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 7: The Gifts of the Kingdom

Section V: Healing and the Changelessness of Mind

Read ACIM Chapter 7, Section V (pages 119-123)

Why does Jesus tell us the body is a barrier to universal communication?

The essence of this section tells us that healing is remembering the truth, which is remembering the changelessness of the one Mind of Love. The ego thought system has tried to obliterate the truth by blocking the one Mind’s universal communication. It tried to replace the one Mind with the body. “The ego thus tries to teach you that the body can act like the mind, and is therefore self-sufficient.” (2:3)

The ego made the body to give the appearance that it is possible for there to be separate minds with private thoughts, different from God’s Thought. Thus the ego uses the body as a barrier to communication, since only minds communicate. The body is an attempt to change the one Mind of Love and make It seem to be split into separate parts. Separate bodies appear different, behave differently and seem to confirm that separate minds can change. Because bodies can seem to hurt other bodies, it denies the changelessness of Love’s universal Mind. If we believe this, we are learning and teaching falsely.

Why are we being taught to look past bodies?

To truly heal we must look past bodies because bodies come from the false ego mind. In the previous section, we learned that healing is recognizing the truth and forgetting what is false. As we learn to see the Light of truth in our brothers and not believe that the body has anything to do with reality, we heal our brothers and ourselves.

What is the source of all true healing?

All healing is of the mind, not of the body. Healing has nothing to do with the physical. Using physical agents is magic. Magic involves the ego belief that remembering that we are one Mind is harmful. The ego believes this because remembering the truth would be the end of the ego. Relying on physical agents for healing is a denial of the power of our minds. This denial weakens us because it makes us unaware of our real power. We do not believe our minds have the power to heal, yet in truth that is the only place healing can occur. The body is just an effect of what we believe to be true. Healing strengthens because it reminds us of the power of our minds.

Keeping in mind that healing is remembering the truth, to be a healer we must remember the truth. Jesus heals because he consistently remembers the truth without exception. It is his consistent remembering that supports us in our healing and awakening. Because of the power of our minds, we can reject the truth he sees in us and thus not know it. Yet in his consistency, Jesus is unaffected by whether or not we accept his vision of us. He continues to remember the truth for us. This strengthens us because he does not share in the belief in weakness that we hold about ourselves. “You cannot forget the Father because I am with you, and I cannot forget Him.” (10:1)

When we learn to join with Jesus’ perception of our brothers, we join him in healing our brothers as Jesus brings healing to our minds. Jesus knows that everything he has, we have, and nothing else. It is his unequivocal consistency that heals. As we learn to listen more and more to the Holy Spirit’s Voice rather than the ego’s, we become more consistent. This is our job, our vocation in this world. This is what awakens us and will ultimately lead us Home to the Heaven of God’s Kingdom.

Why does the ego teach that the mind is powerless?

Because we have joined with the ego, we believe we have changed our mind. When we joined with the ego, we joined with the idea that the mind is powerless. The ego believes only form has power, which is why harm seems possible. “This places you in a position of needing to learn a lesson;— you must learn to change your mind about your mind. Only by this can you learn that it is changeless.” (7:8-9) As we open to the truth from the Holy Spirit, we learn to see the Holy Spirit, the changeless mind, in every brother. “If you see only the changeless in him you have not really changed him. By changing your mind about his [mind] for him, you help him undo the change his ego thinks it has made in him.” (8:7-8)

The Holy Spirit is the part of our mind that never changes. It is the part of our mind that knows our unity with the Mind of Love. As we learn to pay attention to only that part of our mind, the Light of the Holy Spirit becomes our Guide. We see with this Light, which shows us the same changeless Mind in everyone. We see the Holy Spirit in everyone and recognize It as the one Self we share.

What part of our mind is all powerful?

We heal and are healed as we let the Holy Spirit in our mind be our only Guide. The Holy Spirit in our mind is all powerful because It is one with the power of God. Thus letting the Holy Spirit guide us renews our awareness of our perfect safety, perfect Love and perfect happiness, which is ours because we share It with all our brothers. We cannot know it alone but we do know it as we accept every brother as our Self. This is the vision of the Holy Spirit. It is Christ’s vision.

Jesus is asking to share his mind with us. As we open to his mind, we are learning to share in the one Mind that belongs to everyone. “See only this Mind everywhere, because only this is everywhere and in everything. It is everything because it encompasses all things within itself. Blessed are you who perceive only this, because you perceive only what is true.” (10:10-12)

Jesus is there to help us remember the one Mind that is the truth about everyone. He reminds us that this is true healing. Because our brothers are forgetful, as we remember the one Mind in everyone, we help them become aware of the Light in them, the truth in them. “This Light will shine back upon you and on the whole Sonship, because this is your proper gift to God.” (11:4) This is the way we love God and His creation. This is accepting and appreciating God as God is instead of trying to change God. In truth, God is everywhere because God and the Sonship are one. There is no division of any kind. When we recognize wholly that God’s universal, changeless Mind is all that is real, our mind is healed.

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Chapter 7: The Gifts of the Kingdom

Section IV: Healing as the Recognition of Truth

Read ACIM Chapter 7, Section IV (pages 117-119)

What does the Voice for God remind us of?

Healing is awakening to the truth. In the Kingdom healing is unnecessary because there is total knowing of our oneness in Love. But in the dream of separation, we are unaware of this oneness and so we need the inspiration from the Voice for God to remind us of the truth. The Voice for God reminds us of His laws, which are that only Love is real; Love is changeless and eternal. As we accept the truth, our minds are healed. We let go of belief in separation and awaken to the Love that we are.

In the dream we believe we live in a world of perception. Everything we perceive seems to be external to us. We think that to see ourselves we need to look in a mirror. Miracles are changes in perception, bringing us to true perception, which reflects the truth. As we accept the inspired perception of the Holy Spirit, we see the world differently. Because nothing changed but the thoughts in our mind, the new perception shows us that the healing must be in our mind. Since the healing came from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and could not have come from our conflicted mind, it demonstrates that the Holy Spirit is indeed in us.

The Holy Spirit reminds us of God’s laws. “When you heal, you are remembering the laws of God and forgetting the laws of the ego.” (2:6) The Holy Spirit helps us remember our oneness in God. He uses all our abilities to unify and to heal. As our mind is healed, our belief in differences falls away because the truth is the Sonship is one.

What does the ego teach us to forget?

The ego made the ability to forget, which is a mechanism for dissociating from the truth. The ego’s laws require that we believe in separation and forget God’s laws of oneness. Thus the ego’s use of forgetting “induces a perception of conflict with something else, as all incorrect perception does.” (2:9) In the Holy Spirit’s hands, the ability to forget is used to forget the ego’s laws so we can heal by remembering the truth. “The Holy Spirit teaches you to use what the ego has made [to forget the truth], to teach the opposite of what the ego has ‘learned.’” (3:3) The Holy Spirit has a unified goal to return our minds to remembering the truth that the Sonship is one.

The ego entices us to forget God’s will by offering us the “gift” of an independent will. To be independent, we must believe we are separate from God and alone. Jesus reminds us that this is not a gift we want. It can only bring us pain, sorrow and belief in death. On the other hand, God gives us the gift of Himself, which is the gift of Love. “God has given you a gift that you both have and are. When you do not use [God’s gift of Himself], you forget that you have it. By not remembering it you do not know what you are.” (6:6-8)

So in essence, the ego teaches us to forget what we are and the Holy Spirit teaches us to remember what we are by forgetting what we are not. God has given us all of Himself, and by choosing the ego, we have rejected God’s gift. The Holy Spirit is helping us to accept God’s gift, which is helping us remember our true Identity as part of God.

Why does the ego bring with it a sense of danger?

Accepting the ego’s gift of an individual will brings with it a sense of danger because it now seems possible that we could have a will that opposes God’s Will. Believing this induces fear because it is the idea of conflict. The ego is literally a fearful thought. The ego’s stories are full of danger. Fear is a signal that we are believing in a false idea of what we are. It is this false idea that must be undone. As we learn to let go of believing that the fearful stories have reality, our sense of fear dissipates.

When does the Holy Spirit come into our awareness?

It is through inviting the Holy Spirit’s correction of our fearful thoughts that all healing of fear can occur. The Holy Spirit comes into our awareness whenever It is invited. Through our willingness, the Holy Spirit heals all our fearful thoughts by helping us let go of the idea that we have a will different from God’s Will. The Holy Spirit heals our minds by reminding us of the truth.

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Chapter 7: The Gifts of the Kingdom

Section III: The Reality of the Kingdom

Read ACIM Chapter 7, Section III (pages 116-117)

How do we focus on the reality of the Kingdom?

This section is teaching us how to focus on the reality of the Kingdom. Jesus tells us, “God has lit your mind Himself and keeps your mind lit by His Light because His Light is what your mind is.” (5:1) This is what is true about ourselves and every brother. It is through sharing the reality of this Light that we awaken to our true Identity and the true Identity of every brother. This is the one lesson that the Holy Spirit teaches. As we open to the Holy Spirit’s correction of our perceptions, we will see that this one lesson applies to every person and every situation.

When we perceive ourselves as absent from the Kingdom, we experience conflict. The Holy Spirit’s one lesson teaches us that every story about being separated from the Kingdom is untrue. As we open our mind to correction, the Holy Spirit shows us the unreality of these stories and helps us let the false stories go. This is what forgiveness is. When we believe in false stories of separation, that is what we are teaching. As we let go of these false stories, we are undoing the ego thought system.

How do we experience true peace?

As we learn to recognize the equality of every brother, we experience true peace. Believing in inequality creates a sense of competition between the perceived unequal Sons of God. In the Course we learn that the opposite is true. We are told, “Because God’s equal Sons have everything, they cannot compete. Yet if they perceive any of their brothers as anything other than their perfect equals, the idea of competition has entered their minds. Do not underestimate your need to be vigilant against this idea, because all your conflicts arise from it.” (3:3-5)

It is important for us to learn that the Light of God that we are is what every brother is. As we open to the Holy Spirit’s one lesson, this is what we will be reminded of. The Light of God is what every brother is. This Light must be shared to be what It is. When we learn Holy Spirit’s lesson, the ideas of inequality or greater and lesser will just naturally fall away because they will be seen as false ideas that are not true.

Learning this lesson brings us the experience of eternal peace. Learning this lesson undoes the ego. It brings us to the point of accepting the reality of the Kingdom everywhere. Learning this lesson helps us focus our full attention on the truth. It brings us God’s certainty. “The certain are perfectly calm, because they are not in doubt. They do not raise questions because nothing questionable enters their minds. This holds them in perfect serenity, because this is what they share, knowing what they are.” (5:6-8)

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Chapter 7: The Gifts of the Kingdom

Section II: The Law of the Kingdom

Read ACIM Chapter 7, Section II (pages 114-116)

What does it mean ‘to heal’?

To heal is to listen to the Holy Spirit’s interpretation of the world. The Holy Spirit knows that every story in this world is unreal and will correct our perception if we open our mind to Him. The Holy Spirit teaches us that what is not of God does not really exist. Love, which is the Kingdom, is formless, eternal and changeless.

The ego’s perception will always attempt to validate the world and is the opposite of healing. The ego’s perception is sick because it is the denial of the truth. If we believe in the false ideas of the ego, it obscures what is true in our mind and makes it difficult to hear the Holy Spirit. Belief in lies obscures the truth. This means that if we give any credence to sickness or any form, the Kingdom of God is obscured to us. “What you project or extend is real for you. This is an immutable law of the mind in this world as well as in the Kingdom.” (2:4-5)

When the ego in others bothers us, what are we identifying with?

We are identifying with the ego when we focus on the ego in others. When we get angry with what someone says or does, we are making the false ideas of the ego real in our mind and reinforcing the ego thought system in our brother. We are making the error real and obscuring what is real.

Who are we helping when we focus on the Holy Spirit in another?

We are identifying with the Holy Spirit when we are willing to focus on the Holy Spirit, or the truth in others. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of wholeness, the Spirit of truth that resides in everyone’s mind, whether they recognize It or not. When we focus on the Holy Spirit in anyone, we are helping both them and ourselves awaken to the truth.

We heal as we learn to recognize the Holy Spirit in our brother, which is the truth about him. When we see the Holy Spirit in our brother, we are teaching ourselves that the Holy Spirit is in us. The one thing that we have in common with all our brothers is the Holy Spirit, which unifies us as one. As we learn to see in this way, we are preparing ourselves to accept the oneness that is the condition of the Kingdom of God.

What does Jesus tell us is the at the core of the thought system of separation?

The wish for specialness, to be unique, different and have an identity we can call our own, is at the core of the thought system of separation. It is why the ego teaches that it is form that has meaning. Everything we see with the body’s eyes shows us different forms. We interpret the meaning of these forms according to what we have learned is valuable and valueless. Because form is paramount to the ego, form gets all of our attention. Rarely do we look for content. We cannot see the Love that is the same in all things when our attention is captivated by form. This attention to form is important to those who want specialness.

It is only form that makes us seem different. The Course is teaching us that the truth about us is that we are Love and nothing else. The Love we are is the same Love that God is. In Love we are one and the same. There can be no differences. When we give our attention to form, we cannot recognize our Self as God created It. We are unaware of Love. Thus to know ourselves we must learn to disregard form as meaningless.

Where does all meaning come from?

All meaning comes from God. Therefore all meaning is Love. Because only Love is real, there can be no meaning in anything else. As we practice listening to the Holy Spirit, He will teach us to see the real meaning — the Love — in all things. We will no longer need to defend a separate, unique identity, for we will know that our safety lies in the Love that we are, which is changeless and unchangeable.

There is nothing more certain than the eternal, and Love is eternal. Only Love matters. That is why we are told that the Holy Spirit “...opposes the idea that differences in form are meaningful, emphasizing always that these differences do not matter. The meaning of His message is always the same; only the meaning matters.” (5:3-4)

The Holy Spirit teaches us to remember what really matters and forget what does not matter. “He teaches remembering and forgetting, but the forgetting is only to make the remembering consistent. You forget in order to remember better.” (6:4-5) When we listen to both the ego and the Holy Spirit we will remain in conflict. The Holy Spirit helps us to let go of the ego’s concept of separation in all its forms so that we learn the truth and teach the truth. “The extension of truth, which is the law of the Kingdom, rests only on the knowledge of what truth is.” (5:6)

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Chapter 7: The Gifts of the Kingdom

Section I: The Last Step

Read ACIM Chapter 7, Section I (pages 112-114)

What is creation according to the ego?

In this world we think of ‘creation’ as having a beginning and an end. We think of creation in terms of form and time. We think of it as being in a state of constant change. In the ego’s world of time and space, things and people are born, have a period of existence, then decay and cease to exist. Because all these ‘created’ forms are based on the false belief in separation, they must be illusions and cannot be real.

What is Creation according to God?

In the Course, Love and creation are the same. Jesus tells us, “To create is to love.” (3:3) It is important to realize that creation has nothing to do with form. We can only co-create with God by extending Love as He does. Being formless, God does not co-create form with us in the world of form. Because God does not create form, form is unreal. What God does not create does not exist in reality.

In an early Workbook lesson exercise we are told to look at objects around the room and say for example, “God is in that table.” This is because God is everywhere, regardless of whatever form we may be perceiving. To know God, to know Love, we must learn to disregard the forms we see and let the vision of Christ show us only Love, because that is what is eternally there, for only Love is real.

To distinguish between the creation that is God’s extension of Love and the making up of forms of illusion in this world, the Course uses the term “make” when it refers to what we think of as ‘creation’ in the world of form. We make illusions in the thought system of separation. Since only Love is real, creation is the extension of Reality. Being eternal, creation cannot be limited by any form.

How does Jesus explain how Love is forever increasing and yet is eternally changeless?

“Eternity is the indelible stamp of creation.” (5:5) To the mind that thinks in terms of time, it is difficult to conceive of Love as forever increasing without perceiving it as changing. “What is timeless is always there, because its being is eternally changeless. It does not change by increase, because it was forever created to increase. If you perceive [Love] as not increasing you do not know what it is.” (7:9-11)

We cannot try to keep Love for ourselves alone or contain It any any way, for to do so would be to try to change Love. This is why to know Love we must extend it. We co-create with God by extending His Love. As we remember that we are only Love, we give only Love. As we give only Love, our joy increases forever. This is how we add to the Kingdom, though this addition has nothing to do with changing size. It is simply joining in the eternal extension of Love that is what Love is.

How do we claim the power of the Kingdom?

It is through being vigilant to see only Love everywhere that we can remember the Love that we are. “You claim [the power of the Kingdom] when you become vigilant only for God and His Kingdom. By accepting this power as yours you have learned to remember what you are.” (2:8-9)

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Chapter 6: The Lessons of Love

Section V-C: Be Vigilant Only for God and His Kingdom

Read ACIM Chapter 6, Section V. C. (pages 108-111)

What does Jesus mean by ‘the right use of judgment’?

This whole section is about right use of judgment. Judgment is inherent in the ego’s thought system of separation. It is the ego’s principal mechanism for making separation seem real. To “survive” in this world, we must constantly make judgments. We use judgment to decide whether or not to cross the street, about what to eat and what to wear or how to keep ourselves safe. In this world of separation the ego guides us to constantly judge and compare others with ourselves. All this reinforces the belief in separation.

The Holy Spirit was placed in our minds to teach us how to use judgment as a means to let go of the false belief in separation. “We said before that the Holy Spirit is evaluative, and must be. He sorts out the true from the false in your mind, and teaches you to judge every thought you allow to enter it in the light of what God put there.” (1:1-2)

How do we allow the Holy Spirit be the judge of everything?

This section makes a clear distinction about what the Holy Spirit teaches us to judge. We are to learn to judge the thoughts in our minds with the Holy Spirit as the judge. The Holy Spirit does not teach us to judge others. Our perceptions of others are simply a reflection of our thoughts. That is why we need to let the Holy Spirit purify our thoughts with His judgment. True perception of others will naturally follow.

If our thoughts are aligned with the ego, which is false, we will have false perceptions of separation. If our thoughts are aligned with the Holy Spirit, we will have true perceptions of oneness. So the Holy Spirit teaches us to be vigilant against the belief in separation and vigilant for the truth of the oneness of the Sonship. Jesus tells us, “I have already told you that you can be as vigilant against the ego as for it. This lesson teaches not only that you can be, but you must be [vigilant against the ego].” (4:2-3)

Our vigilance to hear the Holy Spirit’s judgment becomes our priority. His decisions are always to identify truth and reject error. As we learn to let Him judge everything on our behalf, He teaches us to be vigilant for the truth and reject what is false. This purifies our minds and frees us from the false thought system of separation. With the Holy Spirit’s lessons we remember that we are already included in the Kingdom of God’s one Love. It is only our belief that we are not in the Kingdom that we must exclude from our minds.

Through the Holy Spirit we learn to keep only the truth of God’s oneness in our mind. “The Holy Spirit will enable you to take this step, if you follow Him. Your vigilance is the sign that you want Him to guide you.” (10-2-3) We do this by stepping back from our own judgments and remembering not to decide anything on our own. We remember that on our own, we do not know. We remember to quiet the ego’s chatter and listen to the Guide Who brings us to the awareness of what is true. This is how we become vigilant only for God and His Kingdom.

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Chapter 6: The Lessons of Love

Section V-B: To Have Peace, Teach Peace to Learn It

Read ACIM Chapter 6, Section V. B. (pages 106-108)

What does Jesus mean when he talks about ‘undoing’ the ego and how does this relate to having peace?

In this section Jesus is suggesting that we join him in undoing the thought system of the ego. He tells us, “What you must recognize is that when you do not share a thought system, you are weakening it.” (1:7) We are being shown how deceptive the ego thought system is and how we have been learning and teaching the wrong lessons. Learning these wrong lessons have made us fearful of retaliation and abandonment. “They believe in attack and rejection, so that is what they perceive and teach and learn. These insane ideas are clearly the result of dissociation and projection.” (1:2-3)

When we truly understand the effects of joining with the ego thought system, we will be motivated to let it go. As we truly understand that the ego brings us pain and the Holy Spirit brings us peace and happiness, our motivation for change will be strengthened. “Change in motivation is a change of mind, and this will inevitably produce fundamental change because the mind is fundamental.” (2:5)

Until we let go of the ego thought system, we will not experience peace of mind because the ego thought system is conflicted. It is the thought system of attack and rejection, separation and abandonment, judgment and hate. It is at war with God, trying to be the opposite of Love’s oneness. No wonder when we identify with this thought system we feel depressed, lonely, lacking and fearful.

The only way out of this is to reverse our thinking and let go of the whole ego thought system. We do this by letting the Holy Spirit decide for God for us. The Holy Spirit speaks for our right mind, which remains in peace as God created it. When we accept the Holy Spirit into our mind, we are accepting God’s peace into our mind. If we wholly desire peace, we will have it and extend it because peace has never really left us. We will be brought “toward the unified perception that reflects God’s knowing.” (9:1) With this unified perception, we see as Holy Spirit sees, which is that we are all united in the one Mind of God.

Why does having go hand in hand with giving?

Jesus returns to the first lesson of the Holy Spirit, “to have, give all to all.” As we let go of the ego thought system, we let go of the concept of getting. We start to understand that having goes hand in hand with giving, which seems totally upside down to the ego. To the ego, when we give something away, we no longer have it ourselves. Because the Holy Spirit knows we are one mind, He teaches us that the opposite is true. When we share a thought, we still have the thought, but it is strengthened in the sharing.

What is the Holy Spirit’s one answer when we are suspicious of another’s intentions?

Since the ego believes in attack and projection, it expects others to have the same motivations so it will always be suspicious of others’ intentions. In Section IV of this chapter we were told that the Holy Spirit has one answer to these suspicions. He sees only the holiness and perfection in everyone, and teaches us that nothing else is real. The ego on the other hand is strongly aware of the ego in others. This reinforces the basic fear of retaliation and abandonment. “The way out of conflict between two opposing thought systems is clearly to choose one and relinquish the other.” (5:1)

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Chapter 6: The Lessons of Love

Section V-A: To Have, Give All to All

Read ACIM Chapter 6, Section V. A. (pages 104-106)

How does the Holy Spirit use the body?

In this section, Jesus reinforces that we share one mind with him and this one mind is our life. He reminds us again that we are not our body. “The body is the symbol of what you think you are. It is clearly a separation device, and therefore does not exist.” (2:2-3) As we are willing to listen to our inner Teacher, the Holy Spirit uses the body as a learning device. The Holy Spirit teaches us how to reconnect with what is real and reorients our thinking to oneness so that we can return to identifying with our one shared mind. The Holy Spirit brings us to miracle mindedness, where we see clearly that the body is just an ego device for separation and is not part of us.

What is the ego’s use for death?

When we join with the ego thought system, which is the belief in separation from God’s eternal oneness, the body and death seem real. Death is the ultimate ‘demonstration’ that separation is real. The ego has a death wish for us for death seems to confirm the ego’s reality. Thinking we are separate from Love is depressing.

If we want out of this world and the body is not real, is suicide a solution?

Because of the ego’s faith in separation, it thinks killing the body is a solution for depression. Belief in separation is why depression and suicide are so prevalent in our world. Trying to destroy the effect of our belief does not change the belief. From this frame of reference we can see that suicide is futile since, “...nothing is accomplished through death because death is nothing. Death is an attempt to resolve conflict by not deciding at all.” (1:2,6) Since the ego believes the body has power, it thinks that doing something with or to the body has an effect. But since the body is merely an effect of our thoughts, it has no power of its own. “Like any other impossible solution the ego attempts it will not work.” (1:7) It is only through changing our minds that dreams will end and the ego will disappear.

What heals the body?

The miracle demonstrates that it is the mind that heals the body. The mind is what is real because it is shared and the body does not exist. Being a symbol of separation, the body cannot be a part of us. Jesus tells us, “The body is the symbol of what you think you are. It is clearly a separation device, and therefore does not exist.” (2:2) We are learning to change our beliefs about what we think we are. In truth, we are one mind and not a separate body.

What does, “To have, give all to all” mean?

Sharing one mind means sharing Love equally with all. “Only one equal gift can be offered to the equal Sons of God, and that is full appreciation. ...there must be no range in what you offer to your brother.” (4:7,9) As we truly integrate the truth that every brother is equal as Love and is nothing else, it becomes easier to automatically offer full appreciation equally to everyone. This frame of mind translates into our communication or sharing of Love, which is communion.

In this section Jesus reinforces the preliminary step we must take, which is, “To have, give all to all.” (5:13) As we turn in this direction, we put ourselves, instead of the ego, in charge of our journey. It is the beginning step in reversing our upside down perception of reality. We are assured that when we make this choice we will be helped, for we realize we are no longer alone. Giving all to all reflects an openness to the truth that our brother is part of us and we are joined as one in the Mind of God.

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Chapter 6: The Lessons of Love

Section V: The Lessons of the Holy Spirit

Read ACIM Chapter 6, Section V (pages 103-104)

What does Jesus say about God’s awareness of His communication channels?

Although God cannot conceive of His Sons as anything but the perfection He created, He is aware that He cannot communicate His joy to them when they sleep in dreams of separation. Jesus tells us: “What God does know is that His communication channels are not open to Him, so that He cannot impart His joy and know that His children are wholly joyous. Giving His joy is an ongoing process, not in time but in eternity. God’s extending outward, though not His completeness, is blocked when the Sonship does not communicate with Him as one. so He thought, ‘My children sleep and must be awakened.’ “ (1:5-8)

The Kingdom of God is all inclusive and whole, one and never changing. The ego thought system perceives a world of separate bodies which are imperfect, incomplete and constantly changing. The wholeness and perfection of God are as incomprehensible to the mind that believes in imperfection as imperfection and unhappiness are incomprehensible to the Mind of God. We are seeing here the challenge of trying to communicate between two mutually exclusive thought systems.

Why did God place a Teacher in our mind?

God gave us a Teacher Who is always in our mind, Whose sole purpose is to help us awaken. “...He teaches only to make you equal with Him.” (1:1) As we go through our day, we can practice being aware that our Teacher is right there in our mind, waiting for the opportunity to help us perceive the truth of our Reality. “The Holy Spirit makes no distinction among dreams. He merely shines them away.” (4:4-5) As we develop the habit of paying attention to our inner Teacher, we accelerate our awakening and return to joy. His consistency reassures us that we are safe. As we practice listening to the Holy Spirit’s teaching, we learn to recognize the difference between illusion and reality, sleeping and waking.

How does the Holy Spirit teach?

The Holy Spirit teaches by guiding us to what is helpful for our healing, giving us clear direction about how to perceive the world. He is gentle and does not make lists of our errors as the ego would to reinforce our guilt. Rather, He shines His Light on our perceptions to show us a new vision that helps us recognize the illusion of separation and the reality of Love so we can experience God’s joy.

If we are not in joy, we have blocked our communication with Him. It is the Holy Spirit Who helps us release our false perceptions to reopen our communication channel to God’s joy. “... The Holy Spirit, shining with the Light from God Himself, speaks only for what lasts forever.” (4:7)

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Chapter 6: The Lessons of Love

Section IV: The Only Answer

Read ACIM Chapter 6, Section IV (pages 100-103)

What is the ego?

The ego is the belief that we are separate and outside the Mind of God. When we forgot to laugh at this tiny, mad idea, we questioned our Identity. This was the beginning of doubt. Here we are being clearly shown the insanity and unreality of the ego thought system. “The ego, which is not real, attempts to persuade the mind, which is real, that the mind is the ego’s learning device, and further, that the body is more real than the mind is. No one in his right mind could possibly believe this, and no one in his right mind does believe it.” (5:3-4)

Because the ego is the thought of separation from Love, it sees itself as separate from you who are Love and so it does not know you. To maintain its seeming existence, the ego needs your belief in it. When you believe in it, you lose awareness of the Love you are. You doubt your true Identity. The ego does not mean you well. It knows that at any time you may withdraw your belief from it so it must constantly entice you to give it your allegiance. You give it your allegiance whenever you feel guilty, anxious or fearful. So the ego always wants to bring you thoughts of guilt, anxiety and fear to maintain your belief in it.

What is God’s Answer to this impossible dream of separation?

The Holy Spirit is the Answer to the confusion we introduced by believing separation from the Mind of Love could occur. When we chose to believe in the thought of separation (the ego), we lost our awareness of the Kingdom of God. “You could not remain within the Kingdom without love, and since the Kingdom is love, you believe that you are without it.” (2:4)

Through our belief in the thought of separation, we have made the ability to make illusions of separation seem real so we must be taught to recognize that the illusions of the ego are unreal. That is why God gave us a Teacher in the form of the Holy Spirit in our mind. As we learn to listen to the Holy Spirit, He will teach us to recognize the unreality of the myriad forms of illusions the ego makes up in this dream of separation. “Your dreams contain many of the ego’s symbols and they have confused you. Yet that was only because you were asleep and did not know.” (6:5-6)

Listening to the Holy Spirit is how we will learn to find our way out of the “impossible” situation we have made in the dream and awaken to the Kingdom. “When you wake you will see the truth around you and in you, and you will no longer believe in dreams because they will have no reality for you. Yet the Kingdom and all that you have created there will have great reality for you, because they are beautiful and true.” (6:7-8)

Looking out through the body’s eyes, it seems hard to fathom that this world never really occurred. Yet the fact that the world never occurred is why it is possible to return to full awareness of our Home in the Kingdom. If separation had really occurred, its reversal would be impossible. But because separation is only a belief and not a fact, we can learn to let that belief go and return to full knowledge of our unity in Love.

The idea that this world never really happened is brought up again and again throughout the Course. This is because the ego defends against it heavily. We need repeated reminders to break through the resistance generated by our allegiance to the ego. The ego knows the moment we fully recognize the unreality of the world of separation, we will let it go. And that will be the ego’s end.

It is difficult to grasp that this world is not real only because we have identified ourselves with it and want it to be real so we can keep our unique, individual identity. As we learn from the Holy Spirit to recognize that being a separate identity with a separate body is not what we are, we are released from the illusion of a loveless world. He teaches us, “You are a child of God, a priceless part of His Kingdom, which He created as part of Him. Nothing else exists and only this is real.” (6:1-2)

The Holy Spirit knows that because we are part of God, inequality does not exist. Because God gives us all of His power to create, or extend Love as He does, He cannot interfere with what we do with that power. He knows us as perfect as Himself. Were He to interfere with our misuse of the power to create — making a world of illusions — He would no longer be seeing us as equal, nor would He be knowing us as perfect. He could not do this and be Himself. “That is why the Holy Spirit never commands. To command is to assume inequality, which the Holy Spirit demonstrates does not exist.” (11:1-2)

The decision to separate is the decision to deny the oneness of Love. This denial blocks our communion with Love so that we are unaware of It. Since peace is an attribute of Love, when we deny Love we cannot experience peace. Denying Love does not mean that Love is not present. It only makes us unaware of It. This is a lack of communication. When we chose the strident voice of the ego, God gave the Answer, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit bridges us back to true communication, or communion in Love.

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Chapter 6: The Lessons of Love

Section III: The Relinquishment of Attack

Read ACIM Chapter 6, Section III (pages 99-100)

Why is seeing with impariality and equality so important to our awakening?

In this section and the previous section there have been frequent references to impartiality and equality. This is because Love is one. Being one, Love cannot perceive separate things. It cannot prefer one thing over another, value one thing more than another and be Itself.

Love gives itself equally to all. God, being Love, gives Himself equally to all His Sons and so His Sons are one. To know our Self as God created It, we must see the Love that is the same in all things. Love sees past differences to the oneness of Love in everyone.

The ego is a thought system that has made up a world with countless different forms so that it appears justifiable to value one thing more than another. This is just a typical ego mechanism to hold separation in place. We are being told here not to believe the ego’s lies, not to let it be our teacher.

As we practice listening to our inner Teacher, what will we learn and teach?

We do have a Teacher in our mind Who will always show us the vision of Love with perfect impartiality. As we listen to this Teacher, we will learn to embrace the Love that is in all things and is all that is real. We will experience the inclusion of the truth in all things as our one Self. “If you are to be conflict-free yourself, you must learn only from the Holy Spirit and teach only by Him. You are only Love, but when you deny this, you make what you are something you must learn to remember.” (2:2-3)

Here is perfect safety. What we know is one with us we know cannot attack us. As we identify with the vision of the Holy Spirit that shows us the reality of Love, our only response to every experience, every perception, is to embrace the Love in it, knowing it is our own. Form has no meaning of its own. We return to peace as we let the Holy Spirit teach us the only real meaning, which could only be Love for only Love is real. We teach peace because we are listening to the Teacher of peace. By teaching peace, we learn that it is ours.

Why does it seem difficult to follow the Holy Spirit’s teaching?

It only seems difficult to follow the Holy Spirit’s universal teaching because there are still some beliefs that we treasure and want to keep. If we believe we are the ego, then giving up our unique individuality seems to be loss.

Why was the Course brought to us and what can it offer us?

The Course is here as an instrument of the Holy Spirit to gently and patiently teach us that the ego offers us nothing of value. It is teaching us where we can find the lasting happiness and Love that we thought we lost. This teaching has two parts. One helps us undo our mistaken beliefs in what is valuable. The other teaches us the value of the knowledge of oneness we have thrown away. We will only release something if we believe that by releasing it we will gain something of greater value. Thus the Course offers us a means to give up what is truly valueless and accept what is truly invaluable — the Love of God.

What does Jesus tell us is the true lesson of the crucifixion?

This section reinforces the one lesson that the Holy Spirit teaches. This lesson is, “Teach only Love for that is what you are.” (2:4) Jesus tells us that this was the true lesson of the crucifixion. As we a practice extending only Love, we are teaching It and learning It. This is where our true safety lies. As we let go of the ego thought system which is an attempt to attack God’s oneness, Reality can dawn upon our mind. Within God’s Reality comes a deep sense of safety and well-being — a knowing that all is truly well. Nothing can harm or be harmed. All are truly safe, no matter what nightmares anyone may be dreaming.

Jesus tells us, “Your salvation lies in teaching the exact opposite of everything the ego believes. This is how you will learn the truth that will set you free and will keep you free as others learn it of you.” (4:1-2) That is what our job is now, teaching the exact opposite of everything the ego the believes. The ego believes in separate bodies. The Holy Spirit knows only oneness. The ego believes we are alone and vulnerable. The Holy Spirit knows, “Your Godlike mind can never be defiled.” (1:6) Your Godlike mind is Love. Your Godlike mind is What you are. As we are willing to relinquish attack, which is the ego thought system, we return to remembering that we are Love. We teach peace by being peaceful, knowing we are safe in the oneness of God.

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Chapter 6: The Lessons of Love

Section II: The Alternative to Projection

Read ACIM Chapter 6, Section II (pages 96-99)

Why do we not see that we are simply projecting what is in our mind?

In this world, projection is a way of life. It is so habitual and automatic that we are not even aware we are doing it. This is exactly the way the ego wants to keep it because as long as projection is unconscious, the perception of separation is held in place and the ego’s seeming existence is maintained. Because of dissociation, we have forgotten that we are projecting everything we ‘see’ in the world, so what happens in the world seems to be out of our control. We come to believe we are helpless victims and that our only chance for ‘survival’ is through planning for our own defense in a mean and cruel world. This just reinforces the cycle of projection and keeps us locked up within our illusions of projection.

Why is it so important that we become conscious that we are projecting?

As long as projection is unconscious so that we do not realize we are doing it, we remain tied to believing in a world of guilt, fear and ultimately death. This is why it is essential that we understand what projection is and how we do it moment by moment so that we can recognize it. The beginning lessons of the Workbook work directly with helping us loosen the projections that seem to define our world. Lesson one points out that nothing we see means anything. Lesson two tells us we have given everything we see all the meaning it has for us (projection).

Why are we to take to the Holy Spirit the meaning we are giving everything?

As we learn to recognize our projections (or the meaning we are giving to everything in this world), the next key step is to learn to take the meaning we are giving to everything to the Holy Spirit, Who will reinterpret every perception and give them a new purpose. Instead of reinforcing the illusion of separation, which is the ego’s goal, the Holy Spirit’s goal is to bring our perception to the point that it reflects the purity of knowledge, oneness with God. Doing this process with all our projections is the path of release from fear, guilt and death. That is why this section begins with helping us identify what projection is and how we have been using it to maintain separation.

Why is what we see through the bodies eyes the rejection of our inheritance?

The way we make separation seem real is to reject our natural inheritance of being in Love’s Oneness, where all has all and all is all. This rejection of the ultimate oneness of all is the rejection of God’s creation, which is inherently whole and indivisible. When we exclude God’s Oneness, we are disowning our one Self.

“We have said before that the separation was and is dissociation, and that once it occurs projection becomes its main defense, or the device that keeps it going.” (1:5) Here we are learning that when we dissociate from our one Self, we use projection as a defense to maintain our dissociation from our one Self.

Through projection we believe in differences. Through projection we are able to appear special and unique from others. Through projection, not only are we attacking our Identity as one Self, but we also judge against what we project because in this way we keep the appearance of separation in place. We keep the fact that we are attacking our Self out of conscious awareness. But this attack makes us feel very guilty, afraid and defensive.

Why is fear and guilt so prevalent in our world?

At unconscious levels we feel guilty because we believe we have harmed our one Self’s unity. We feel afraid because we believe the harm we think we did to God will be returned to us and thus believe we need to defend ourselves. “The process [of projection] begins by excluding something that exists in you but which you do not want, and leads directly to excluding you from your brothers.” (3:8) It is helpful to understand that whenever we are angry, we are projecting. With all this exclusion and attack, no wonder we do not feel safe. No wonder we feel defensive and alone. No wonder we feel vulnerable to an attack that we perceive is coming from outside ourselves. Yet all this time, all that is happening is that we are attacking ourselves through our choosing to believe that we are separate from our one Self’s Oneness. As we are willing to return to oneness, conflict disappears. Where there is no conflict, there is peace.

What is the Holy Spirit’s alternative to projection?

In this section Jesus describes very clearly what the Holy Spirit does in our minds as we are willing to listen. We are told, “The Holy Spirit extends by recognizing Himself in every mind, and thus perceives them as one. Nothing conflicts in this perception, because what the Holy Spirit perceives is all the same. Wherever He looks He sees Himself, and because He is united He offers the whole Kingdom always.” (12:3-5) As we learn to align our thinking with the Holy Spirit, we too will see the Holy Spirit in everyone and recognize we are all the same, one and equal in God’s Mind.

When we see that we are the same despite the appearance of differences found in this world, we feel and think differently about everyone in this world. We no longer need to defend against them because we are focusing on the Holy Spirit in them. Love flows naturally because Love embraces all with total inclusion. When the feeling of Love is there, no one is left out. The Holy Spirit focuses on the eternal truth about us and does not believe in the images we have made of ourselves. The Holy Spirit sees the pure Love that is there in everyone and reminds us of this truth.

The Holy Spirit knows that everyone’s deepest need is to awaken from the dream. He brings us the perception that everyone is perfect and equal. He reminds us that everyone is still part of Universal Love and remains as Love created them. This is what awakens us from the dream and brings us true and lasting happiness. Jesus brings us this promise: “By enabling you to use perception in a way that reflects knowledge, you will ultimately remember it.” (7:3)

Why is it important to recognize that the separation never occured?

In the Course, ‘Atonement’ means the undoing of the dream of separation. A dream is not reality. But when we are dreaming, we think what we are experiencing is real. When we wake up from the dream, we realize that what we were experiencing was not real. The Course is teaching us to recognize that our experience in this world is a dream and that we are not in this world. The separation never occurred.

Because this world is the symbol of separation from Love, it is a joyless place. Joy is an attribute of Love and where Love is absent, joy is absent. Everyone in this world is searching for happiness and for Love. The only way to find true and lasting happiness is to realize that we are dreaming. We are not really in a world of separation. We are still as God created us. “God created His Sons by extending His Thought, and retaining the extensions of His Thought in His Mind. All His Thoughts are thus perfectly united within themselves and with each other. The Holy Spirit enables you to perceive this wholeness now.” (8:1-3) What we are is unalterable. We wake up to the truth of what we are by letting the Holy Spirit inspire our perceptions. “He can inspire perception and lead it toward God.” (9:7)

The Holy Spirit can show you where you are now, which is in and one with the Mind of God. This is not off in the future. It is true now. The Holy Spirit leads us to the truth about where we are now. If we do not receive this from the Holy Spirit, it is because we do not want to know it now. The Holy Spirit is infinitely patient because He does not believe in time. Even though we do not remember the truth now, we will awaken to the truth. “Your perception will end where it began. Everything meets in God, because everything was created by Him and in Him.” (7:5-6)

How do we awaken from the dream of separation?

Aligning ourselves with the Holy Spirit is the way home. The Holy Spirit is the part of our mind that knows the way Home and can lead us there when we are willing. The Holy Spirit’s mind is fixed on the truth. “He perceives only what is true in your mind, and extends outward only what is true in other minds.” (11:9) The Holy Spirit knows that we are all connected in the one Mind of Love. He returns to our memory the fact that we are one. The Holy Spirit joins everyone’s mind in the one Light of truth. “Wherever He looks He sees Himself, and because He is united He offers the whole Kingdom always.” (12:5)

The Holy Spirit is in every brother. Our job is to recognize Him as the truth in all our brothers. Differences are not real. Bodies are not real. What is real is the Holy Spirit in everyone. “The ego is legion, but the Holy Spirit is one.” (13:1) The sooner we learn to focus on what is true in every brother, the sooner we will awaken to what is true in ourselves.

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Chapter 6: The Lessons of Love

Section I: The Message of the Crucifixion

Read ACIM Chapter 6, Section I (pages 91-96)

Why did Jesus not believe that he was being persecuted?

This section is an expansion of the ideas first presented in the Introduction to the Text: “Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God.” (T-Intro.2:2-4) Jesus makes it very clear that he did not share the perception that he was persecuted. He tells us, “I was persecuted as the world judges, and did not share this evaluation for myself.” (5:3) He knew that he was not a body and therefore the destruction of the body did not matter. He demonstrated he could not be destroyed by his resurrection.

One of the central teachings of the Course is that we are not a body. In twenty of the Workbook lessons we are asked to repeat many times a day: “I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.” (W-p1.VI.3:3-5) Since God is invulnerable and He created us, His Son, like Himself, we cannot be harmed in truth. Anything that is destructible cannot be real.

What does Jesus say is the true meaning of the crucifixion?

Jesus knows with the Holy Spirit that we are only Love. He explains that the crucifixion is “the perfect symbol of the ‘conflict’ between the ego and the Son of God.” (16:7) When we try to separate from our true Self, which is Love, we are crucifying ourselves. We are in conflict with our true Identity as one with God. When we try to be separate, we are rejecting our one Self and thus crucifying our true Identity as Love.

We don’t want to admit that we are trying to crucify ourselves, so we project it onto an outside world and tell ourselves that it is the world that is crucifying us. “You have probably reacted for years as if you were being crucified. This is a marked tendency of the separated, who always refuse to consider what they have done to themselves.” (3:1-2) Through projection we make it appear that an outside ‘other’ is different from us and therefore separate. Projection is the means by which the ego thought system tries to make the separation appear real. Separation is the crucifixion of our true Identity as part of God.

How can we tell when we joining with the ego’s ‘persecution complex’?

Most of us go through life with a “persecution complex.” It manifests every time we feel defensive, irritated, impatient, frustrated or abandoned. Any emotion that does not reflect the peace and Love of God comes from belief in being separate. Since God is the Source of our strength, if we believe we are separate, we will believe we have lost our strength and thus feel vulnerable and subject to loss.

The chief ego mechanism to make loss appear real is the body with all of its vulnerabilities. Sometimes we may feel anxious even though it does not appear that the body itself is threatened. Part of body identification is believing we are a unique personality. If we believe this identity is threatened in any way — that we might be proven to be wrong about who we think we are — this, too, is perceived as threat to be defended against.

So we walk through life with chips on our shoulder, wary that at any moment some external force may come along to shake our identity or even destroy the focal point of that identity, the body. The message of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection is that these concerns about our identity do not matter because this identity is composed of false, unreal images.

In truth, are we really invulnerable?

The truth about us is that we are God’s unassailable Love, unchangeable. We share God’s strength with all that is. Jesus knew this without reservation and so he could use the crucifixion as an extreme demonstration that no harm can come to the Son of God because he is not a body. The Son of God shares the invulnerability of his Creator. This is the lesson Jesus wants us to learn through his demonstration. We can learn from his example and remember that our true Self remains complete and whole, at one with God.

He asks us to join with him in deciding that we cannot be persecuted. If ever we are angry, we have forgotten the truth that we cannot be harmed and that assault of any kind can only be on the body. We have forgotten that we are not the body. “Rather, teach your own perfect immunity, which is the truth about you, and realize that it [your immunity] cannot be assailed.” (6:4)

How do we join Jesus in the resurrection?

If we are angry, we are misperceiving. When we join with Jesus, we are joining with the resurrection or our reawakening. When we learn from Jesus how to hear only one Voice, we will remember that we cannot harm or be harmed. This is what we perceive when we learn the lessons of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit teaches us that we are only Love. Love cannot harm or be harmed. Love sees the truth of Love behind every false form of separation. This is our resurrection. At any moment we are either choosing crucifixition or resurrection. It is our choice. As we learn to appreciate our resurrection, we will learn to move past time into eternity, where we will see the resurrection of every brother. We teach only Love as we remember that only Love is real.

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Chapter 6: The Lessons of Love

Introduction

Read ACIM Chapter 6, Introduction (page 91)

What does Jesus mean by lessons of Love?

In the Introduction to the Text Jesus says, “The Course does not aim at teaching the meaning of Love, for that is beyond what can be taught. It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the awareness of Love’s presence, which is your natural inheritance.” ( T-Intro.1:6-7) Lessons of Love therefore are really lessons to help us remove the ego’s barriers to Love so we can experience the Love that is ever present. The belief in attack that is part of the thought system of separation stands between us and the experience of Love. When we believe in attack, we will then believe we must defend ourselves against it. Thus Love is unknown to us though it is all around us.

What testifies to the power of our misplaced faith in the ego?

As long as we do not question our allegiance to the ego we will not be able to experience Love. Allegiance to separation is the choice against the unity of Love. Our unquestioning faith in the reality of separation — of separate bodies, individual personalities and private minds — testifies to the power of our faith.

No one in this world lacks faith. But misplaced faith has made a world of conflict and fear. Though we have faith in the ego’s lies, the effect of that belief is that illusions of a world of separation seem very real to us. The aim of the Course is to teach us to redirect our faith to the truth of our oneness instead of lies of individuality. We have taught ourselves that these lies are true so we must be taught to recognize the lies and to recognize what is truth.

No one hangs on to belief in lies when he recognizes them for what they are. We will freely let them go and the awareness of Love will return. We will move from believing in the reality of attack to the recognition that attack is impossible and cannot be justified. This is the core of the Course’s teaching. It is the reason why forgiveness is justified. We can truly forgive when we know that no harm has happened and that we remain whole in the Heart of God.

What is really going on when we are angry?

In this introduction Jesus helps us understand how our anger is always really a projection of separation. When we join with the thought system of separation, we are taught to hurl guilt outside ourselves and see a reason for blame and anger in a world that is different from us.

The guilt that comes with belief in separation from our Source is unbearable. The ego’s answer is to project the guilt that is in our confused mind out onto a projected world that we think is outside of our mind. The ego tells us that this will relieve our guilt, but all it does is reinforce the thought system of separation within our minds.

Why does Jesus encourage us to look so closely at the ego thought system?

Jesus wants us to see how insane this process of projection really is. He wants us to see the irrational premises on which this thought system is based. He tells us, “You cannot be attacked, attack has no justification, and you are responsible for what you believe.” (1:7) Jesus wants us to look at the ego thought system and see that it is based totally on lies. He wants to help us redirect our faith in it so that we will be able to see the truth that lies behind it.

The rest of this chapter will go into detail about how the ego thought system works, how projection works and how the Holy Spirit can lead us away from projection and toward remembering the Love that we are. We are on quite an exciting journey as we return Home together. In our return to Love, the Holy Spirit will show us how to experience peace, a deep sense of well being and the recognition that we already have all that is real. As we learn to be vigilant only for God, we will return to remembering that we are still in Heaven and that we are safe, because we are still as God created us. As we learn this from the Holy Spirit, this is what we will teach.

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Chapter 5: Healing and Wholeness

Section VII: The Decision for God

Read ACIM Chapter 5, Section VII (pages 88-90)

What are we valuing, the ego or God?

A common theme in the Course is that everything we experience is the effect of our decision. In the ego’s hands this is used for guilt. The ego loves to point out what a mess we have made and how defective we must be in order to have made such a mess. The Holy Spirit teaches us that the power of decision is our freedom. We may have decided wrongly, but we are always free to change our decision.

The plan of Atonement, given us by God, is a plan of undoing through helping us change our minds about what we value. When our values change, our decisions change. When we learn to recognize that true value can only be found in unity with God, sharing God’s Thoughts, we easily choose the valuable and let go of the false values the ego has tried to substitute for the Value of God. No sacrifice is asked of us. We are gently taught to recognize the valuable and the valueless. Letting go of the valueless is not perceived as sacrifice. Rather it is recognized as release of what is no longer wanted.

What is a signal that we have chosen wrongly?

When we are not at peace, we can learn to acknowledge it and use it as a signal that we have chosen wrongly. We can use lack of peace as a signal to change our mind and decide for God. The Holy Spirit will respond fully to our slightest invitation. Jesus tells us, “Be very firm with yourself in this, and keep yourself fully aware that the undoing process, which does not come from you, is nevertheless within you because God placed it there.” (6:4)

Can the Holy Spirit help us to choose against the valueless?

Jesus gives us a wonderful prayer to help us redirect our attention to the valuable and accept the Holy Spirit’s help in choosing against the valueless. The Holy Spirit is in our mind to help us all decide for the Value of God. Here is where we find perfect safety, perfect joy and perfect peace. To help us with this, Jesus says, “Say this to yourself as sincerely as you can, remembering that the Holy Spirit will respond fully to your slightest invitation:” (6:6)

“I must have decided wrongly, because I am not at peace. I made the decision myself, but I can also decide otherwise. I want to decide otherwise, because I want to be at peace. I do not feel guilty, because the Holy Spirit will undo all the consequences of my wrong decision if I will let Him. I choose to let Him, by allowing Him to decide for God for me.” (6:7-11)

When is the right time to let this undoing process be done by the Holy Spirit?

As we learn to really accept that the undoing process is within us, we will pay more and more attention to it. This undoing process is accomplished by the Holy Spirit. We have been told many times that the Holy Spirit is always in our minds, waiting to decide for God for us when we are willing. The more we accept Holy Spirit’s help, the more help we receive. It is our decision. We can choose to accept His care and use the power of this care to help all our brothers awaken from the dream.

We are reminded that the time is now. We do not need the dreams of the ego. We will receive God’s gifts of peace and joy as we are willing to still our minds and accept them. Truly accepting these gifts involves sharing God’s peace and joy with every brother equally. This is making the decision for God. This is what making the decision for God accomplishes.

Because there is no order of difficulty in miracles, we can accept healing. We can “return to God the mind as He created it.” (2:6) As we return to God what belongs to God, we are healed. We return to wholeness where we belong. We return to perfect peace, where we belong. God’s joy is ours and we experience it only in God’s wholeness.

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