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.
Read A Course in Miracles, Chapter 29, Section VIII. (pages 619-621)
An idol is our replacement for our true Identity as one with God. Jesus tells us that, “An idol is an image of your brother that you would value more than what he is.” (1:6) When we see ourselves and our brothers as bodies, we are wanting to see separation instead of the oneness that is really there. When we don’t recognize the idols (separate forms) we have made for what they are, we give them power over us. We look to idols (the images of separate bodies we have made) to keep us safe instead of going within and finding our one true Self there.
We make up idols through desire to be something different from God, our Father. When we wish for idols, the power of our mind makes them seem real to us. “An idol is a wish, made tangible and given form, and thus perceived as real and seen outside the mind. Yet it is still a thought, and cannot leave the mind that is its source. Nor is its form apart from the idea it represents.” (3:2-4)
Jesus describes it in this way: “An idol is a false impression, or a false belief; some form of anti-Christ that constitutes a gap between the Christ and what you see. …All forms of anti-Christ oppose the Christ. And fall before His face like a dark veil that seems to shut you off from Him, alone in darkness.” (3:1,5-6)
We feel separated from our Father and suffer a sense of littleness and loss. Jesus explains it this way: “And thus (he) must seek beyond his little self for strength to raise his head, and stand apart from all the misery the world reflects. This is the penalty for looking not within for certainty and quiet calm that liberates you from the world, and lets you stand apart, in quiet and in peace.” (2:6-7)
Jesus answers it this way: “An idol is established by belief and when it is withdrawn the idol ‘dies.’ ” (6:1) As we are willing to let go of our belief in separation (our belief in individuality and differences), the veil of insanity is lifted and the truth of oneness returns to our awareness. As we are willing to hand over all our perceptions of separation and specialness to the Holy Spirit, they are returned to us washed clean of what was never true. We return to seeing God’s Son as the united extension of God’s Love.
We would laugh at the idea that there could be more or less for any part of the one Son of God. Jesus reminds us, “God gave you all there is. And to be sure you could not lose it, did He also gave the same to every living thing as well. And thus is every living thing a part of you, as of Himself. No idol can establish you as more than God. But you will never be content with being less.” (9:7-11)
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