TUESDAY JANUARY 26, 2016
You Are Innocent
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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
CH 2 "THE ILLUSION OF SEPARATION"
VI. THE MEANING OF THE LAST JUDGMENT
       
 
The term "Last Judgment" is frightening not only because it has been falsely projected onto God, but also because of the association of "last" with death. This is an outstanding example of upside-down perception. Actually, if the meaning of the Last Judgment is objectively examined, it is quite apparent that it is really the doorway to life.       
A COURSE IN MIRACLES
WORKBOOK
INTRODUCTION
Introduction to Lesson 181-200
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1 A theoretical foundation such as the text is necessary as a background to make these exercises meaningful. Yet it is the exercises which will make the goal possible. An untrained mind can accomplish nothing. It is the purpose of these exercises to train the mind to think along the lines which the course sets forth.
 
2 The exercises are very simple. They do not require more than a few minutes, and it does not matter where or when you do them. They need no preparation. They are numbered, running from 1 to 365. The training period is one year. Do not undertake more than one exercise a day.
 
3 The purpose of these exercises is to train the mind to a different perception of everything in the world. The workbook is divided into two sections, the first dealing with the undoing of what you see now and the second with the restoration of sight. It is recommended that each exercise be repeated several times a day, preferably in a different place each time and, if possible, in every situation in which you spend any long period of time. The purpose is to train the mind to generalize the lessons, so that you will understand that each of them is as applicable to one situation as it is to another.
 
4 Unless specified to the contrary, the exercise should be practiced with the eyes open, since the aim is to learn how to see. The only rule that should be followed throughout is to practice the exercises with great specificity. Each one applies to every situation in which you find yourself and to everything you see in it. Each day's exercises are planned around one central idea, the exercises themselves consisting of applying that idea to as many specifics as possible. Be sure that you do not decide that there are some things you see to which the idea for the day is inapplicable. The aim of the exercises will always be to increase the application of the idea to everything. This will not require effort. Only be sure that you make no exceptions in applying the idea.
 
5 Some of the ideas you will find hard to believe, and others will seem quite startling. It does not matter. You are merely asked to apply them to what you see. You are not asked to judge them, nor even to believe them. You are asked only to use them. It is their use which will give them meaning to you, and show you they are true. Remember only this-you need not believe them, you need not accept them, and you need not welcome them. Some of them you may actively resist. None of this will matter nor decrease their efficacy. But allow yourself to make no exceptions in applying the ideas the exercises contain. Whatever your reactions to the ideas may be, use them. Nothing more than this is required.
 
  ~ Original Hand Script of ACIM    

  
CIRCLE OF ATONEMENT ~ COMMENTARY
          
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DAILY LESSON
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 L e s s o n 26
My attack thoughts are attacking my invulnerability.
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1It is surely obvious that if you can be attacked, you are not invulnerable. You see attack as a real threat. That is because you believe that you can really attack. And what would have effects through you must also have effects on you. It is this law that will ultimately save you. But you are misusing it now. You must therefore learn how it can be used for your own best interests rather than against them. 
 
2Because your attack thoughts will be projected, you will fear attack. And if you fear attack, you must believe that you are not invulnerable. Attack thoughts therefore make you vulnerable in your own mind, which is where the attack thoughts are. Attack thoughts and invulnerability cannot be accepted together. They contradict each other. 
 
3The idea for today introduces the thought that you always attack yourself. If attack thoughts must entail the belief that you are vulnerable, their effect is to weaken you in your own eyes. Thus they have attacked your perception of yourself. And because you believe in them, you can no longer believe in yourself. A false image of yourself has come to take the place of what you are. 
 
4Practice with today's idea will help you to understand that vulnerability or invulnerability is the result of your own thoughts. Nothing except your thoughts can attack you. Nothing except your thoughts can make you think you are vulnerable. And nothing except your thoughts can prove to you this is not so. 
 
5Six practice periods are required in applying today's idea. A full two minutes should be attempted for each of them, although the time may be reduced to a minute if the discomfort is too great. Do not reduce it further. 
 
6The practice period should begin with repeating the idea for today, then closing your eyes and reviewing the unresolved situations whose outcomes are causing you concern. The concern may take the form of depression, worry, anger, a sense of imposition, fear, foreboding, or preoccupation. Any problem as yet unsettled which tends to recur in your thoughts during the day is a suitable subject. You will not be able to use very many for any one practice period, because a longer time than usual should be spent with each one. Today's idea should be applied as follows: 
 
7First, name the situation: 
 
8 I am concerned about ______.
 
9Then go over every possible outcome which has occurred to you in that connection and which has caused you concern, referring to each one quite specifically, saying: 
 
10 I am afraid ______ will happen
 
11If you are doing the exercises properly, you should have some five or six distressing possibilities available for each situation you use and quite possibly more. It is much more helpful to cover a few situations thoroughly than to touch on a larger number. 
 
12As the list of anticipated outcomes for each situation continues, you will probably find some of them, especially those which occur to you toward the end, less acceptable to you. Try, however, to treat them all alike to whatever extent you can. 
 
13After you have named each outcome of which you are afraid, tell yourself: 
 
14 That thought is an attack upon myself
 
15Conclude each practice period by repeating today's idea once more.       
    
    ~ Original Hand Script of ACIM       
  
  
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ACIM Edmonton - Sarah's Reflections 
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Lesson 26
My attack thoughts are attacking my invulnerability.  
 
Sarah's Commentary:

We are again looking at projection of our attack thoughts, which we fear will come back to attack us in return. "And what would have effects through you must also have effects on you." (W.26.1.4) Because of our fear of attack, we feel vulnerable and that we need to stay very vigilant for our safety, fearing that our own attacks will return to hurt us. "It is this law that will ultimately save you, but you are misusing it now." (W.26.1.5) This means that the same law will work to our benefit, when we extend love and as we do we will experience the love that we extend. Then we will see only love or calls for love from everyone. We receive what we give, which can be seen as the law of karma.
  
I really do believe that I can hurt others with my attacks and thus, I can be hurt in return by attack. Thus, I see it as a real threat. I feel I have to protect myself against criticism, against being ripped off, against viruses, against someone's anger at me, against being fired, losing money and losing a relationship. All of these makes me feel vulnerable. I am only invulnerable when I know I can't be attacked and that attack is not real. To be invulnerable is to be completely immune from attack of any kind. It is to recognize our true nature as Christ, innocent, pure and loving, knowing that our reality is Spirit and not the body, that nothing can hurt who we are. It is to know that I am always and in all ways totally protected because I remain as God created me.

When we attack we feel like we are not the perfect Son of God because now we feel vulnerable to attack. If we truly are One with everyone and everything, then who is there to bring attack on us? It is only when we see ourselves as bodies that we can be hurt physically and psychologically and feel vulnerable. We all do, but as Jesus helps us to understand the thought system of the ego that brings about these feelings of vulnerability, we can see that we have been mistaken about ourselves and have come to believe something that is not true. We have come to believe in our vulnerability and are convinced that we are right about the way we see and thus, are right about ourselves. When we feel sad, hurt, betrayed, or upset, we are saying that this world is real, that we are vulnerable beings and everything Jesus tells us about our reality is untrue.

Jesus is reminding us that our whole identity is built on the idea that we have attacked God and with that attack, established our own unique, independent, separate self that now rules its own kingdom. We are now trying to prove that we are right about ourselves by being vulnerable beings that can be hurt, suffer and die. If that is the case, then God must be wrong about us. Our seeming defeat of God has led us to be in constant fear that others will do to us what we believe we have done in taking our separate identity at God's expense. But the attack that we fear is only our own projection of our attack thoughts that are in our own minds. We think, if we see the attack outside, then it is not in us. Jesus tells us projection makes perception. I perceive outside what I first made real in my own mind. Any fear, worry, or upset that I am experiencing starts with attack thoughts in my mind. I attack because I want to get rid of my guilt, but Jesus says that that is precisely how we keep it.

"And if you fear attack, you must believe that you are not invulnerable." (W.26.2.2) We fear attack and then feel vulnerable. We defend ourselves physically and psychologically, believing that we are weak and vulnerable in the world. Yet when we accept that the attack thoughts, whether inside or outside, are the cause of our vulnerability, then we can start the genuine process of healing. As we do, we increasingly make space for the love that we are. "Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists." (T.IN.2.2-3)(ACIM OE T.IN.4) Herein lies our own peace.
  
What Jesus is teaching us is that it all starts with us. Our own minds are the cause of everything we see. Thus, it is our own attack thoughts that bounce back at us. It is our own guilt that we project out and find others to blame because the guilt is too much for us to take total responsibility for. We have to find places to put it. We find convenient receptacles for our anger and we justify putting it there. If we didn't do that, then we would see all events as neutral. It is our meaning that we give these events and situations in our lives, which brings the experience of fear, guilt, anger, depression, worry, foreboding, imposition etc.

"Attack thoughts and invulnerability cannot be accepted together. They contradict each other." (W.26.2.4-5) Just like love and fear that are mutually exclusive, so are attack and invulnerability. It is either one or the other that we are experiencing. When I am with my attack thoughts, I cannot know myself as God created me. If I choose not to know the love that I am, then I will hold thoughts of anger, fear, unworthiness, grievances, judgments, concerns, neediness, specialness and ultimately self-interest. It is my way of saying God is wrong about me. I am instead, what I think I am and what I believe others have done to me.
 
Lesson 24 said, "I do not know my own best interests." If we did, we would not project attack thoughts, because it is not in our self-interest to do so. The reason is that we always attack ourselves first, and when we see that this is the case, then clearly it would be insane to attack. We believe that ideas do leave their source and thus, we believe that we can attack with no effect on us, but that is not true.

Attack thoughts make us feel weak and vulnerable. "If attack thoughts must entail the belief that you are vulnerable, their effect is to weaken you in your own eyes. Thus they have attacked your perception of yourself. And because you believe in them, you can no longer believe in yourself." (W.26.3.2-4) Thus, attack thoughts bring on more guilt and fear. They make us feel very vulnerable. That is the judgment that we put on ourselves. The truth is we are innocent. We are eternal beings of love and light. We have all of God's attributes. Do I believe this about myself? No I don't. Why not? Because I have made a self-image that I have come to believe is who I am. It is a concept of myself that is made to cover over the guilt in my mind. This cover looks like the "face of innocence," but underneath is the raging victim who is the attacker. None of this is the truth. We will only be convinced that what we believe about ourselves is not true when we become willing to look at the thoughts that we are holding about ourselves that are not the truth. When we are willing to take responsibility for them and give them over to the Holy Spirit to reinterpret for us, we begin the healing process. It takes a great deal of courage and honesty to look at our egos, because the ego tells us not to look, but to keep invested in the world. That is why Jesus shows us how the ego set all of this up as a trick to make us think that we are what we are not. Now our motivation is to do the healing work on behalf of our own peace and happiness.
 
What happens when we learn to look honestly at all of our attack thoughts and let them go as they come up? We learn that we are responsible for what we see. What is important is our perception or interpretation of what we see, which is the meaning that we give it. It is not about behavior. When we bring our projections back to the mind and take responsibility for them, then we recognize that the thoughts that we hold are blocking the love that we are. Thus, when we bring these thoughts to the Holy Spirit, space is made for the truth that is always there behind our attack thoughts so that this truth can shine forth. We need to be very honest with ourselves in this process. It takes courage and willingness to look at our attack thoughts whether they show up as depression, worry, anger, a sense of imposition, fear, foreboding, or preoccupation. "Any problem as yet unsettled that tends to recur in your thoughts during the day is a suitable subject." (W.26.6.3)

As I was focusing on this commentary, Don walked in three times to ask me something. I immediately felt this sense of imposition and impatience that this Lesson talks about. I had an opportunity right then to take a moment to realize that Jesus would not see an interruption as an imposition. It is my thought about this situation that hurts me. It is not what anyone else is doing. It is what I am doing to myself as a result of my interpretation of his behavior. It is the meaning that I am giving to this behavior. It all starts in our own minds.

What we generally do when we feel vulnerable and fearful is that we build defenses. We try to find ways to protect ourselves, but the Lesson says that there really are no behavioral solutions to our feelings of vulnerability. The answer is to look at our own attack thoughts and be willing to give them up. We have to go through our dark thoughts to the light. We must be vigilant in looking at these thoughts. It is not helpful to do a spiritual bypass by denying responsibility for our attacks, if we want to have peace. It is not helpful to say that our fear is all illusion while we still feel fearful and it all seems very real to us.

In Mathew 7:12 Jesus says, "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do you even so to them." Again, it is the golden rule. It is the law of karma. I need to understand that if I feel wounded, you are not the cause. I am the cause. I need not blame myself for that though. I only need to take responsibility for it and look at it calmly. Only I can do anything to remember the love that I am. That is the good news. We are not stuck in this world. We can be freed by looking at our attack thoughts and releasing them through forgiveness. Don't you love that!!? Yes, it is an empowering thought, but we resist it because we are still afraid of the love that we are. Our fear is that God will annihilate us for what the ego says we have done, but we will not be hurled into Reality. This is a process of undoing the image of ourselves that we hold that we are, flawed, unworthy, guilty and unlovable. Jesus reminds us of how unhappy we have made ourselves and "How beautiful it is to walk, clean and redeemed and happy, through a world in bitter need of the redemption that your innocence bestows upon it! What can you value more than this? For here is your salvation and your freedom. And it must be complete if you would recognize it." (T.23.IN.6.5-8)(ACIM OE T.23.IN.6)

"Only love is strong because it is undivided. The strong do not attack because they see no need to do so. Before the idea of attack can enter your mind, you must have perceived yourself as weak. Because you attacked yourself and believed that the attack was effective, you behold yourself as weakened. No longer perceiving yourself and your brothers as equal, and regarding yourself as weaker, you attempt to 'equalize' the situation you made. You use attack to do so because you believe that attack was successful in weakening you." (T12.V.1-3)(ACIM OE T.11.VI.43)

In the practice period, we are asked to look at a situation that is a concern to us, something that has been on our minds. We are asked to look at what we are afraid might happen in this situation. It is our thoughts about the situation that make us feel vulnerable. Isn't that what happens when you worry about something? You put yourself into a state of deep concern, fear and thus, vulnerability. When I obsess about what might happen in a situation, I scare myself. I am actually telling myself that I am vulnerable over and over again. I do so each time I get concerned about whether the money will come in for the mortgage, or whether my son will arrive safely when traveling on icy roads, or what will happen as a result of my exposure to the flu that is going around, or whether I will lose all my investments in the market meltdown. It is all self-attack. Isn't it? It is all about fear of what will happen.

You might find that writing your responses to some of these Lessons is helpful, as I often do. When you see all of your attack thoughts, you can see why you feel scared and vulnerable. We may wonder why in the world we are doing this to ourselves. Why are we attacking ourselves? Yet after we have gone through a seemingly exhausting list, he says, "As the list of anticipated outcomes for each situation continues, you will probably find some of them [anticipated outcomes for each situation], especially those that occur to you toward the end, less acceptable to you. Try, however, to treat them all alike to whatever extent you can." (W.26.8.3-4) This is because as we go deeper into our fear thoughts, we will get to those that seem quite ugly, where our self-hatred, our unworthiness, the rage in us becomes more apparent to us. It is what is hiding that we push away from ourselves that is behind our more superficial thoughts. "You will increasingly recognize that a slight twinge of annoyance is nothing but a veil drawn over intense fury." (W.21.2.5)
  
To do this practice, we are asked to take two minutes, six times today, or less if we get uncomfortable with it, then to repeat the idea, close our eyes and pick a situation that is of concern or any problem that is unsettled that recurs in our thoughts.

"First name the situation:

"I am concerned about _____."

"Then go over every possible outcome that has occurred to you in connection and which has caused you concern, referring to each one quite specifically, saying:

"I am afraid _____ will happen."
(W.26.7.1-4)

Then tell yourself,

"That thought is an attack upon myself." (W.26.9.2)

"If you are doing the exercises properly, you should have some five or six distressing possibilities available for each situation you use, and quite possibly more. It is much more helpful to cover a few situations thoroughly than to touch on a large number." (W.26.8.1-2) 

Love and blessings, Sarah

VI. The Meaning of the Last Judgment

106 The Last Judgment is one of the greatest threat concepts in man's perception. This is only because he does not understand it. Judgment is not an essential attribute of God. Man brought judgment into being only because of the separation. After the separation, however, there was a place for judgment as one of the many learning devices which had to be built into the overall plan. Just as the separation occurred over many millions of years, the Last Judgment will extend over a similarly long period and perhaps an even longer one. Its length depends, however, on the effectiveness of the present speed-up.
 
107  We have frequently noted that the miracle is a device for shortening but not abolishing time. If a sufficient number of people become truly miracle-minded quickly, the shortening process can be almost immeasurable. It is essential, however, that these individuals free themselves from fear sooner than would ordinarily be the case because they must emerge from the conflict if they are to bring peace to other minds.
 
108  The Last Judgment is generally thought of as a procedure undertaken by God. Actually it will be undertaken by man with my help. It is a final healing rather than a meting out of punishment, however much man may think that punishment is deserved. Punishment is a concept in total opposition to right-mindedness. The aim of the Last Judgment is to restore right-mindedness to man.
 
109 The Last Judgment might be called a process of right evaluation. It simply means that finally all men will come to understand what is worthy and what is not. After this, their ability to choose can be directed reasonably. Until this distinction is made, however, the vacillations between free and imprisoned will cannot but continue. The first step toward freedom must entail a sorting out of the false from the true. This is a process of division only in the constructive sense and reflects the true meaning of the Apocalypse. Man will ultimately look upon his own creations and will to preserve only what is good, just as God Himself looked upon what He had created and knew that it was good.
 
110 At this point, the will can begin to look with love on its own creations because of their great worthiness. The mind will inevitably disown its miscreations which, without the mind's belief, will no longer exist. The term "Last Judgment" is frightening not only because it has been falsely projected onto God, but also because of the association of "last" with death. This is an outstanding example of upside-down perception. Actually, if the meaning of the Last Judgment is objectively examined, it is quite apparent that it is really the doorway to life.
 
111 No one who lives in fear is really alive. His own last judgment cannot be directed toward himself because he is not his own creation. He can, however, apply it meaningfully and at any time to everything he has created and retain in his memory only what is good. This is what his right-mindedness cannot but dictate. The purpose of time is solely to "give him time" to achieve this judgment. It is his own perfect judgment of his own creations. When everything he retains is loveable, there is no reason for fear to remain with him. This is his part in the Atonement.
 
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