II THE EGO AND FALSE AUTONAMY, Paragraph 10
7-12-13
10 Salvation is nothing more than “right-mindedness,” which is not the One-mindedness of the Holy Spirit, but which must be achieved before One-mindedness is restored. Right-mindedness leads to the next step automatically, because right perception is uniformly without attack, and therefore wrong-mindedness is obliterated. The ego cannot survive without judgment, and is laid aside accordingly. The mind then has only one direction in which it can move. Its direction is always automatic, because it cannot but be dictated by the thought system to which it adheres.
In this paragraph Jesus de-mystifies salvation and makes it simple for us to understand. Salvation is nothing more than “right-mindedness,” he tells us. This is why our job is to undo the ego or allow the Holy Spirit to correct our thinking, or to use the term Jesus uses, accept the Atonement. Through our desire for God and with the Holy Spirit’s help, all we are doing is letting go of the wrong-minded belief in separation. The mind will then, automatically go in the direction of One-mindedness. Without the ego thought of separation, there will be no other direction to go.
Jesus said something else that is essential to our process of letting go. He said that the ego cannot survive without judgment. You may want to think about that for a moment: The ego cannot survive without judgment. As we let go of judgment the whole ego thought system comes unglued and falls apart on its own. I am learning to watch my mind for judgment thoughts.
Ego judgments can be subtle sometimes, especially now that I look for them but I am training myself to recognize judgment in all its forms. Jesus has told us in an earlier paragraph that he will substitute for our ego if we want him to. So when I notice I am judging I remember that Jesus is now substituting for my ego and he will judge for me, and his judgment is always that I am innocent.
Sometimes I become frustrated with myself because I still choose ego. I will hear myself say something catty about a fellow worker and cringe as it comes out of my mouth. I will feel regretful because I have taught what I don’t want to learn, and I have set my brother back on his path. This is judgment. I have judged myself as sinful, foolish, thoughtless or whatever other word I want to give it. Now I have a choice. I can accept the ego’s judgment, or I can remember that I don’t have to depend on the ego. I have entrusted my ego to Jesus and his judgment is the Holy Spirit’s judgment. I am innocent.
As soon as the thought of innocence enters my mind sanity begins to return. I remember to ask that my innocence be revealed to me. I ask that the other person’s innocence be revealed to me. As this is done I feel love for myself and for everyone involved. I am forgiven my lapse into judgment and I know I am innocent of any wrongdoing. My mind is returned to its natural state of peace and that peace automatically flows outward to envelope my brothers. It is all so simple and so perfect, and so brilliant.
All that is required of me is vigilant mind watching, and a willingness to be healed. At first the vigilance seemed like hard work, but after awhile, even the vigilance was easy and natural. The outcome of this undoing work is so elevating that I am highly motivated to continue it. The mind recognizes peace and joy and naturally turns to it if not deliberately moved to something else through wrong minded thinking.
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