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 11: God or the Ego

Introduction

Read ACIM Chapter 11, Introduction (pages 193-194)

Why does the Course say the ego is an attempt to make our own father?

Remembering that God creates by extending Himself, His creations must be like Himself, sharing all of His attributes. We could not be separate and have something we could call our own if we are God’s creation, because we would be unlike God. Thus we needed to invent a different father in which specialness, individuality and separation could seem to be real. So we made up the ego and chose it as our father in order to seem to have the individuality we wished for. In essence we made our “creator” in our own image of separation. This is why the Course says, “The ego, then, is nothing more than a delusional system in which you made your own father.” (2:4)

To wake up from the dream of separation, we need look at this dark cornerstone of the ego’s thought system with the Holy Spirit. He will show us the insanity of trying to replace our Father with an image of our own making. Lesson 13 directly addresses the effect of trying to replace God when it says, “A meaningless world engenders fear because I think I am in competition with God.” (W-pI.13.4:7)

Even while we dream of being what we are not, the memory of What we are remains in our minds. This memory is the Answer to our delusion of being separate and alone. It is the memory of our Source, our Father. We may believe in another thought system that we made up and think that we are subject to its laws, but the memory of our Source remains with us to be called upon and remembered at any instant. This memory is the spark, the Light in our minds, the Holy Spirit Who walks beside us, offering His vision and His strength.

Why do we need to accept the lamp that Jesus offers us and look at the ego with him?

We can let His vision guide us and His strength support us and protect us as we go with Him to the darkest regions of the ego’s thought system. This spark, this Light within, will show that there is nothing in the darkness. What we feared in the darkness were simply made up images that had no substance. This is the path to freedom. By taking the Holy Spirit’s hand and following Him, we learn that everything we have been afraid of was based on nothing.

In the last paragraph of this introduction, Jesus makes an impassioned plea to accept the lamp he offers us. He reminds us that he is right there with us as a symbol of the Holy Spirit, bringing a Light to take to the hidden dark cornerstone of the ego. He reminds us that we are never alone. We cannot be without him because, as he reminds us, “My brother, you are part of God and part of me.” (4:1)

He encourages us to look at the ego with him. With Jesus we can look at the ego’s foundation without shrinking. Looking at the ego with Jesus brings a calm and nurturing confidence that we have nothing to fear. We can be confident that with Jesus we will return to our true Home, where we belong. Jesus, or the Holy Spirit, is the call of Love. Love calls to us to look at the ego in true honesty.

With the honesty found in the Holy Spirit, the nothingness of the ego is clearly seen. We easily lay down the childish toys that only made belief in death and limitation. As we look at the ego with the Holy Spirit with calm certainty, we lay it aside. We willingly look beyond the ego to the Light of Love and joy that has always been there, waiting for our return. Jesus tells us, “I will lead you to your true Father, Who hath need of you, as I have. Will you not answer the call of love with joy?” (4:7-8)

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Chapter 10: The Idols of Sickness

Section V: The Denial of God

Read ACIM Chapter 10, Section V (pages 189-192)

Are depression and sickness the effect of believing we are separate from God?

This chapter refers frequently to the idol or god of sickness. It even seems to personify it, referring to it as “he.” This is simply a metaphor for the belief in separation (the ego), which is the denial of God, since God is one and indivisible. In this section we are being shown the consequences of believing we are separate from God — sickness and depression. These are signs that we are denying our Identity. In truth God is our Life and we have no Life but His. (See Workbook Lesson 223)

Belief in separation from the Life we live in God brings projection with it. Once we identify with the idea that we are separate, we will perceive everything else as separate from us. Not wanting to be responsible for the depression and pain we feel in being separate, we project it onto others, making it appear that they are the cause of our pain. The message we give our brothers is that they are separate from us and God. Thus we see them without the joyous spark of God, which is depressing. We are denying their Identity and our own. “It is the denial of the spark that brings depression, for whenever you see your brothers without it, you are denying God.” (2:5)

Only a sick mind would want to believe that separate bodies and separate forms are real because this belief in separate forms is the denial of What we are. And only a sick mind would want to deny God, our Source of Life, in the desire to be something other than Itself. The wish to deny God came from the idea that we wanted to be special and we wanted to have some of God’s Love for ourselves alone. Because God is one and always the same, He could not give us this. To ‘satisfy’ our wish, we had to make a new, different image of ourselves, which meant that we had to deny God, our Creator. “The ‘attack on God’ made His Son think he was fatherless, and out of his depression he made the god of depression. This was his alternative to joy, because he would not accept the fact that, although he was a creator, he had been created. Yet the Son is helpless without the Father, Who alone is his Help.” (4:2-4)

Why is sharing the Love of God so important to our awakening to the truth?

Because this new separate image was different from what we really are in truth, it could never be real. By definition, separation is isolation and cannot be shared so it could not be created because creation is sharing. Sharing the Love of God is acknowledging the one Love of God in everyone. Seeing separation by perceiving bodies, or any form, is a denial of God’s Creation. “Do not perceive anything God did not create or you are denying Him.” (13:1) As we awaken to the truth, we recognize the body is not the Son of God. The body is a sick image that appears to be vulnerable, weak and ultimately ends in death. Love could not create this, for Love — What we are — is changeless and eternal. If you confuse yourself with things that become sick and die, “...it means that you are looking without Love on God and His Creation, from which you cannot be separated.” (8.5)

What are we told is the way out of the limitation and misery we are imagining?

At this stage in our awakening, we still look out through the body’s eyes. This world of separate bodies and separate things still appears to be real to us. It seems difficult to remember that only the changeless and eternal is real. It seems so easy to believe that we are vulnerable and subject to outside influences and circumstances that are not of our own making. In this world bodies really do appear to suffer and die. We feel the loss of a friend that dies. It all appears very real to us. We want to awaken to the truth, but it seems difficult in our present state of awareness. In this section we are told that the way out of the limitation and misery we are imagining is to “listen, and you will learn how to remember what you are.” (11:7)

As we listen to the Holy Spirit we are taught the difference between what is real and what is unreal. We are taught to believe only in the eternal. He shows us that anything that changes is not real. We are learning to change what we value. We are learning to value eternity, which entails letting go of our belief in the reality of time. “Time and eternity cannot both be real, because they contradict each other. If you will accept only what is timeless as real, you will begin to understand eternity and make it yours.” (14:8-9) This gives us a simple and clear gauge to distinguish between what is real and what is illusion.

We want to return to Reality. We want to let go of our belief in limitation, lack and death. It has not brought us what we thought we wanted. It has not brought us peace and happiness. We are now open to being taught. We are now open to being still and listening to the Holy Spirit, Who will help us see the changeless beyond time. He will help us see the holy instant. As we continue to practice, we will see that the holy instant is all there is. He will help us let go of the denial of Love, which is the denial of our own Identity. He will help us let go of the denial of God.

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Chapter 10: The Idols of Sickness

Section IV: The End of Sickness

Read ACIM Chapter 10, Section IV (page 187-189)

How do we let go of the ‘god of sickness’?

In this section Jesus very clearly defines how to let go of the “god of sickness.” He guides us to see the unreality of ego by judging it correctly for the nothingness that it is. When we fight or react against the ego in another or in ourselves, we are making it real, thus holding on to it. When we see the ego is merely nothing, we will not fight it or value it. We will just let it go because we recognize that it is nothing.

As we are willing to end our engagement with the ego, reality will be there to see. Reality is always there, but when our minds are filled up with the belief system of the ego, there is no room to see that only God (or Love) is real. “Knowledge cannot dawn on a mind full of illusions, because truth and illusions are irreconcilable.” (2:5)

What central idea of the Course releases us from guilt and fear of punishment?

One of the central ideas of the Course is that God is Love and nothing else and what He creates is exactly like Himself in all respects. There is nothing else that He has created and only what He creates is real. As we learn to wholly embrace this thought, it leads us to complete release from guilt because, being God’s creation, we must have the same characteristics that God has and God could not be guilty. Understanding this neutralizes all beliefs that God could ever condemn or punish. It also means that since we were created to have the exact same attributes as God, then we could no more condemn, punish or do harm than He. This is our release from guilt and fear of punishment. With this release comes peace.

We have believed in a god of condemnation and punishment only because of our belief that separation is possible. We believe we have separated by judging against God. We then project that belief on God and believe He will judge against us as we have judged against Him. It is this projected image of a false self that we fear in God. The Course is teaching us to recognize that what God did not create could not be real and therefore does not exist. This releases us from fear because we see that only Love is real. We can rest in the peace of knowing total harmlessness.

What happens when we fully realize that the ego is nothing?

Sickness perceived anywhere in the Sonship is perceived through the split mind. In truth we are perfect Love. “If God created you perfect, you are perfect. If you believe you can be sick, you have placed other gods before Him.” (1:4-5) As we let go of the belief that we could be separate or sick, the reality of our perfection dawns upon our minds. When we fully recognize the ego as nothing, the veil of illusion disappears and what is real is revealed automatically. “What you have made is so unworthy of you that you could hardly want it, if you were willing to see it as it is. You will see nothing at all. And your vision will automatically look beyond it, to what is in you and all around you. Reality cannot break through the obstructions you interpose, but it will envelop you completely when you let them go.” (5:7-10)

Why does God’s peace belong to us and can never really be lost?

God created our mind as one with His Mind. God’s Mind is at peace and so when we are in our right mind, we are in peace. “Peace is yours because God created you. And He created nothing else.” (6:7-8) The way to wake up is to withdraw our belief from everything that does not reflect God’s oneness. God shared His oneness with us so we are one with the Sonship and one with God. Opening our minds to see as the Holy Spirit sees helps us see the spark of God in every brother. We help every brother as we do this because our minds are joined. “The power of one mind can shine into another, because all the lamps of God were lit by the same spark.” (7:5)

No matter how deeply we sink into the shadows of separation, the peace of God remains with us. We can never truly lose our connection with Him. Because peace is always with us, it is always there to be felt. There is no one who has not at least glimpsed the Light of Love, the peace of Love, in himself or a brother. It is never completely forgotten, though it may be denied. We need only open our minds to the spark and it will lead us to the Great Rays that keep us forever joined with God’s Light.

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Chapter 10: The Idols of Sickness

Section III: The God of Sickness

Read ACIM Chapter 10, Section III (page 184-187)

Why can hate and destruction never be real?

In the previous section we were told that “all attack is self attack.” (5:2) It seemed to indicate that we actually do attack. Now we are reminded that we have not attacked God and we cannot change our reality. However we can make a false image of ourselves that seems to have the ability to attack. If we think the image we have made up is real, we will believe we actually can attack. We think we can be hateful and destructive. But the image we have made is not real, so hate and destruction cannot be real.

According to Jesus, what is salvation?

The fact that we cannot change our reality is the basis of our salvation. We only need to be saved from the mistaken image we have made. Salvation is really simply the letting go of a false image and the acceptance of what has never changed. Idols are simply beliefs. Belief in an image can make us experience the image as real, though it does not change reality at all. The moment we withdraw our belief in the image by recognizing it is untrue, it will no longer seem real to us. Reality will dawn upon our minds because we have removed the false image we made to hide reality.

Why does Jesus need to speak to us at the level we believe we are?

One of the challenges Jesus has in teaching us to recognize truth is that he needs to speak to us at the level we believe we are and lead us beyond that to an awareness that we have blocked from our minds. Frequently the Course will speak as if we actually do attack and separate while it reminds us that this could never occur in truth. It is helpful as we read to remember that we are not the ego. We are not a body. We are not separate. When it speaks to us as if we were separate individuals it is simply speaking to the part of our mind that believes in the false image of being separate. It does not mean that separation could ever be real or could ever have occurred.

For example, in the first sentence of paragraph two, Jesus refers to the “sick children of God.” This is a reference to parts of the Sonship that believe they are separate. Yet in sentence seven, it says no one is sick in reality because in reality no one is separate. We heal the mind of the whole Sonship when we accept that minds are not separate. “Remember that it does not matter where in the Sonship He is accepted. He is always accepted for all, and when your mind receives Him the remembrance of Him awakens throughout the Sonship.” (2:2-3) The Comforter (Holy Spirit) is in every mind, joining all of God’s children together in the awareness of the eternal unity of Love.

Why is it impossible for us to attack or to suffer?

In paragraph three we are reminded that we are only Love and that Love does not attack and cannot suffer. Because we are Love, we are invulnerable. As Love, we do not change because Love is eternal. It is important in our awakening process to let it sink in that we are only Love. Perceiving anything else is simply perceiving a false image of what we are. If we perceive anyone as other than the Love of God, we lose sight of our true Identity as part of God. As we hold the awareness in our minds that everyone we see is part of God and is an extension of His Love and nothing else, we strengthen that awareness in ourselves and thus heal our brothers and ourselves.

Is it true that we are part of God and share all of His power?

Again in paragraph four Jesus reminds us of the truth that we are part of God and share all of His power. The whole purpose of the Course is to help us increase our willingness to accept ourselves as God created us. Part of accomplishing this is to help us see the ego (or belief in individuality) for what it is. It is the denial of all that we are.

The ego offers enticing “gifts” of independence, self-sufficiency and specialness while it hides the cost that accepting these gifts entails. Being independent and different from God’s Love means being separate from His power. That is why, along with thinking we are self-sufficient comes the perception of vulnerability and weakness. Because of this feeling of weakness, the ego feels a need to attack as a defense.

What is the world according to Jesus?

The world is the out picturing of the ego thought system. We see this viciousness played out in nature as animals viciously protect their territories and kill in order to “survive.” Because we have identified with the ego, we feel the same way. We disguise the viciousness with smiles as we mentally judge our brothers. We go to war, saying it is for the good of our country. We proclaim our innocence as we project evil onto others. Yet the guilt that comes with choosing the ego’s independence remains in our split minds, hidden under layers of fear and self-righteousness.

How is our appreciation of God deepened?

As we are willing to remember that everyone is part of God, our appreciation of God and His Creation is deepened. Our appreciation of the truth is enhanced and the false images of the ego lose their appeal and fall away. As our willingness to remember Love expands, we do our part in awakening the Sonship because the Sonship is one. This remembering is what health is because it is the letting go of the god of sickness. The calm knowledge that each one is part of Him brings with it the gift of God’s peace.

Jesus encourages us in when he says, “You could accept peace now for everyone, and offer them perfect freedom from all illusions because you heard His Voice.” (8:2) However, to hear His Voice, we must let go of our desire for independence and specialness. That is why we need to forgive the illusions we think we have made. Our illusions will be unmade for us the instant we signify through forgiveness our willingness to accept only the eternal.

Accepting what we have made as the illusion that it is releases us from fear and guilt because what is nothing cannot be fearful and cannot cause harm. As we accept the Help of the Holy Spirit to see illusions as they truly are, we are brought to an awareness of how to be truly helpful. It is only through being willing to remember Love’s oneness that we find peace and extend peace. The god of sickness that we thought was so attractive is now given up with ease. The god of sickness is recognized as nothing and nowhere. We are left only with great appreciation for everything that God created.

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Chapter 10: The Idols of Sickness

Section II: The Decision to Forget

Read ACIM Chapter 10, Section II (page 183-184)

Why does the decision to forget result in a split mind?

Because of the power of our mind, we can choose to either forget or remember our Identity as part of God. When we forget that we are part of God, we lose awareness of God and all the attributes we share with Him: joy, peace and Love’s oneness. The decision to forget results in a split mind because the one Mind has been rejected. “If you realized the complete havoc this makes of your peace of mind you could not make such an insane decision. You make it only because you still believe it can get you something you want.” (6:1-2)

What happens when we perceive we have severed our connection with Love?

The decision to forget our true Identity as an extension of God’s Love is an attack on ourselves. It is perceived as an attack because we believe we have severed our connection with Love and experience the lack of Love as fear. With this dissociation from our Identity in God comes guilt, which we believe demands punishment. This is why we are afraid and why we fear God. Because of this fear, a world of separate bodies was made to hide from God and His expected vengeance for the attack we believe we made on Him. This world of separate bodies was made to replace God.

Why is forgiveness Love’s reflection in this world?

In this section, Jesus tells us there is another alternative. “Offer the Holy Spirit only your willingness to remember, for He retains the knowledge of God and of yourself for you, waiting for your acceptance.” (2:3) The Holy Spirit brings us the truth or our reality and everyone’s reality. Acceptance of truth is forgiveness. Forgiveness looks past bodies and sees the face of Christ. That is why forgiveness is Love’s reflection in this world.

When we accept the truth from the Holy Spirit, our perception changes. The Holy Spirit helps us look beyond the form to the reality of Love that is present everywhere. When we reach the point where we accept only the Holy Spirit’s perception and nothing else, we have true perception. We have signified our will to remember God and we stand at the gate of Heaven. “God will do His part if you will do yours, and His return in exchange for yours is the exchange of knowledge for perception.” (3:4) All thoughts of separation disappear into the nothingness from which they came when we have wholly accepted truth and knowledge is returned.

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Chapter 10: The Idols of Sickness

Section I: At Home in God

Read ACIM Chapter 10, Section I: (page 182)

Could God attack His creations?

It is helpful to remember that the Course defines creation as extension of God’s Love. God’s Love, being one, cannot separate and still be Love. By definition, the extension of Love remains connected with Its Source, one with It. That is why it is impossible to attack the Love we extend — our creations. Since we are God’s extension of Love, it is also impossible that He could attack us because He would be attacking Himself. “The law of creation is that you love your creations as yourself, because they are part of you.” (1:3)

As God’s Creation, are we perfectly safe?

All of Love’s extensions, which are what we are, are perfectly safe. Since only Love is real, there can be no reality outside of Love. As we learn to recognize this, we know our perfect safety. We know that God’s Love for us remains changeless, unchangeable and eternal. We know that we are part of God because we are Love’s extension and nothing else. We know our absolute oneness with Love.

If we do not know our absolute oneness with Love, it can only be because we have denied the truth and tried to separate ourselves from our Identity as Love. Since Love is one, trying to be separate does not meet Love’s conditions, so we dream of exile in lovelessness — being separated from the unity of Love.

What does Jesus represent to us?

Jesus represents the part of us that has awakened completely from the dream of separation. He knows that nothing really happened in this dream. He tells us, “You are at home in God, dreaming of exile but perfectly capable of awakening to reality.” (2:1) When we wake up in the reality of Love, we will realize that we were just dreaming of a world of separation and that nothing happened. He compares it to when we wake up from a nighttime dream and realize that nothing happened in the night dream. Because we have chosen separation, we do not remember being awake. We do not remember what it is to extend God’s eternal Love in oneness. Here Jesus reminds us that Love is eternal and therefore is our reality now.

What happens when we desire wholly to extend Love and nothing else?

When we desire wholly to extend Love and nothing else, we will see that both our night and day time dreams are out of accord with our true purpose, our reality as God’s extension of Love. We will have no interest in trying to reconcile these dreams of exile with our reality as Love’s extension because it is clearly impossible. We will want only truth. We will want only to extend Love, which is the Will we share with God. As we want only this, we will know we are at Home in God.

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Chapter 10: The Idols of Sickness

Introduction

Read ACIM Chapter 10, Introduction (page 181)

What is the key to freeing ourselves from the limitations of this world?

The key to freeing ourselves from the limitations of this world is to accept responsibility for everything we experience in our lives. How we respond to everything we perceive is up to us because it is we who interpret everything we see. Yet the interpretation occurs in our minds and we are always free to change our minds about what we believe is true.

By the grace of God we are not free to change what we are, which was established by God. Thus in every moment we make a choice between perceiving illusion or accepting the truth about what we are. Perceiving illusions does not change the truth, it just makes the truth unknown to us. As we learn to listen to the Holy Spirit’s Voice in our mind, He will use time to reawaken our minds to the truth that we remain changeless Love in the changeless Mind of Love. That is the only meaningful purpose for time because that is how we regain eternity.

What is our true relationship with God?

Jesus is being very clear in this introduction to chapter 10 in helping us understand our true relationship with God. He tells us, “God created nothing beside you and nothing beside you exists, for you are part of Him. What except Him can exist? Nothing beyond Him can happen, because nothing except Him is real.” (2:1-3)

How can we make every day a happy day?

As we go through our day today, we can practice remembering that nothing but Love can exist. The Love in everyone is what is real. Nothing but Love can happen. Think about this today as you go through your day, as often as possible. The Love you are is real and eternal and the Love everyone is is real and eternal. This is what we focus on today. This is what we are willing to remember. This is what we extend to every brother and receive from every brother. This is what is eternally true and cannot change.

What a happy day we have in front of us as our one goal is to remember the truth. We would choose how we view the world with the Holy Spirit today. With the Holy Spirit, we learn to see past the ego’s wild imaginings and receive the peace of God. We would see only wholeness because we remember that separation is nothing and nowhere. God does not change His Mind about us and we are willing to receive the truth today.

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Chapter 9: The Acceptance of the Atonement

Section VIII: Grandeur versus Grandiosity

Read ACIM Chapter 9, Section VIII (pages 177-180)

What is the difference between Love’s wholeness and the belief in littleness?

Love is one. Love is all. There are no differences found in Love. Being the same, all Love is equal and alike because Love is one whole. Littleness, on the other hand, tries to break everything up into little separate pieces that are distinguished by their differences. Belief in littleness is depressing and full of despair because it is the opposite of the truth. It is the opposite of Love’s wholeness.

If we have believed in littleness, how to we return to Love’s wholeness?

We can return to Love’s wholeness whenever we are willing because It is what we are. We were created by Love as Love and nothing can ever change that. We can believe in littleness and experience the differences found in littleness, but eventually we will let it go. We will see that trying to be what we are not is a meaningless and futile venture.

How does grandiosity stem from the belief in littleness?

Within the kingdom of littleness, comparing and competition are found. Here is where grandiosity is established as the answer to the despair of littleness. Here we find winners and losers, greater and lesser. In this kingdom of littleness we find constant shifts and constant change and the effort to become king of the mountain. The kingdom of littleness is based on the idea of making separate bodies real, making individuality real. It promises freedom from the equality of Love’s oneness and it hides the fact that it only brings us hell. The shifting sands in the kingdom of littleness make everything unstable and constantly vulnerable to loss. It is a very tiring adventure into nothingness and eventually we are willing to give it up.

What happens as we loosen our hold on the kingdom of littleness?

As we become aware of what the kingdom of littleness really is, it loses its glitter and glamor. It is gradually seen for the emptiness that it has tried to hide behind its grandiosity. As we gradually lay down the kingdom of littleness, we very gently become aware of the grandeur of Love’s wholeness. Its simplicity and constancy are a relief from the constantly changing experiences found in the kingdom of littleness. The constancy of Love’s grandeur is recognized as the only true value. And opening to Love’s constant welcome is the only goal. Love’s path of unity is smooth and does not reverse itself. It is stable and sure. Love’s welcoming presence never changes. Only deep happiness and awareness of Love’s wholeness is there.

What choice are we making every day?

Every day we make the choice between littleness and wholeness, between separation and oneness. In one choice lies despair and constant change. In the other choice lies constant gratitude and appreciation, constant equality, constant union and all lasting happiness. Peace and joy lie within this choice. We have the choice to join either with the ego, which brings us littleness and grandiosity, or choose with the Holy Spirit, Who brings us the grandeur of Love’s unity and wholeness. Which do we want? Which do we choose today?

What causes us to feel weak and little?

We were created to have and be all that God has and is. Since God is all of reality, the only way to believe that we could separate from God is to believe in illusion. And because in our natural state we have and are everything, we will naturally feel little if we believe we have separated from everything.

Believing we are separate is believing in littleness. Having made the choice to believe in littleness, we naturally look for some way to cover the littleness. Believing in the thought system of separation, we look to the ego for the answer. But the thought system of separation is an illusion. So it has nothing to offer but another illusion. All it has to offer is an inflated image, which by comparison, seems to be more than the littleness we are trying to escape. Yet it is still an illusion and is therefore nothing.

The whole world we see through the body’s eyes is an attempt to hide the nothingness of illusion by making it seem real. Yet it never satisfies. As we read earlier, there is one characteristic of all the ego’s answers, and that is that they never satisfy. All the competition, all the comparison, will never bring the comfort we seek. It will never fill the emptiness of the illusion, for all illusions are empty.

How do we become aware of the grandeur of God that is within us?

Yet all the time that we are believing in the idea of separation we still remain safe in Love, sharing in all its beauty, its peace and joy. Our heart calls us to awaken to our Home. The Holy Spirit in our minds remembers the truth about us and is available in every moment to guide us back to the full remembrance of the abundance and wholeness we have in God. The Holy Spirit guides us to forgive our competition and forgive our comparisons. We are invited to open our minds to the Holy Spirit’s Voice and let Him show us the grandeur of God that is in us and is us.

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Chapter 9: The Acceptance of the Atonement

Section VII: The Two Evaluations

Read ACIM Chapter 9, Section VII (pages 175-177)

Why is the Holy Spirit in our mind and why is the ego in our mind?

The Holy Spirit is in our mind because It is the truth of what we are. The ego is in our mind only because we have accepted it there, but not because it belongs there. Since the Holy Spirit is in our mind and evaluates truly, we can accept the true evaluation of everything.

We accept the ego in our mind when we believe in its thought system founded on separation. In order for the ego to continue to have residence in our mind we must continue to believe in separation. Acting lovingly is a threat to the thought system of separation because Love is universal and impersonal and does not recognize the separation of uniqueness and specialness. Thus the thought system of separation is left homeless when we accept the oneness of Love.

How does the ego defend against universal Love?

Under the “threat” of losing its “home,” the thought system of separation perceives a need to defend against accepting and giving universal Love. All of the weapons the ego attempts to use against Love are founded in some way on the belief in separation. It may seek to reinforce the seeming reality of the body by making pain and illness. It may point out your flaws and frailties to reinforce your belief in littleness and weakness. It may stimulate anger, which reflects the underlying guilt to which it condemns you.

The myriad forms these attempts take all come from the thought system of separation, which can only be held in place by maintaining belief in it. Clearly it would be fruitless to ask the thought system of separation how to let it go. That is why we must look beyond the ego thought system to the Holy Spirit in our minds for help.

What is the basis of all forgiveness the Holy Spirit brings to our awareness?

The Holy Spirit never forgets what we are in truth. His knowledge of what we are is the foundation of His thought system. The Holy Spirit does not acknowledge separation because He knows it is unreal. The unreality of separation is the basis of all forgiveness and the Atonement. Thus the Holy Spirit will always lead us to recognize our innocence and know the Love that we are. He will always teach that we remain one with Love and that same Love we share with all our brothers. He will show us our innocence because His knows we are innocent. He will show us our Love because He knows we are loving. He will show us our wholeness because He knows we are whole.

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Chapter 9: The Acceptance of the Atonement

Section VI: The Acceptance of Your Brother

Read ACIM Chapter 9, Section VI (pages 173-175)

What does Jesus mean by the acceptance of our brother?

The acceptance of our brother is seeing the Christ in him. Receiving the Holy Spirit is the decision to accept the Holy Spirit in our brother. In section two of this chapter, Jesus tells us, “Knowing what you are, I cannot doubt you. I hear only the Holy Spirit in you, Who speaks to me through you.” (T-9.II.7:3-4)

What do we unconsciously project onto others?

There is only one Son. As we look upon any part of the Sonship, we learn what we are. Remember that we unconsciously project onto others what we believe we are. When we believe we are separate, we believe others are separate from us and have separate interests. When we know we are one with all our brothers, we know our interests are always the same. We know that there is only one Son and that Son is Love, just as God Is. We share God’s Will to create, which is to extend Love. Love is whole and cannot be divided. “...You cannot learn of your wholeness until you see it everywhere.” (4:6) God’s Love is limitless and everywhere, and so is ours because we remain one with Him. But we only become aware of this when we accept it in all our brothers.

How do we learn to recognize all true meaning and all true value?

In God’s universal Love is all meaning and all value. We learn to recognize all true meaning and all true value as we learn from the Holy Spirit to see God’s universal Love in every brother. That is how we accept our brother as he is. That is how we see Love’s wholeness, Love’s limitlessness. As we waken our brothers by seeing the Love in them, we recognize the Love in ourselves and see that only God’s universal Love is real.

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Chapter 9: The Acceptance of the Atonement

Section V: The Unhealed Healer

Read ACIM Chapter 9, Section V (pages 171-173)

What happens when we do not know that the Holy Spirit is in our minds?

We cannot go to the ego mind for healing. The ego is the part of the mind that believes in separation. It cannot be expected to offer the means to recognize oneness, which is the only healing. Whether what we teach heals or not depends upon which guide we choose. When we believe we are of ourselves alone and try to heal, we have chosen the wrong guide. When we recognize that we are not of ourselves alone, that we share our one Identity as an extension of God’s Love, we are following the Guide that heals.

We cannot give what we don’t know we have. If we don’t know the Holy Spirit is in our minds, we will not recognize the truth in our brother’s mind. Because the Holy Spirit is in our right mind and is our link to Reality, when we offer the Holy Spirit’s vision of wholeness, we offer the perception of Reality to our brothers. This is true healing, for it brings release from illusions. Because release from illusions brings release from guilt and fear, this release always stimulates gratitude to the Holy Spirit, the Light in our minds.

When are we instrumental in helping our brothers heal?

We are instrumental in helping our brothers heal as we let our own minds be healed. As we open to the truth in our minds, we acknowledge the truth in every brother’s mind. At the level of truth, our minds are joined. There is no separation. The Holy Spirit is always the Healer. Because the Holy Spirit is the truth in everyone’s mind, everyone can access it as he is ready and willing.

As we let our minds be healed by the Holy Spirit, we are demonstrating that the Holy Spirit is the Healer. We know the Holy Spirit is not just in our mind but in every mind and we have confidence in our brother that he can access the Holy Spirit just as we have. As we open to the Holy Spirit, He shows the way to both of us. The Holy Spirit is in charge and the only sane thing to do is follow. The peace of God comes to every mind that asks for it and is willing to accept it. God’s peace heals all nightmares and shows us that they are not true. “Trust Him, for help is His function, and He is of God. As you awaken other minds to the Holy Spirit through Him, and not yourself, you will understand that you are not obeying the laws of this world.” (8:11-12)

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Chapter 9: The Acceptance of the Atonement

Section IV: The Holy Spirit’s Plan of Forgiveness

Read ACIM Chapter 9, Section IV (pages 168-170)

What does the ego’s existence depend on?

The ego’s existence depends on our belief in its fantasies. The core ego fantasy is that we have succeeded in separating from our Source and Creator. From this a whole universe of fantasies springs forth. Being dependent on these fantasies for its existence, the ego will never question their reality. Rather, it will always seek to make them more real. Naturally the ego’s plan for forgiveness fits into this scheme. By first believing that something happened and then trying to disregard it or put it out of mind, it holds the illusion in place.

Where does the ego keep what it wants to hide from our awareness?

The unconscious mind is the ego’s repository for all the illusions it wants to keep held in place but which we do not want to be aware of. By seeming to put thoughts and beliefs out of awareness, we have the illusion of overlooking them while still hanging on to them. The ego smiles happily at this charade because it keeps it safely entrenched in our mind. To break free from this imprisoning cycle, we need help from outside the ego thought system. This is why we need the Holy Spirit’s plan of forgiveness. The Holy Spirit gives no credence to any ego ideas.

What is the difference between the ego’s and the Holy Spirit’s plan for correction?

The ego’s plan for correction is to make the error unconscious rather than undo it. This allows the ego thought system to remain in place by making us unaware of the intense fear and guilt that we would surely reject if we were conscious of it. On the other hand the Holy Spirit’s plan for correction is to undo the error at its source in our minds. This is why it is important that we not hide from our errors, which are our mistaken beliefs in being a separate identity.

The initial error of believing that separation is real is played out in our life experience in myriad ways every day. That is why it is essential that we develop a habit of taking all our perceptions to the Holy Spirit for His reinterpretation. When we let Him, the Holy Spirit will reinterpret what we have perceived in His own Light of perfect Love. He will show us that what we thought confirmed our separation is not true. As we accept this, He will undo the effects of the error because the error was not real and therefore had no effect in truth.

How do we reach true perception?

This practice, done moment by moment, takes us back up the ladder that we have descended into the hell of separation. We undo all the images of separation until we reach the point of true perception, where we see that everything is in truth part of us and we stand at the threshold of the unity of Heaven. To the ego this process seems like it must be endless because there seem to be so many different forms to forgive. But as we work with the Holy Spirit, we learn to see more and more that what seemed to be different is really all the same. We come to the point of realizing that there is really only one error, the belief that separation occurred. With the Holy Spirit’s help we let that go and we return with joy to the welcoming arms of our loving Creator. We return to the awareness of reality.

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Chapter 9: The Acceptance of the Atonement

Section III: The Correction of Error

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

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

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

What is correction that really works?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Chapter 9: The Acceptance of the Atonement

Section II: The Answer to Prayer

Read ACIM Chapter 9, Section II (pages 163-166)

What are we believing in when we experience fear?

To ask of the Holy Spirit truly is to ask without fear or judgment. When we have fear, it is because we believe we are an individual, separate identity and with that belief comes belief in loss and harm. That belief makes it impossible to see the truth in our brothers on our own. We need the Holy Spirit to perceive on our behalf and teach us to perceive as He does. This is why it is important for us to bring all our guilt and fear to the Holy Spirit to receive His gentle correction.

What happens when we pray for help but are afraid of the answer?

The purpose of the Course and the Holy Spirit is to help us escape from fear. If we pray for help but are afraid of the answer, we will block awareness of the answer. “There are many answers you have already received but have not yet heard. I assure you that they are waiting for you.” (3:6-7) If we want to keep our autonomy and individuality, we will fear the Holy Spirit’s answers which always lead us to recognition of the one Self we share with all our brothers — the Self that unifies us with God. To find the Love that is the deepest prayer in all our hearts, we must learn to look past individuality, which is how the ego sees. We must accept the truth of unity in the one Self that is the Son of God. The Holy Spirit’s answer to all our prayers is to bring us to the awareness of the Love that is the truth in all things.

If we perceive a brother fearfully, we need to bring this fear to the Holy Spirit with a willingness to receive a new perception. The Holy Spirit will show us the truth beyond the illusion we have believed. Thus will we learn of the truth in ourselves. He teaches us to withdraw our faith in the body and extend our faith instead to the true Self, the Son of God in everyone.

How does Jesus see us?

A key to understanding this section is in paragraph seven where Jesus says, “I love you for the truth in you, as God does. Your deceptions may deceive you, but they cannot deceive me. Knowing what you are, I cannot doubt you. I hear only the Holy Spirit in you, Who speaks to me through you.” (7:1-4) By explaining how he sees us, Jesus is giving us an example of how we should perceive our brothers. Jesus has aligned himself completely with the Holy Spirit so all his interpretations are the Holy Spirit’s interpretations.

What does Jesus mean when he says, “Never doubt a Son of God.”?

This is what we all are to learn. This is what it means when it says in paragraph four, “Never doubt a Son of God.” (4:1) When we let the Holy Spirit guide our perception, we see no one as a body and do not confuse the behavior of the body with the Son of God. The Son of God remains as he was created, Love and nothing else. It is this and only this the Holy Spirit sees in all our brothers.

As we learn to align our minds with the Holy Spirit, this is what we will perceive. This is the true Self we all share. And it is this we are to have faith in. Because the body and what it seems to do are illusions, it is meaningless to put faith in them. But as we put our faith in the true Self, we see in everyone what we recognize as our true Self, which is one and the same.

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Chapter 9: The Acceptance of the Atonement

Section I: The Acceptance of Reality

Read ACIM Chapter 9, Section I (pages 160-163)

What does Jesus tell us the fear of God really is?

The whole goal of the Course is to return us to the awareness of what we really are. In this section we are encouraged to let the Holy Spirit in our minds sort out the true from the false and return us to the awareness that we are God’s Will. Because we are God’s Will and are afraid of the Will of God, we are afraid of what we are. “What seems to be the fear of God is really the fear of your own reality.” (2:2)

When we realize that God’s Will is only to extend Love, it seems insane that we would be afraid of His Will. It is insane. This fear comes from the ego’s projection on God that portrays Him as demanding sacrifice. Since the ego is the idea of sacrifice, it will naturally project this intent on everything it perceives. So it is not really the Will of God that we are afraid of. It is the ego’s projection of its own image on God that frightens us. Since we identify ourselves with the ego, what we are really afraid of is the ego’s idea of what God’s Will is.

What is the ego afraid of and why?

In truth, there is really only one Will and that is God’s Will to extend Love. The ego is afraid of Love because Love is always given equally to all, which is the end of the specialness that the ego wants. Thus it perceives God as demanding sacrifice of the specialness of a separate identity. In truth the only “sacrifice” is our loss of awareness of the unified Love that we are which comes with identifying with the ego and its thought system of separation.

So the ‘fear of God’ really means the fear of loss of the separate identity we think we have made for ourselves. Fear of God means fear of accepting Reality as it really is. Fear of God is the same as fear of oneness. We hide from our oneness and our Reality as part of God because we have chosen the false wishes of the ego. These wishes are alien to our real will, which we share with God. By choosing the ego we have pushed our real Will out of our awareness. We have it hidden it very well from ourselves and now we need the help of the Holy Spirit to find what we have hidden. The Holy Spirit is always there in our mind because we still are as God created us. We still are the Spirit of Wholeness, which is what the Holy Spirit is. The real reason we do not hear the Holy Spirit is because we are still afraid to remember that “He is your reality.” (4:3)

“You may insist that the Holy Spirit does not answer you, but it might be wiser to consider the kind of questioner you are. You do not ask only for what you want. This is because you are afraid you might receive it and you would.” (7:1-3) As long as we continue to ask the ego what we are, we will believe we are a separate entity, different from our brothers and different from God. We will think that we are autonomous and that our will is different from God’s Will. We will think that it is our job to make decisions on our own. We will think that the ego’s answers are what makes us safe and that we would have to sacrifice this autonomy to accept God’s Will. “If, then, a mind believes that its will is different from His, it can only decide either that there is no God or that God’s Will is fearful.” (8:2)

Believing we are disconnected from our Source is literally a fearful idea because it is the idea of being without Love. In our right mind we would never ask for this. It is only the wish to be as we are not, the wish for specialness, that gives value to the idea of separating from Love, our Source. We do not really want specialness because specialness is the denial of Love, which is given equally to all. “Any attempt to deny what is must be fearful, and if the attempt is strong it will induce panic. Willing against reality, though impossible, can be made into a very persistent goal even though you do not want it.” (12:1-2)

What is inevitable when we hide Reality from our awareness?

It is very helpful to realize what a crazy idea it is to devote our mind to what we do not want! When we hide Reality from our awareness, we are hiding all that is truly ours and fear is inevitable. We are being guided in this section to accept Reality as it is and let the Holy Spirit show us what we have hidden from our awareness. The Holy Spirit will show us that we only truly want Love, because That is what we are.

Does everyone return to the awareness of their true Identity?

It is encouraging to learn that everyone returns to the awareness of their true Identity. Eventually we all let go of choosing with the ego’s false ideas of autonomy. Eventually we all come to realize that it is just a fearful thought which could never be true. We will all open to the Holy Spirit Which still resides in our minds. As we do this, we are reminded of our true will. We are reminded of our true Identity. We let go of the illusion of a separate will and accept that our will and God’s Will are one. Distorting reality becomes an empty wish that we recognize has just brought us fear, anxiety and depression.

Accepting the truth of our oneness becomes our only goal. Accepting the Holy Spirit’s help becomes the means of this return to our acceptance of reality. We find where our true safety lies. We welcome what has been forever ours and what we welcome, we receive. We replace our devotion to the ego with our devotion to hearing the Holy Spirit’s answer. The Holy Spirit’s answer returns us to an awareness of our oneness in God. The Holy Spirit awakens us from the dream of separation. The Holy Spirit brings the awareness that only Love is real.

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