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Study of Text, C 13: IX. The Cloud of Guilt, P 6. 12-5-16

IX. THE CLOUD OF GUILT, P 6
6 See no one, then, as guilty, and you will affirm the truth of guiltlessness unto yourself. In every condemnation that you offer the Son of God lies the conviction of your own guilt. If you would have the Holy Spirit make you free of it, accept His offer of Atonement for all your brothers. For so you learn that it is true for you. Remember always that it is impossible to condemn the Son of God in part. Those whom you see as guilty become the witnesses to guilt in you, and you will see it there, for it is there until it is undone. Guilt is always in your mind, which has condemned itself. Project it not, for while you do, it cannot be undone. With everyone whom you release from guilt great is the joy in Heaven, where the witnesses to your fatherhood rejoice.

Journal

“Guilt is always in your mind, which has condemned itself. Project it not, for while you do, it cannot be undone.”

This sentence says it all. As I let go of guilt in all its forms, I undo the ego in myself and in the Sonship. It is the only way to undo the ego. Every time I forgive (or accept the Atonement for a brother) there is great joy in Heaven. Every time I fail to forgive, there is more suffering in my life and within the Sonship. This is unequivocal and there is no compromising. It makes the choice simple and straight forward.

Do I want to be happy? Do I want to be at peace? Do I want to wake up? Do I want to return Home, to know my Self, to know God? This is the way it is done. I accept the Atonement for all guilt thoughts. I forgive the very idea of guilt. If I think that someone else is guilty or if I think that some situation is guilty, then I have perpetuated the illusion and I have condemned myself to suffering and death, along with all my brothers.

Does this mean that Donald Trump is not guilty? How about Hillary? The people who are responsible for the inhuman treatment of protesters? Those who destroy the environment to satisfy greed? The killers of baby whales and dolphins. The people who are deliberately or thoughtlessly cruel to helpless animals. How about pedophiles, murderers, and thieves? What if it hits home? What if the murderer kills someone I love and now will never touch again in this life? What about the little things, the careless driver, the nosy neighbor, the bossy co-worker? Even them?

And how can situations be guilty? Well, if I think that I am unhappy because I am devastated by a natural phenomenon, like a hurricane or forest fire, I am saying that circumstances are the cause of my unhappiness, I have projected my unhappiness onto the world and said the world is at fault. If I am upset because my house burnt down and all is lost, or because my company went out of business and now I don’t have a job; if something happens in the world and I think it hurts me, then that is an example of thinking the situation is guilty, that is I am projecting guilt onto the situation.

The ones that I notice these days are the quick judgments when I hear something sad or scary in the news. I think it is sad that so many people were lost to a warehouse fire. I don’t know them but I can imagine their last terrified moments and their families’ grief. How could that not be a bad thing? How could I possibly see this differently?

Ego argues that fate is guilty, circumstances are guilty, life is unpredictable and devastating. And ego life certainly is. But there is another way to see even these kinds of things, and I can know that other way if I am willing to let go of the ego interpretation, and ask for the Holy Spirit’s interpretation. I will see reflected in the world what is in my mind, While fear is in my mind, fearful incidents will happen. If I continue to project and believe the cause is outside of me, then fear will stay in my mind, and fearful circumstances will continue to occur. Let me take responsibility for everything, and allow it to be healed, and I will help the happy dream to become our reality.

© 2016, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Text, C 13: IX. The Cloud of Guilt, P 5. 12-2-16

IX. THE CLOUD OF GUILT, P 5
5 Lay not his guilt upon him, for his guilt lies in his secret thought that he has done this unto you. Would you, then, teach him he is right in his delusion? The idea that the guiltless Son of God can attack himself and make himself guilty is insane. In any form, in anyone, believe this not. For sin and condemnation are the same, and the belief in one is faith in the other, calling for punishment instead of love. Nothing can justify insanity, and to call for punishment upon yourself must be insane.

Journal

Guilt in any form, regardless where it is directed, whether if it is expressed or only believed, is a form of insanity. It is what keeps the illusion in place and it is a defense against Love. It is not possible to know yourself as the Son of God and still believe in guilt. How do you know that you are having guilt thoughts? It might not be obvious to you right away.

Here are some clues:

He shouldn’t have…

She could have done this instead…

I wish he had…

If only I had…

Why did I…

How could he have …

I watch for thoughts that start in this way. When they occur, I know that I have found someone guilty. This morning I have struggled with a feeling. My brother asked me to do something for him and it is very important to him. I don’t want to do this, but I will. I feel anxious about it and as I read this paragraph, I realized that I feel resentment toward my brother for asking me for this favor. That resentment is a form of guilt. He is guilty for asking me and guilty for how I feel now. Any form of resentment is guilt.

I have been struggling with letting go of past regrets. Because I am willing to do this work now, I have been shown regrets about things I did and things I didn’t do. These regrets are just another form of guilt. I should have done things differently and didn’t, therefore I am guilty.

Another form of guilt is projection. Any time I see someone else as bad, or lacking in some way that I find objectionable, it is only because I have projected my belief in guilt onto that person. I used to know a woman who didn’t have a clue about how to discipline her child, or even how to talk to her child in a way that would be helpful rather than making it worse. I found myself getting angry at her for her ignorance. Now I realize that I felt angry because I was projecting my guilt at not being a better mother myself. I was making us equally guilty.

Now when I notice guilt, whether it is directed at another or onto myself, I remember that this is not possible. We were not created guilty, so we cannot be guilty. No matter what story we cook up in the illusion, we cannot prove our guilt. Without a belief in guilt, I look at a mother’s ignorance about child rearing as an opportunity to undo more guilt in the mind. I am able to approach this favor for my brother as an act of love and if I still feel anxious about it, I can ask for clarity. What is it in me that needs to be healed? And I can accept atonement for that error.

When I think how simple this correction is, how straightforward it is, I feel a sense of relief. While it is absolutely necessary to give up the belief in guilt, it is very possible to do so because guilt is not real. We are innocent, and I find that a good mantra for the day. No matter what I see through the body’s eyes, I will remind myself that we are innocent and, without exception, that is the only truth of the situation.

© 2016, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Text, C 13: IX. The Cloud of Guilt, P 4. 11-30-16

IX. THE CLOUD OF GUILT, P 4
4 Atonement brings a re-evaluation of everything you cherish, for it is the means by which the Holy Spirit can separate the false and the true, which you have accepted into your mind without distinction. Therefore you cannot value one without the other, and guilt has become as true for you as innocence. You do not believe the Son of God is guiltless because you see the past, and see him not. When you condemn a brother you are saying, “I who was guilty choose to remain so.” You have denied his freedom, and by so doing you have denied the witness unto yours. You could as easily have freed him from the past, and lifted from his mind the cloud of guilt that binds him to it. And in his freedom would have been your own.

Journal
Students often ask me to help them understand what Jesus means by Atonement. I always think of Atonement as undoing, and I think that Atonement and forgiveness are the same thing. I like this explanation even better:

Atonement brings a re-evaluation of everything you cherish, for it is the means by which the Holy Spirit can separate the false and the true…

This is why I bring my thoughts to the Holy Spirit for interpretation. I want Him to separate the false from the true because I cannot do that. As Jesus goes onto say, I have accepted everything without distinction. I have a thought and I tend to believe it, simply because it was in my mind. Actually, I have taught myself not to automatically accept every thought, but I used to do so, and still do so sometimes.

Here is an example. I awoke in the night recently, and lay there worrying about someone dear to me. He is going through a very difficult time and making some hard decisions. I started thinking about all that could go wrong and what those consequences would mean to him. I started feeling so anxious that I knew I couldn’t go to sleep like this. I wanted to be peaceful and sleep through the night. I wanted to stop being afraid for this person.

The reason I was finding it so hard to stop being afraid and to return to peace is that I had automatically accepted my thoughts about the situation as being true; he could make bad decisions and he could suffer dire consequences. What I did was listen to the Rules for Decision section of the Course. Afterwards, I realized that the only thing that happened is that I asked the ego what the situation meant and I joined with the ego in deciding what would happen based on the ego’s interpretation.
I did the steps that Jesus laid out for me to undo that decision and make way for the Holy Spirit to re-interpret for me. He helped me by sorting through the thoughts, rejecting what is not true. What I was left with were some true thoughts that restored my mind to the peace of God that I so wanted. A true thought in my mind was that I must have faith in my brother.

Another was that nothing was happening anywhere except in my mind, which was projecting my fears into a non existing future. The next morning I was guided to this passage: “Your patience with your brother is your patience with yourself. Is not a child of God worth patience?”

All the other thoughts were gone. I wasn’t thinking about all the ways his life could go wrong now, or how unlikely it was that he would succeed. I wasn’t thinking about how this would affect my life, and other lives. I was happy and at peace.
Jesus says the result of not distinguishing between thoughts and simply accepting them all is that guilt has become as true for us as innocence. To free my mind, I had to free this dear person I love. I had to let go of the thoughts that he was guilty of anything and embrace his innocence. I had to let go of the belief in guilt and embrace only the belief in innocence.

Will he make mistakes and will there be dire consequences? I don’t know. But no matter where his lessons take him, I have faith now that all will be as it should be and that he will be successful however it appears in the story. He is guilty of nothing; what happens here is meaningless of itself, and gains meaning only according to our desires. I desire to know only innocence, his and mine. I will be vigilant for thoughts about this situation and ask the Holy Spirit to sort them out for me from now on.

© 2016, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Text, C 13: IX. The Cloud of Guilt,  P 3.11-22-16

IX. The Cloud of Guilt, P 3

3 The world can give you only what you gave it, for being nothing but your own projection, it has no meaning apart from what you found in it and placed your faith in. Be faithful unto darkness and you will not see, because your faith will be rewarded as you gave it. You will accept your treasure, and if you place your faith in the past, the future will be like it. Whatever you hold dear you think is yours. The power of your valuing will make it so.

Journal
The world is our projection so what can it give us except what we put there and then find and believe and want. Therefore, it is important not to support with our faith what we no longer want. In fact, as we refuse to support what we find in the world, it will lose substance, it will be undone. For instance, we wanted conflict and so conflict shows up in many ways. We got to see the true nature of conflict and what it does to our peace of mind during this election and its aftermath. Conflict has already been projected, but we can undo its effects as we choose not to put our faith there.

When I hear, or read something that encourages conflict about the election and what is going to happen now, I have a choice. I can treasure that conflict, and add to it, or I can help to undo it by withdrawing my belief. The Course tells us this:  “ ... and if you want peace, you must give up the idea of conflict entirely and for all time.” So why does it seem to be so hard to stay out of the conflict? I notice that even though I don’t engage the conflict in an active way, I am still engaging within my mind when I become anxious about what I just read, or I become angry or resentful or afraid.

I withdraw from the conflict because while I still choose conflict, I also know that I want the peace of God. So when I see that I am putting my faith in conflict, I choose again. I ask the Holy Spirit to heal my mind of the belief that I want conflict. In the past (and a second ago is the past) I wanted conflict, but I don’t want the future to be the same as the past, so I am letting go of the past right now in this moment.

I have placed within the world what I do not want to see in myself. But I can withdraw my belief in it. I can change my mind about giving it my faith and my desire. As I do this, the world of ego is undone. I will pay close attention to that which I value, and when it robs me of the peace of God, I will make a different decision, because as Jesus says, whatever I hold dear I think is mine. The power of my valuing will make it so. When I am unhappy, I will ask, “Do I still want this?” If not, then I will give it to the Holy Spirit and ask for a healed mind.

© 2016, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Text, C 13: IX. The Cloud of Guilt, P 2. 11-21-16

IX. The Cloud of Guilt, P 2

2 Release from guilt is the ego’s whole undoing. Make no one fearful, for his guilt is yours, and by obeying the ego’s harsh commandments you bring its condemnation on yourself, and you will not escape the punishment it offers those who obey it. The ego rewards fidelity to it with pain, for faith in it is pain. And faith can be rewarded only in terms of the belief in which the faith was placed. Faith makes the power of belief, and where it is invested determines its reward. For faith is always given what is treasured, and what is treasured is returned to you.

Journal
Do I want to undo the ego? Oh yes! Release from guilt is the way to do it, and since I am meant to undo the ego, I can let go of the belief in guilt. This phrase stood out to me: Make no one fearful… It stood out to me because I have had occasion lately to decide if I want to make someone fearful. I was afraid for someone I love and I had the thought to manipulate and control his behavior through fear.

Of course that was only my fear talking, and I caught it right away, thank God. I knew immediately that I did not want to do anything that would increase his fear. It would have been cruel to do that, and it would have increased guilt in him and in me. It is guilt that I am trying to release so projecting onto others is counterproductive, to say the least.

When I have the desire to project guilt or to accept it in myself, I am putting my faith in guilt. I am saying that guilt is my salvation and I believe in it so strongly that I am willing to suffer and willing for others to suffer just so that I can have guilt. Guilt is of the ego and putting my faith in the ego is always going to cause me pain. Pain is what the ego does and what it is.

I used to treasure guilt, but now I am learning to treasure innocence. I have already decided that guilt is not real, but rather something that we made when we made the ego. I have already decided that I want to let go of the belief in guilt and I want to stop using guilt as a tool to control and manipulate. I want to stop using guilt to punish myself and others. I want to stop projecting guilt in a fruitless effort to make myself feel better and appear innocent through comparison. Now I am spending my time mastering this new choice. And it is taking some time, but getting easier as I practice.

© 2016, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Text, C 13: IX. The Cloud of Guilt, P 1. 11-18-16

IX. The Cloud of Guilt, P 1

1 Guilt remains the only thing that hides the Father, for guilt is the attack upon His Son. The guilty always condemn, and having done so they will still condemn, linking the future to the past as is the ego’s law. Fidelity to this law lets no light in, for it demands fidelity to darkness and forbids awakening. The ego’s laws are strict, and breaches are severely punished. Therefore give no obedience to its laws, for they are laws of punishment. And those who follow them believe that they are guilty, and so they must condemn. Between the future and the past the laws of God must intervene, if you would free yourself. Atonement stands between them, like a lamp shining so brightly that the chain of darkness in which you bound yourself will disappear.

Journal
“Guilt is the only thing that hides the Father, for guilt is the attack upon His Son.”
Over and over, Jesus tells us that guilt is something we must let go. We must let go of placing guilt on others and of believing we are guilty. Both are attacks on the Son of God and hide from us the awareness of God. Guilt is what keeps us from peace and happiness, and keeps us from remembering Love. It is the cause of all suffering and the reason we choose death over God.

“The guilty always condemn, and having done so they will still condemn, linking the future to the past as is the ego’s law.”
Here is how that works. When everything changed at work, I felt resentful. I projected the blame for my feelings on my boss and everyone else. I made them guilty of my unhappiness with my situation. The thought that they were guilty stained everything they did. It was like their actions were passing through a dark filter and all that came through was stained with guilt.

I interpreted their words and actions from the standpoint that they were guilty, and so what they said and did seemed wrong to me and I felt further resentment. Not only that, but I expected to be attacked. I thought about what they would do next and how that would affect me. I was linking the future to the past, and thus sustaining the ego.

“Atonement stands between them, like a lamp shining so brightly that the chain of darkness in which you bound yourself will disappear.”
This went on for as long as I could stand it. Finally, my desire for peace kicked in and I asked for healing. I accepted that healing, that is, I accepted the atonement for this situation and the beliefs that were driving it. It was truly as Jesus says, the Atonement stood between the past and the future and broke the dark chain of guilt. I began to hear and see differently.

They suddenly seemed like friends instead of enemies and in the time we have had together I have learned that I like them and enjoy working with them. I am going to be happy to retire, but at the same time, I wish I had more time to spend with these people. It is truly a miracle when we accept the Atonement. I am going to be eternally grateful for this experience, both because I will leave that job with all relationships healed, and because I will never forget the lesson I learned about letting go of guilt.

© 2016, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Text, C 13: VIII.From Perception to Knowledge, P 10.11-16-16

VIII. From Perception to Knowledge, P 10

10 Yet in this world your perfection is un-witnessed. God knows it, but you do not, and so you do not share His witness to it. Nor do you witness unto Him, for reality is witnessed to as one. God waits your witness to His Son and to Himself. The miracles you do on earth are lifted up to Heaven and to Him. They witness to what you do not know, and as they reach the gates of Heaven, God will open them. For never would He leave His Own beloved Son outside them, and beyond Himself.

Journal
God created me perfect and so perfect I am. Yet, as Jesus says in the first sentence, my perfection is un-witnessed in this world. Well, I get that! I find no witnesses to my perfection and that is the reason I often fall for the ego interpretation of things. I realize that my thoughts and actions and words witness to the ego thought system more than I would like, even now after all this time of study and practice. Even at my best, my perception witnesses to something truer, but now truth.

But God knows my perfection, so nothing has actually changed, and that is my salvation. It is our salvation. We do not share His witness to our perfection because reality can only be witnessed to as one. We still, in this world, see division and that is not one. What I see happening in my life and in the lives of others is a shift toward oneness. We do this through miracles.

We ask for another way to see and accept that vision, recognizing that the eyes do not show reality. Instead we trust the Holy Spirit’s Vision until that vision becomes our own. First the mind changes and then the changed mind projects that change onto the world, and miracles are made manifest. This is why we study this book, why it is called A Course in Miracles. Miracles matter, not the miracles themselves, but the love they represent. It is through performing miracles that we return our minds to reality and remember that we are the Sons of God.

Jesus says that the miracles we do on earth are lifted up to God and they witness to what we do not know. This is our path back home. The gates to Heaven are open to us, and the miracles we do here lead us to those gates and to the welcoming presence of God. Perhaps you think you have never performed a miracle but I bet that you have. Each time that you believe the ego and then change your mind and ask the Holy Spirit to heal your mind, you have an opportunity to change miraculously. All you need to do is accept that healing.

Sometimes the manifestation of the miracle is obvious, sometimes even astounding. But often the manifestation is subtle at first and perhaps not recognized. At those times it becomes clear only in retrospect as you review your life and recognize how much happier and more peaceful you are now, and know it is because you have been practicing what you are learning through A Course in Miracles. That is no small miracle. And it may be even more to it. It may be that when you came to a fork in the road, your past study and your past choices for God take you down a gentler path and you have saved a thousand years, even though you do not realize it.

I wonder if I decided today that I want the miracle, not as a possible outcome of a daily practice, but as a decision I make, how would that change things? What if I start the day asking the Holy Spirit what miracles He would have me perform today? I am going to do that. I am asking and expecting an answer. I am going to keep my mind and heart open so that I will recognize the answer when it comes to me.

© 2016, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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