourself for what you are.” (4:3-6)

Why are all the images in the world of separation simply idols?

In paragraph 6 we are told, “All idols of this world were made to keep the truth within from being known to you, and to maintain allegiance to the dream that you must find what is outside yourself to be complete and happy. It is vain to worship idols in the hope of peace. God dwells within, and your completion lies in Him. No idol takes His place. Look not to idols. Do not seek outside yourself.” (6:1-6)

How do we reverse our plan of seeking for idols outside us?

As we use time for awakening to the truth of our oneness with God instead of searching for specialness, the idols of individuality and specialness we once sought after become meaningless. We have been afraid of losing our unique separate identity and now we welcome the truth that only our oneness in universal Love is real. Jesus tells us, “Let Him remind you of His Love for you, and do not seek to drown His Voice in chants of deep despair to idols of yourself. Seek not outside your Father for your hope. For hope of happiness is not despair.” (10:5-7)

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Chapter 29: The Awakening

Section VI. Forgiveness and the End of Time

Read A Course in Miracles, Chapter 29, Section VI. (pages 615-617)

How are forgiveness and peace related?

With forgiveness, the world of strife, misery and pain is over. Jesus tells us, “Forgiveness is your peace, for herein lies the end of separation and the dream of danger and destruction, sin and death; of madness and of murder, grief and loss. This is the ‘sacrifice’ salvation asks and gladly offers peace instead of this.” (1:4-5)

What does “Swear not to die, you holy Son of God!” mean?

Jesus brings us to understand that when we want to believe we are a separate body in a world of separation, we are wanting to dissociate from or remove from our awareness the memory of the one Life we live in the Mind of Love. When we want separation, we are wanting the death of our true Identity.

Jesus is gently asking us here to give up this wish for separation because it only gives us the experience of conflict, pain and death. God loves His Son and would not have this for his one Son and so it could never be. Jesus tells us, “You make a bargain that you cannot keep. The Son of Life cannot be killed. He is immortal as his Father. What he is cannot be changed. He is the only thing in all the universe that must be one.” (2:2-6)

What are we being encouraged to change?

In paragraph 3 Jesus tells us, “Change is the only thing that can be made a blessing here, where purpose is not fixed, however changeless it appears to be. Think not that you can set a goal unlike God’s purpose for you, and establish it as changeless and eternal. You can give yourself a purpose that you do not have. But you can not remove the power to change your mind, and see another purpose there.” (3:3-6)

We are being encouraged to change the purpose of what we think our “life” is for. We may originally have thought our individual life is for the purpose of being the decision maker of our our dream and making our dream of being special come true. In many places in the Course we are encouraged to ask ourselves, “What is this for?” In other words, what is the purpose of my wanting to continue this dream story? Do I still want separation or do I want to wake up from the dream of separation from God? What thought system am I reinforcing right now, separation or oneness?

What is the purpose of forgiveness?

The purpose of forgiveness is to let the purpose of the world be changed from dreaming of the death of God’s Son to the remembrance of our eternal Life as one with God. The purpose of forgiveness is to return to our Father and let go of wandering into dreams of death and being separate from our Creator.

We are forgiving ourselves for our wish to separate and are letting go of our dream of self punishment for our “sinful” desire to separate and have something for ourselves alone. We are learning that we no longer need to dream of crucifying God’s Son. 

Jesus encourages us by helping us remember that we can change our mind about the purpose of the world. He reminds us, “There is no death because the living share the function their Creator gave to them. Life’s function cannot be to die. It must be life’s extension, that it be as one forever and forever, without end.”  (4:9-11)

What does the world look like through the eyes of forgiveness?

Jesus joyfully gives us this answer: “How lovely is the world whose purpose is forgiveness of God’s Son! How free from fear, how filled with blessing and with happiness! And what a joyous thing it is to dwell a little while in such a happy place! Nor can it be forgot, in such a world, it is a little while till timelessness comes quietly to take the place of time.” (6:1-4)

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Chapter 29: The Awakening

Section V. The Changeless Dwelling Place

Read A Course in Miracles, Chapter 29, Section V. (pages 614-615)

What is the changeless dwelling place?

The changeless dwelling place is within us, where we abide with our Father in Heaven. Jesus describes our changeless dwelling place in a way that helps us accept our true Home:

“The changelessness of Heaven is in you, so deep within that nothing in this world but passes by, unnoticed and unseen. The still infinity of endless peace surrounds you gently in its soft embrace, so strong and quiet, tranquil in the might of its Creator, nothing can intrude upon the sacred Son of God within.” (2:3-4)

What is the role the Holy Spirit gives us?

Our role is as follows: “Nothing is asked of you but to accept the changeless and eternal that abide in him, for your Identity is there. The peace in you can but be found in him. And every thought of love you offer him but brings you nearer to your wakening to peace eternal and to endless joy.” (3:3-5 italics added)

In the next paragraph Jesus adds: “Be very still and hear God’s Voice in him, and let It tell you what his function is. He was created that you might be whole, for only the complete can be a part of God’s completion, which created you.” (4:2-3)

What are we asked to behold?

Our Father asks us to behold the unified Christ Mind that lies behind every separate and changing form we see in this ego world. Jesus tells us, “Behold His Son, His perfect gift, in whom his Father shines forever, and to whom is all creation given as his own. Because [our brother] has [God’s perfect gift] is it given you, and where it lies in him behold your peace.” (5:2-3) Here we see that we experience God’s peace when we acknowledge that our brother has been given God’s perfect gift, just as we have received the same gift from God.

How do we experience the happy dreams that Jesus speaks of in this section?

Jesus tells us how simple it is to receive the happy dreams that come to us as we are willing to release our hold on the vain illusions of the world: “The quiet that surrounds you dwells in him, and from this quiet come the happy dreams in which your hands are joined in innocence. These are not hands that grasp in dreams of pain. They hold no sword, for they have left their hold on every vain illusion of the world. And [these hands] being empty they receive, instead, a brother’s hand in which completion lies. (5:4-7 italics added)

As we allow ourselves to see through the eyes of Christ’s vision, we are able to see past our brother’s dreams of death and see that we are all joined right now in the united Spirit of Love. Through accepting Christ’s vision we join the happy dreams that come from the Holy Spirit.

Jesus explains it this way: “A dream is given you in which [your brother] is your savior, not our enemy in hate. A dream is given you in which you have forgiven him for all his dreams of death; a dream of hope you share with him, instead of dreaming evil separate dreams of hate. Why does it seem so hard to share this dream? Because unless the Holy Spirit gives the dream its function, it was made for hate, and will continue in death’s services.” (7:1-4)

What is the purpose that forgiving dreams serve?

Forgiving dreams move us into a state of mind where we become aware of the changeless dwelling place where we are eternally at Home with our Father. Forgiving dreams bring us to the quietness of Heaven and the awareness of the eternal blessings that are our natural inheritance. Forgiving dreams bring us back to the awareness of God’s one Son and the fact that nothing has really happened to change our one, united Self.

Jesus tells us, “Forgiving dreams are means to step aside from dreaming of a world outside yourself. And leading finally beyond all dreams, unto the peace of everlasting life.” (8:5-6)

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Chapter 29: The Awakening

Section IV. Dream Roles

Read A Course in Miracles, Chapter 29, Section IV. (pages 612-613)

What does Jesus say is the basis for the miracle?

Jesus describes a miracle as receiving the truth in place of illusions. With the miracle of transformed perception the Holy Spirit brings to us, we understand that every dream of separation from God’s oneness is equally untrue. We do not try to make some dreams be the truth just because we still want them to be true.

Jesus tells us, “Do you believe that truth can be but some illusions? They are dreams because they are not true. Their equal lack of truth becomes the basis for the miracle, which means that you have understood that dreams are dreams; and that escape depends, not on the dream, but only on awaking. …The choice is not between which dreams to keep, but only if you want to live in dreams or to awaken from them.” (1:1-3,5)

What are we to recognize is present in every dream?

Jesus wants us to understand that fear is the basis for every dream of being separated from Love, our Source. He tells us, “The dreams you think you like would hold you back as much as those in which the fear is seen. For every dream is but a dream of fear, no matter what the form it seems to take. The fear is seen within, without, or both. Or it can be disguised in pleasant form. But never is [fear] absent from the dream, for fear is the material of dreams, from which they all are made.” (2:1-5)

What is the theme of every dream?

It may not seem like it to us who look at the dream story as real, but Jesus tells us, “Depression or assault must be the theme of every dream, for they are made of fear. The thin disguise of pleasure and of joy in which they may be wrapped but slightly veils the heavy lump of fear that is their core. And it is this the miracle perceives, and not the wrappings in which it is bound.” (3:3-5)

Another way to look at this is that the miracle sees every dream as a call for love. The truth is we have wandered far from Home and are looking for love in all the wrong places. Nothing ever really satisfies or lasts. We do not remember What we are and Where we are in truth. We have tried to replace the truth and all it has ever brought is is struggle, fear and pain.

What is the real reason behind our anger?

Think about when we get angry. Is it not because something is not going the way we think it ‘should’ go according to what our perceived ‘need’ is? Are we not judging the circumstances according to our liking?

Jesus tells us, “When you are angry, is it not because someone has failed to fill the function you allotted him? And does not this become the ‘reason’ your attack [judgment] is justified? The dreams you think you like are those in which the functions you have given have been filled; the needs which you ascribe to you are met. It does not matter if [the needs] be fulfilled or merely wanted. It is the idea that [needs] exist from which the fears arise.” (4:1-5)

How do the dreams the Holy Spirit gives change how we perceive them?

It is very helpful to develop the habit of stepping back from dreams and let the Holy Spirit be in charge of how we perceive them. Jesus gives some examples: “A shadow figure who attacks becomes a brother giving you a chance to help, if this becomes the function of the dream. And dreams of sadness thus are turned to joy. (5:6-7)

“[Your brother] asks for help in every dream he has, and you have help to give him if you see the function of the dream as [the Holy Spirit] perceives its function, Who can utilize all dreams as means to serve the function given Him. Because He loves the dreamer, not the dream, each dream becomes an offering of love. For at its center is His Love for you, which lights whatever form it takes with love.” (6:5-7)

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Chapter 29: The Awakening

Section III. God’s Witnesses

Read A Course in Miracles, Chapter 29, Section III. (pages 611-612)

What are God’s witnesses?

God’s witnesses are all our brothers, everyone we see in the dream of separation. As we are willing to be shown the truth about every brother instead of our split-mind agreement to see each other as separate, weak and vulnerable, we are able to see each person as God sees them — extensions of His perfect Love. How we look at each brother is how we will see ourself. As we open our minds to see with the Holy Spirit, we will see perfect Love everywhere. We will see innocence instead of guilt. We will see the peace and strength of God instead of the guilty weakness of the ego. We will not give support to our brother’s dream of separation, which helps us let go of our own dreams of separation.

Why must we remember we are a savior before we can remember what we are?

Jesus answers this by telling us: “[Your brother] must be savior from the dream he made, that he be free of it. He must see someone else as not a body, one with him without the wall the world has built to keep apart all living things who know not that they live.” (2:6-7)

In paragraph 3 he says: “You cannot wake yourself. Yet you can let yourself be wakened. You can overlook your brother’s dreams. So perfectly can you forgive him his illusions he becomes your savior from your dreams. And as you see him shining in the space of light where God abides within the darkness, you will see that God Himself is where his body is.” (3:2-6 italics added)

What does Jesus mean when he tells us to make way for love?

Making way for love means forgiving every brother for all the guilt we laid on them. Making way for love means letting go of all our judgments about our brother’s dreams. Instead of condemning our brother for his foolish dreaming of being separate and alone, we look beyond his dreams to the eternal truth about him. Instead of impatience, we move into a place of infinite patience, because we remember that our brother is not the dream he dreams. We remember that he is the one Christ Mind, along with us.

Jesus tells us in paragraphs 3-4: “Whom you forgive is given power to forgive you your illusions. By your gift of freedom is it given unto you. Make way for love, which you did not create, but which you can extend. On earth this means forgive your brother that the darkness may be lifted from your mind.” (3:12-13, 4:1-2)

Why is it so powerful to be willing to perceive through the healing eyes of the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit needs us to demonstrate to every brother the innocence and pure Love we see in him. We become instruments of Holy Spirit’s healing everyone we come into contact with as the Holy Spirit sees through us. As we see through the eyes of Love, our brother is healed and so are we.

Jesus tells us: “When light has come to him through your forgiveness, he will not forget his savior, leaving him unsaved. For it was in your face he saw the light that he would keep beside him, as he walks through darkness to the everlasting Light.” (4:3-4)

“How holy are you, that the Son of God can be your savior in the midst of dreams of desolation and disaster. See how eagerly he comes, and steps aside from heavy shadows that have hidden him, and shines on you in gratitude and love. He is himself, but not himself alone. And as his Father lost not part of him in your creation, so the light in him is brighter still because you gave your light to him, to save him from the dark. And now the light in you must be as bright as shines in him. This is the spark that shines within the dream; that you can help him waken, and be sure his waking eyes will rest on you. And in his glad salvation you are saved.” (5:1-7)

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Chapter 29: The Awakening

Section II. The Coming of the Guest

Read A Course in Miracles, Chapter 29, Section II. (pages 608-610)

What is it we need to understand to learn that we are in Heaven now?

We need to come to the understanding that what we are letting go of (a separate identity) is really nothing instead of something we want. When we think we are sacrificing something to return to our true Home in God, we will resist the message that this world is just a dream, about nothing and of no importance. We will resist the understanding that, like the prodigal son story, we have simply tried to replace God with a separate identity, and that this effort is hopeless, because in truth we can never leave our Home in God.

Jesus tells us, “Is it not because you see it [awakening to your true Identity] as the road to hell instead of looking on it as a simple way, without a sacrifice or any loss, to find yourself in Heaven and in God? Until you realize you give up nothing, until you understand there is no loss, you will have some regrets about the way that you have chosen. And you will not see the many gains your choice [to remember you have never left God] has offered you.” (1:4-6)

When does the awareness of Love return to us?

The awareness of Love returns when we let go of holding on to our belief in a world of sin, hate, fear, guilt, pain and attack. We are learning the meaninglessness of holding on to the hurtful thoughts of separation from our Source.

Jesus tells us, “It has been hopeless to attempt to find the hope of peace upon a battleground. It has been futile to demand escape from sin and pain of what we made to serve the function of retaining sin and pain. For pain and sin are one illusion, as are hate and fear, attack and guilt but one. Where they are causeless their effects are gone, and love must come wherever they are not.” (3:1-4)

How does the Holy Spirit need our help?

In this section Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as our Guest, Who came with us in this dream story of individuality to bring us the gift of awakening to our true Identity. In order to give us His gifts, the Holy Spirit needs us to welcome Him in instead of barring the door. As we accept His gifts, we see the truth of every brother and see the Christ in them. As we willingly see the Christ in every brother, we heal and are healed.

Jesus tells us, “He has laid [His gifts of truth] at your feet, and ask you now that you will look on them and take them for your own. He needs your help in giving [these gifts] to all who walk apart, believing they are separate and alone. They will be healed when you accept your gifts, because your Guest will welcome everyone whose feet have touched the holy ground whereon you stand, and where His gifts for them are laid.” (4:5-7)

How does Jesus describe the gifts the Holy Spirit brings?

The Holy Spirit brings His Presence — the Presence of peace, joy and happiness. “You cannot see your Guest, but you can see the gifts He brought. And when you look on them (peace, joy and happiness), you will believe His Presence must be there. For what you now can do could not be done without the love and grace His Presence holds.” (5:6-8)

What is the difference between the Life we live in God and what we call ‘life’?

We are coming to understand that there is no life outside of the Life we live in God. God is changeless Love and therefore we are changeless Love. This means that whatever changes is not of God and is not life. It is just a dream of confusion about what we are and where we are.

Jesus tells us, “What you have given ‘life’ is not alive, and symbolizes but your wish to be alive apart from life, alive in death, with death perceived as life, and living, death. Confusion follows on confusion there, for on confusion has this world been based, and there is nothing else it rests upon.” (6:2-3)

Why do we need to understand that all separate bodies are really nothing?

In paragraphs 7-10 Jesus discusses how our salvation lies in recognizing that all dreams of bodies that change are really nothing and could never be our real Life, which is changeless and eternal. We learn here that as we see our brother’s body as not what he is, we are releasing our mind from the false belief in sickness and death. We are letting our mind be healed.

Jesus answers this question in the following way: “Sickness is a demand the body be a thing that it is not. Its nothingness is guarantee that it can not be sick. In your demand that [the body] be more than [nothing] lies the idea of sickness. For [the belief in the reality of the body] asks that God be less than all He really is.” (8:1-4)

Jesus explains how important it is to see past our brother’s body to the truth in him in paragraph 10: “As ‘something’ is the body asked to be God’s enemy; replacing what He is with littleness and limit and despair. It is His loss you celebrate when you behold the body as a thing you love, or look upon it as a thing you hate. For if He be the Sum of everything, then what is not in Him does not exist, and His completion is [the body’s] nothingness. Your savior [your brother] is not dead, nor does he dwell in what was built as temple unto death. He lives in God, and it is this that makes him savior unto you, and only this. His body’s nothingness releases your [mind] from sickness and from death. For what is yours cannot be more or less than what is his.” (10:1-7)

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Chapter 29: The Awakening

Section I. The Closing of the Gap

Read A Course in Miracles, Chapter 29, Section I. (pages 606-608)

What are we believing when we perceive a gap between ourselves and God?

Jesus wants us to understand that a gap between us and God is impossible. For us to experience the impossible we must believe in something that could never be in truth. This leads to fear of God and fear of attack.

He explains how this belief in a little gap leads to fear of God: “For it would mean His Love could harbor just a hint of hate, His gentleness turn sometimes to attack, and His eternal patience sometimes fail. All this do you believe, when you perceive a gap between your brother and yourself. How could you trust Him then? For He must be deceptive in His Love. Be wary, then; let Him not come too close, and leave a gap between you and His Love, through which you can escape if there be need for you to flee.” (1:5-9)

Why are we afraid of God?

In paragraph two we see that hate is the same as being afraid of Love because hate and fear go together. When we believe that we are separate from God, we are denying our Identity as part of God and we keep up this denial by fearing and hating our true Identity.

This is why Jesus tells us, “No one who hates but is afraid of love, and therefore must he be afraid of God. Certain it is he knows not what love means. He fears to love and loves to hate, and so he thinks that love is fearful; hate is love.” (2:3-5)

What happens when we think there is a gap between ourselves and others?

Because we believe we are separate from God, we fear to recognize the Christ Mind in our brother. This is why we are wary of our brother and fear to get too close to him. To keep separation intact, we fear true communion or true joining, for that would be the undoing of “the little gap,” which represents the secret treaty with every brother not to get to close.

Jesus explains: “A cautious friendship, and limited in scope and carefully restricted in amount, became the treaty that you had made with him. Thus you and your brother but shared a qualified entente, in which a clause of separation was a point you both agreed to keep intact. And violating this was thought to be a breach of treaty not to be allowed.” (3:8-10)

What is the vehicle we use to make it look like we have separate minds?

We use the body to make it appear that we have separate minds. This reinforces the secret treaty not to get too close. The body becomes our ‘savior’ in order to keep our beloved separation intact. Jesus explains it this way: “Conditional upon the ‘right’ to separate will you and he agree to meet from time to time, and keep apart in intervals of separation, which do protect you from the ‘sacrifice’ of love. The body saves you, for it gets away from total sacrifice and gives to you the time in which to build again your separate self, which you truly believe diminishes as you and your brother meet.” (4:6-7)

What limits our ability to make communion with your brother’s mind?

We wanted the body to be the cause of separation, not our wish to separate. We did not want to feel the guilt that comes with this wish to separate so we made it look like the body is the cause of separation and not our minds. We try to project the power that is inherent in our minds onto the body. Thus by identifying with the body we now see ourselves as helpless, limited and weak. This is how we make it look like separation is not our fault. Because we make it look like this is true, we reinforce the self-deception that we could never be in communion with our brother’s mind.

Jesus expands on this: “Thus do you endow [the body] with a power that lies not within itself. And herein lies [the body’s] power over you. For now you think that [the body] determines when your brother and you meet, and limits your ability to make communion with your brother’s mind. And now [the body] tells you where to go and how to go there, what is feasible for you to undertake, and what you cannot do. [The body] dictates what its health an tolerate, and what will tire it and make it sick. And [the body’s] inherent weakness set up the limitations on what you would do, and keep your purpose limited and weak.” (5:2-7)

What demands the sacrifice of Love?

Our fear of Love or God demands that we retreat from It. “For hate to be maintained, love must be feared; and only sometimes present, sometimes gone. Thus is love seen as treacherous, because it seems to come and go uncertainly, and offer no stability to you. You do not see how limited and weak is your allegiance, and how frequently you have demanded that love go away, and leave you quietly alone in ‘peace.’ ” (7:3-5)

What are we afraid to know?

Jesus answers this in the following way: “Would you know that nothing stands between you and your brother? Would you know that there is no gap behind which you can hide? There is a shock that comes to those who learn their savior [every brother] is their enemy no more. There is a wariness that is aroused by learning that the body is not real. And there are overtones of seeming fear around the happy message, ‘God is Love.’ ” (8:3-7)

What happens when we let go of the little gap?

When we let go of the little gap we would return to remembering our oneness in God. We would see that every brother is one with God, just like us. Because of this we would find peace instead of conflict and union instead of separation. We would find Love and happiness instead of fear, guilt, limitation, lack and pain.

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Chapter 28: the Undoing of Fear

Section VII. The Ark of Safety

Read A Course in Miracles, Chapter 28, Section VII. (pages 604-605)

What is the promise between our Father and His Son?

Jesus has made it very clear, both in the last section and this section, that we (God’s one Son or Love’s extension) promised to our Father that we be one with Him eternally. We, as Love’s extension, have forgotten our promise when we think we are somewhere other than Heaven or entertain thoughts that we are different or separate from the Love of God. 

To correct this misperception, Jesus tells us: “A space where God is not, a gap between the Father and the Son is not the Will of Either, Who have promised to be one. God’s promise is a promise to Himself, and there is no one who could be untrue to what He wills as part of what He is. …What will can come between what must be one, and in Whose Wholeness there can be no gap?” (1:5-6, 8)

Can there be any exceptions to our oneness with God and every brother?

Every time we judge our brothers or think of them as separate from us, we are trying to make an exception to our oneness. An important part of our awakening process is to let ourselves become aware of when we are trying to make exceptions and hand these exceptions over to the Holy Spirit to let these false ideas be undone.

Jesus asks us to accept no compromises when it comes to returning to the truth of oneness with all that Is. He says: “What could correct for separation but its opposite? There is no middle ground in any aspect of salvation. You accept it wholly or accept it not. What is unseparated must be joined. And what is joined cannot be separate. … Either there is a gap between you and your brother, or you are as one. There is no in between, no other choice, and no allegiance to be split between the two.” (2:6-10, 3:1-2)

What does Jesus mean when he refers to building our home upon straw?

We can’t be faithful to both separation and to oneness at the same time. We will think of our home as either the ego’s world of separate bodies or identify with God’s universe of Love as our only Home. If we think of the body as our home, we will continue to feel unsafe, uncertain and fearful.

Jesus tells us, “A split allegiance is but faithlessness to both, and merely sets you spinning round, to grasp uncertainly at any straw that seems to hold some promise of relief. Yet who can build his home upon a straw, and count on it as shelter from the wind? The body can be made a home like this [a home of straw], because it lacks foundation in the truth.” (3:3-5)

In paragraph 6 he reinforces the idea that when we make the body our home, we look for safety only in shadows and weakness, not on the strength of our true Home in oneness. He tells us, “What is the sense in seeking to be safe in what was made for danger and for fear? …What can be safe that rests upon a shadow? Would you build your home upon what will collapse beneath a feather’s weight?” (6:1, 3-4)

How does Jesus describe the purpose we have given the world?

In paragraph 5 Jesus clearly states that the purpose of the world was to make it appear that we are separate and unique bodies that are apart and alone from everything around it. Jesus helps us understand that this purpose comes from a split mind that is sick and needs help from outside of its sick thought system. He tells us: “It is like the house set upon straw. It seems to be quite solid and substantial in itself. Yet its stability cannot be judged apart from its foundation. If it rests on straw, there is no need to bar the door and lock the windows and make fast the bolts. The wind will topple it, and rain will come and carry it into oblivion.” (5:7-11)

What purpose for the body induces healing?

The good news is that we are not lost forever as we come to recognize that we have built our home upon the straw of separation when we thought of the body as our home. With the help of the Holy Spirit, our true Self, we can give the body a new purpose that returns us to the awareness of our true Home in God’s oneness.

Jesus tells us: “And yet, because [the body] does [lack foundation in the truth, the body] can be seen as not your home, but merely as an aid to help you reach the Home where God abides. …With this as purpose is the body healed. It is not used to witness to the dream of separation and disease. Nor is [the body] idly blamed for what it did not do. [The body] serves to help the healing of God’s Son, and for this purpose it cannot be sick. It will not join a purpose not your own, and you have chosen that it not be sick. All miracles are based upon this choice, and given you the instant it is made.” (3:6, 4:1-6)

What is the ark of safety?

Even though we made a secret vow with our brothers to believe in and reinforce the separation stories we each have made, Jesus tells us that the Foundation of his Home in God is not compromised. He is still safe and connected in God, no matter what he dreams.

Jesus tells us, “No secret promise [with your brothers] you have made instead has shaken the Foundation of his Home. The winds will blow upon it and the rain will beat against it, but with no effect. The world will wash away and yet this House will stand forever, for its strength lies not within itself alone. It is an ark of safety, resting on God’s promise that His Son is safe forever in Himself. What gap can interpose itself between the safety of this shelter and its Source? From here the body can be seen as what it is, and neither less nor more in worth than the extent to which it can be used to liberate God’s Son unto his Home. And with this holy purpose is it made a home of holiness a little while, because it shares your Father’s Will with you.” (7:2-8 italics added)

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Chapter 28: the Undoing of Fear

Section VI. The Secret Vows

Read A Course in Miracles, Chapter 28, Section VI. (pages 602-604)

Why do we punish the body and make it sick?

Jesus describes how insane it is to project guilt onto the body and punish the body because the body is not the decision maker. He shows us how the body is merely the effect of a mind that wants to see a little gap between his separate mind and the united Mind of God.

He tells us: “You send [the body] forth to seek for separation and be separate. And then you hate [the body], not for what it is, but for the uses you have made of it. You shrink from what [the body] sees and what it hears, and hate its frailty and littleness. And you despise its acts, but not your own. It sees and acts for you. It hears your voice [the voice of the separated mind]. And it is frail and little by your wish. [The body] seems to punish you, and thus deserve your hatred for the limitations that it brings to you. Yet you have made of [the body] a symbol for the limitations that you want your mind to have and see and keep.” (3:2-10)

What is the secret oath we take when we perceive ourselves attacked?

The body is the vehicle the ego uses to experience separation as if it were real. The ego thought system hates the body and yet sees it as savior from its disappearance. Jesus explains it this way: “The body represents the gap between the little bit of mind you call your own and all the rest of what is really yours. You hate [the body] yet you think it is your self, and that, without it, would your self be lost. This is the secret vow that you have made with every brother who would walk apart. This is the secret oath you take again, whenever you perceive yourself attacked. No one can suffer if he does not see himself attacked, and losing by attack. Unstated and unheard in consciousness is every pledge to sickness. Yet it is a promise to another to be hurt by him, and to attack him in return.” (4:1-7 Italics added)

How do we reverse this oath of separation?

In order to perceive that we are apart, we secretly agree to attack and be attacked. That is why victimhood and being unfairly treated is the central recurring theme in our dreams of separation. “It is the obvious effect of what was made in secret, in agreement with another’s secret wish to be apart from you, as you would be apart from him. Unless you both agree that is your wish, it can have no effects. Whoever says, ‘There is no gap between my mind and yours’ has kept God’s promise, not his tiny oath to be forever faithful unto death.” (5:2-4 italics added)

Here we see that we can reverse this pattern of attack and defense. We can recognize that we are joined as one mind instead of being apart. As we are willing to forgive, or let go of our thinking about being separate and apart, we are instruments of healing both for our brother and ourselves.

What did our Father say in our creation?

In paragraph 6 Jesus tells us: “In his creation did his Father say, ‘You are beloved of Me and I of you forever. Be you perfect as Myself, for you can never be apart from Me.’ His Son remembers not that he replied ‘I will,’ though in that promise he was born. Yet God reminds him of [his promise] every time he does not share a promise [to the ego] to be sick, but lets his mind be healed and unified.” (6:4-7)

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Chapter 28: the Undoing of Fear

Section V. The Alternate to Dreams of Fear

Read A Course in Miracles, Chapter 28, Section V. (pages 600-602)

What is the alternate to dreams of fear?

In this world we are sharing the dream of separate bodies. We join with the ego thought system and reinforce our brother’s dream of separation with our own. Jesus calls them dreams of fear because it is very fearful to dream we have separated from God. In these dreams we are no longer aware of the strength of our Identity, so we feel weak, vulnerable and guilty. We feel uncertain, unsafe and lacking in our dream of fear. We are now at a point where we are willing to question the validity of our fearful dreams. As we come to this turning point, we are more willing to open up to the Holy Spirit’s alternate to dreams of fear.

Jesus encourages us to open up to the following alternate: “God is the Alternate to dreams of fear. Who shares in [dreams of fear] can never share in Him. But who withdraws his mind from sharing them is sharing Him. There is no other choice. Except you share it, nothing can exist. And you exist because God shared His Will with you, that His creation might create.” (1:6-11)

What happens as you remember each brother is not the dream he made?

As we practice remembering that every brother is not the dream he made, we are released from our dreams of fear. We get what we ask for in our heart of hearts. When we want to make separate bodies real, they are there for us to see. When we no longer want to see separation, the fearful dream will disappear from our awareness and the truth of Love’s oneness is all that we will see.

Jesus tells us we have a choice: “The fear is gone from [dreams of fear] because you did not give them your support. Where fear has gone there Love must come, because there are but these alternatives. Where one appears, the other disappears. And which you share becomes the only one you have. You have the one that you accept, because it is the only one you wish to have.” (2:3-7)

Why does Jesus say we are a prisoner when we believe in the world the body’s eyes see?

Jesus answers this question when he says, “You who believe there is a little gap between you and your brother, do not see that it is here you are as prisoners in a world perceived to be existing here. The world you see does not exist, because the place where you perceive it is not real. The gap is carefully concealed in fog, and misty pictures rise to cover it with vague uncertain forms and changing shapes, forever unsubstantial and unsure. Yet in the gap is nothing. And there are no awesome secrets and no darkened tombs where terror rises from the bones of death. Look at the little gap, and you behold the innocence and emptiness of sin that you will see within yourself, when you have lost the fear of recognizing Love.” (7:1-6)

The more we are willing to step back from what we see with the body’s eyes and open to the quiet whisperings of the Holy Spirit, the sooner will the face of Christ show up as all there is to see. We will see innocence instead of guilt. We will experience happiness instead of fear. We will feel the peace of God and be grateful that we are willing to be free of the ego thought system.

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Chapter 28: the Undoing of Fear

Section IV. The Greater Joining

Read A Course in Miracles, Chapter 28, Section IV. (pages 598-600)

What does accepting Atonement your yourself mean?

Accepting Atonement means accepting Reality instead of your illusions of separation. It means accepting the thoughts of your true Self instead of accepting the thoughts of the ego. Our true Self will undo our belief in separation as we let our minds be quiet of the ego’s constant chatter long enough to hear the Holy Spirit’s Voice. Given the chance, the Holy Sprit will replace illusions of separation with awareness of innocence and oneness. This undoing of our thoughts of separation is what receiving a miracle from Holy Spirit means. When we no longer believe in separation, we no longer see the effects of these thoughts.

Jesus explains it this way: “Accepting the Atonement for yourself means not to give support to someone’s dream of sickness and of death [separation]. It means that you share not his wish to separate, and let him turn illusions on himself. Nor do you wish that they be turned, instead, on you. Thus have they no effects. And you are free of dreams of pain because you let him be [see him as he truly Is]. Unless you help him [by not agreeing with his illusions of being a separate body], you will suffer pain with him because that is your wish. And you become a figure in his dream of pain, as he in yours.” (1:1-7)

How do we find certainty now instead of placing it in the future?

Jesus is asking us to let go of believing in any story in the dream, be it another’s story of being a body or your story of being a separate body identity. We let go of dreams of suffering and guilt, not because they are true, but because we no longer want to see separation instead of Love’s oneness.

Jesus tells us, “There is a way of finding certainty right here and now. Refuse to be a part of fearful dreams whatever form they take, for you will lose identity in them. You find yourself by not accepting them [the dream stories] as causing you, and giving you effects. You stand apart from [the dream stories], but not apart from him [the Light of Love your brother is] who dreams them. Thus you separate the dreamer from the dream, and join in one, but let the other go. The dream is but illusion in the mind. and with the mind you would unite, but never with the dream. It is the dream you fear, and not the mind.” (2:1-8)

Where are we to place our faith in order to wake up from dreams?

Jesus tells us that as we let go of believing in our own dreams, we are supporting our brother in letting go of his dreams. He tells us, “What is the same seems different, because what is the same appears to be unlike. His dreams are yours because you let them be. But if you took your own [dreams] away would he be free of them, and of his own as well. Your dreams are witnesses to his, and his attest the truth of yours. Yet if you see there is no truth in yours, his dreams will go, and he will understand what made the dream.” (6:2-6)

As we all let go of what is not true, we remember that we are all changeless eternal Spirit of Love, just like our Creator. Every brother is the same Spirit of Love that we are. We all are inseparable, now and for all eternity.

What is the holy picture the Holy Spirit brings to us?

Jesus answers this: “The Holy Spirit’s function is to take the broken picture of the Son of God and put the pieces into place again. This holy picture, healed entirely, does He hold out to every separate piece that thinks it is a picture in itself. To each He offers his Identity, Which the whole picture represents, instead of just a little, broken bit that he insisted was himself. And when he sees this picture he will recognize himself.” (8:1-4 italics added)

It is comforting to know that the Holy Spirit is right there for us when we are willing to be returned to the truth of our one Identity. It is also helpful to know that the Holy Spirit offers us His own Identity because He is our true Self. Thank goodness that the minute we are willing to let our mind be healed, it is done for us by our one true Self.

How do we remember that we are in Heaven now and have never left?

Our minds are healed as soon as we are willing to let go and let God. We were born as Love’s extension and we remain as we were created. This is what we are truly wanting to know again. We have gotten lost in dreams of separation, but now we are welcoming the good news that this has never really happened and Heaven is still our Home. We are still safe in the Mind of our Father.

We have not left Home, even though we briefly dreamed up stories of being in an alien land. It is such a relief to know that as soon as we are willing to let go of fearful dreams, the Holy Spirit is right there to lift us up and bring us the awareness that nothing has happened to change our one Identity as one with God.

Jesus shares this truth with us: “Your willingness to let illusions go is all the Healer of God’s Son requires. He will place the miracle of healing where the seeds of sickness were. And there will be no loss, but only gain.” (10:8-10)

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Reference Keys for
A Course in Miracles Quotes

How to Read References for Quotes from A Course in Miracles

Below are example references to specific sentences using the notation of the Second & Third Editions of A Course in Miracles published by the Foundation for Inner Peace:

T-26.IV.4:7 = Text, Chapt. 26, Section IV, paragraph 4, sentence 7.

W-pI.169.5:2 = Workbook, Part I, Lesson 169, paragraph 5, sentence 2.

M-13.3:2 = Manual for Teachers, Question 13, paragraph 3, sentence 2.

C-6.4:6 = Clarification of Terms, Term 6, paragraph 4, sentence 6

The above numbering system of the Second & Third Editions is © Copyright 1992, The Foundation for A Course in Miracles.
 

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