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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
CH 10 "GOD AND THE EGO"
II. PROJECTION VERSUS EXTENSION
4 My brother, you are part of God and part of me. When you have at last looked at the ego's foundation without shrinking, you will also have looked upon ours. I come to you from our Father to offer you everything again. Do not refuse it in order to keep a dark cornerstone hidden, for its protection will not save you. I give you the lamp and I will go with you. You will not take this journey alone. I will lead you to your true Father, Who hath need of you as I have. Will you not answer the call of love with joy?
ACIM.OE.TX.CH 10.II.4
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A COURSE IN MIRACLES WORKBOOK Part I ~ REVIEW III INTRODUCTION
<AUDIO>
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio
Our third review begins today. We will
review two of the last twenty ideas
each day, until we have reviewed them all.
We will observe a special format for
these practice periods, which you are urged
to follow just as closely as you can.
We understand, of course, that it may be
impossible for you to undertake
what is suggested here as optimal
each day and every hour of the day.
Learning will not be hampered when you miss
a practice period because it is
impossible at the appointed time.
Nor is it necessary that you make
excessive efforts to be sure that you
catch up in terms of numbers. Rituals
are not our aim, and would defeat our goal.
But learning will be hampered when you skip
a practice period because you are
unwilling to devote the time to it
which you are asked to give. Do not deceive
yourself in this. Unwillingness can be
most carefully concealed behind a cloak
of situations you cannot control.
Learn to distinguish situations which
are poorly suited to your practicing
from those which you establish to uphold
the camouflage for your unwillingness.
Those practice periods which you have lost
because you did not want to do them for
whatever reason should be done as soon
as you have changed your mind about your goal.
You are unwilling to cooperate
in practicing salvation only if
it interferes with goals you hold more dear.
When you withdraw the value given them,
allow your practice periods to be
replacements for your litanies to them.
They gave you nothing. But your practicing
can offer everything to you. And so
accept their offering, and be at peace.
The format you should use for these reviews
is this: Devote five minutes twice a day,
or longer if you would prefer, to
considering the thoughts that are assigned.
Read over the ideas and comments which
are written first in each day's exercise.
And then begin to think about them while
letting your mind relate them to your needs,
your seeming problems and all your concerns.
Place the ideas within your mind, and let
it use them as it chooses. Give it faith
that it will use them wisely, being helped
in its decisions by the One Who gave
the thoughts to you. What can you trust but what
is in your mind? Have faith, in these reviews,
the means the Holy Spirit uses will
not fail. The wisdom of your mind will come
to your assistance. Give direction at
the start, and then lean back in quiet faith,
and let the mind employ the thoughts you gave
as they were given you for it to use.
You have been given them in perfect trust;
in perfect confidence that you would use
them well; in perfect faith that you would see
their messages, and use them for yourself.
Offer them to your mind in that same trust
and confidence and faith. It will not fail.
It is the Holy Spirit's chosen means
for your salvation. Since it has His trust,
His means must surely merit yours as well.
We emphasize the benefits to you
if you devote the first five minutes of
the day to your review and also give
the last five minutes of your waking day
to it. If this cannot be done, at least
try to divide them so you undertake
one in the morning, and the other in
the hour just before you go to sleep.
The exercises to be done throughout
the day are equally important, and
perhaps of even greater value. You
have been inclined to practice only at
appointed times and then go on your way
to other things, without applying what
you learned to them. As a result, you have
gained little reinforcement, and have not
given it the opportunity to prove
how great are its potential gifts to you.
Here is another chance to use it well.
In these reviews we stress the need to let
your learning not lie idly by between
your longer practice periods. Attempt
to give your daily two ideas a brief
but serious review each hour. Use
one on the hour, and the other one
a half an hour later. You need not
give more than just a moment to each one.
Repeat it, then allow your mind to rest
a little time in silence and in peace.
Then turn to other things, but try to keep
the thought with you, and let it serve to help
you keep your peace throughout the day as well.
If you are shaken, think of it again.
These practice periods are planned to help
you form the habit of applying what
you learn each day to everything you do.
Do not repeat it and then lay it down.
Its usefulness is limitless to you.
And it is meant to serve you in all ways,
all times and places, and whenever you
need help of any kind. Try, then, to take
it with you in the business of the day,
and make it holy, worthy of God's Son,
acceptable to God and to your Self.
Each day's review assignment will conclude
with a restatement of the thought to use
each hour, and the one to be applied
on each half hour as well. Forget them not.
This second chance with each of these ideas
will bring such large advances that we come
from these reviews with learning gains so great
that we begin again on solid ground
with firmer footsteps and with stronger faith.
Do not forget how little you have learned.
Do not forget how much you can learn now.
Do not forget your Father's need of you,
as you review these thoughts He gave to you.
~ Original Handscript of ACIM
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DAILY LESSON
L e s s o n 115 ~ REVIEW III
[Review Lesson 99 and Lesson 100]
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio
*IAMBIC PENTAMETER*
1 For morning and evening review:
[99] Salvation is my only function here.
2 My function here is to forgive the world
For all the errors I have made. For thus
Am I released from them with all the world.
[100] My part is essential to God's plan for salvation.
3 I am essential to the plan of God
For the salvation of the world. For He
Gave me His plan that I might save the world.
4 On the hour:
5 Salvation is my only function here.
6 On the half hour:
7 My part is essential to God's plan for salvation.
~ Original Handscript of ACIM
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ACIM Edmonton - Sarah's Reflections
LESSON 115
Review III ~ Lesson 99 and Lesson 100.
Sarah's Commentary:
The focus of this Course is on forgiveness, but not in the traditional way we think about forgiveness. It is, instead, as this first line says, "My function is to forgive the world for all the errors I have made." (W.115.(99).1.2) Thus, in Course-based forgiveness, I do not forgive you for your mistakes, but only for my own. How can that be? We need to understand that when we thought we had separated from God, we had a load of guilt, which we still carry. The ego offered us a plan on how we might avoid responsibility for the guilt and simply 'off-load' it. The ego sold us on an arrangement where it proposed instead of carrying this guilt, which would overwhelm us, we could just project it out onto the world. So what does that mean? It means I make my brother responsible for how I feel, I blame circumstances in the world for my condition, and I basically give power to the illusion to victimize me. With projection of our guilt onto others, the ego convinces us the guilt is no longer ours. Our minds are like a movie projector, so what we see in the world (on the screen) is just a projection of the film in the projector, which is our own guilt. The light coming through the projector, which is the light of our being, is now obscured by thoughts of guilt. When they are cleared away, the light can shine through. What the ego does not tell us is that projecting our guilt is actually how we keep it and attract even more guilt.
Jesus is showing us, when our unconscious guilt is brought to light and healed, we will see a different world. It is the world that vision will reveal to us. "When you perceive yourself without deceit, you will accept the real world in place of the false one you have made." (T.11. VIII.15.4)(ACIM OE T.10.VIII.90) When the guilt is released, this is what our innocence will reveal to us. We can accept the love and innocence to some extent, but it becomes more challenging to us when we think about suicide bombers, murderers, politicians we love to hate, parents who have abused us, and all the many ways "others" seem to have caused us great pain, anger, distress, frustration, revenge and loss of peace. We have a desire to retaliate, to make right and to avenge our hurts, but only our own thoughts about any situation create pain for us. We project these thoughts of guilt onto others, who have conveniently provided us with the perfect opportunity to unload our guilt by making them responsible. Now the ego tells us they have the guilt, and we are innocent. We hope God is watching, so they will be punished and we will be off the hook. After all, we tell ourselves, we tried so hard in the face of all of the attacks we suffered. "This sickly picture of yourself is carefully preserved by the ego, whose image it is and which it loves, and placed outside you in the world." (T.20.III.5.6)(ACIM OE T.20.IV.20)
It does seem there are some situations and people that are more difficult and thus more challenging for us to release our anger and revenge. The ego does not love us and urges us to keep this cycle of guilt going, even though this keeps us in hell. Jesus reminds us there is no order of difficulty in the illusion. In other words, there are not some situations worse than others. I like to think of it as similar to my nighttime dreams. If someone steals my money in my dream, has anything real happened? If they say an unkind word to me in my dream, would it be any different than if all my money were gone? In the dream, it is all the same. It is all illusory. One problem is no bigger than another because neither is real. When we see this, we can let it all go. That is what forgiveness does. Any thought I hold that obscures the love in me from my awareness is painful and creates suffering.
Forgiveness is the only thing that breaks the cycle of sin, guilt and fear. When we take responsibility for our own murderous thoughts, our own attacks, our own hatred and all emotions arising in us as a result of what we perceive "outside" ourselves, we take our first step in healing. When we hang onto grievances and see others as responsible for how we feel, we give all our power away. Forgiveness depends on understanding that nothing is happening outside of our own minds. "It is the witness to your state of mind, the outside picture of an inward condition." (T.21.IN.1.5)(ACIM OE T.21.I.1) Yet we have made an adjustment to this world we believe is real and solid. "And to this world must you adjust as long as you believe this picture is outside, and has you at its mercy." (T.20.III.5.7)(ACIM OE T.20.IV.20) There is no world. Thus, forgiveness requires we recognize we are forgiving nothing except our own thoughts.
Since there is just one mind and we all participate in this one mind, when we heal our own thoughts, we are healing the world. The events that trigger our emotions, and seem to cause us to lose our peace, are precisely where our healing lies when we are able to look at our thoughts and emotions without judgment. See them for what they are, just thoughts. They have no power over us. For example, if I hate anyone I see as an enemy or wicked person and want him or her dead, I have an opportunity to look at the vengeance is in my mind. As I release my judgments and my guilt, I can know peace.
This is what Jesus means by accepting the Atonement for myself. It is all about opening up to the miracle and thus accepting the healing for myself. To accept the Atonement is to accept correction. We are not responsible for the error, but only for the correction. That is the only place where change can happen. This is how I learn about my true nature and know my true innocence. False innocence is what we try to achieve when we blame others for our loss of peace by seeing them as the guilty ones. We hope God sees how they are victimizing us and punishes them, so we can get off scot-free! With true innocence, healing is extended through us to everyone. Rather than judging anyone for their misbehavior, we now see a call for love and understanding. It is our own inner call to recognize there is nothing but love, no matter what it looks like.
Our function is, "to forgive the world for all the errors I have made. For thus am I released from them with all the world." (W.115.(99).1.2-3) It is only my errors I need to have removed from my mind. I have simply diverted blame from myself to others. Everything I need to forgive is in my own wrong mind. This Lesson is giving us another opportunity to look at our needs, concerns and problems as coming from our own minds. Since the cause is in the mind, so is the solution. We are responsible for our own happiness. We have the power within us to heal our judgments and release the blocks to love through forgiveness. We cannot do this if we judge ourselves for our errors. Look at your mistakes with non-judgment. Look with the loving presence of Jesus, who will never judge you but will support your journey of healing every step of the way.
Getting in touch with our own innocence is a beautiful gift we all yearn for. Guilt is a heavy burden on our minds. The only way to release it is to recognize our own errors by watching our attack thoughts and letting them go. If you have ever forgiven anyone even partially, you recognize what a burden is lifted from your mind. It releases us from the chains that bind us to the person we have not forgiven. Our mood lightens, our joy bubbles up, peace is restored and stress is released. It is a wonder we don't commit to forgiving all the time with such gifts that we receive.
We need to stay vigilant to opportunities presented to us to forgive. These come up when we stand in line at the grocery store and get impatient, when we watch the news and get angry at events we see, when we get cut off in traffic, when a telemarketer calls at dinner time, when our investments crash, when the coke machine keeps our money and the coke as well, when a friend is always late, when our children disappoint us, and on and on. That is the nature of this classroom we call our lives. We become happy learners when we use these opportunities for forgiveness. We get to the point where we even welcome them. This Lesson reminds us we are forgiving someone for what they did not do precisely because nothing here is real. It is our dream we are dreaming. It is all coming from our own minds.
If everyone, including ourselves, is innocent, we will not see anyone who we want to attack, crucify, condemn or judge. When we see forgiveness as only about releasing our own blocks to love, not about forgiving anyone else, we have the key that will release us from the prison of our distressing thoughts.
Imagine no matter what we think we are doing on this planet, no matter what we think our function is, whatever role we play, nurse, teacher, lawyer, student, parent, daughter, son, computer analyst, hairdresser -- none of these are reasons for why we are here. They are just the backdrop for healing the mind and recognizing our own power. We are only here to learn forgiveness, which is our only function here. The world is a classroom for this learning and serves no other purpose.
Our only purpose is to bring salvation, to forgive, to be happy rather than to be right, and to accept the Atonement for ourselves. We accept the Atonement when we finally recognize that we never separated from Love, and by this we become the light of the world.
Love and blessings, Sarah
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1 Either God or the ego is insane. If you will examine the evidence on both sides fairly, you will realize that this must be true. Neither God nor the ego proposes a partial thought system. Each is internally consistent, but they are diametrically opposed in all respects so that partial allegiance is impossible. Remember, too, that their results are as different as their foundations, and their fundamentally irreconcilable natures cannot be reconciled by your vacillations. Nothing alive is fatherless, for life is creation. Therefore, your decision is always an answer to the question, "Who is my father?" And you will be faithful to the father you choose.
2 Yet what would you say to someone who really believed this question involves conflict? If you made the ego, how can the ego have made you? The authority problem remains the only source of perceived conflict because the ego was made out of the wish of God's Son to father Him. The ego, then, is nothing more than a delusional system in which you made your own father. Make no mistake about this. It sounds insane when it is stated with perfect honesty, but the ego never looks upon what it does with perfect honesty. Yet that is its insane premise, which is carefully hidden in the dark cornerstone of its thought system. And either the ego, which you made, is your father, or its whole thought system will not stand.
II. Projection Versus Extension
3 You have made by projection, but God has created by extension. The cornerstone of God's creation is you, for His thought system is light. Remember the rays that are there unseen. The more you approach the center of His thought system, the clearer the light becomes. The closer you come to [the foundation of] the ego's thought system, the darker and more obscure becomes the way. Yet even the little spark in your mind is enough to lighten it. Bring this light fearlessly with you and hold it up to the foundation of the ego's thought system bravely. Be willing to judge it with perfect honesty. Open the dark cornerstone of terror on which it rests and bring it out into the light. There you will see that it rests on meaninglessness and that everything of which you have been afraid was based on nothing.
4 My brother, you are part of God and part of me. When you have at last looked at the ego's foundation without shrinking, you will also have looked upon ours. I come to you from our Father to offer you everything again. Do not refuse it in order to keep a dark cornerstone hidden, for its protection will not save you. I give you the lamp and I will go with you. You will not take this journey alone. I will lead you to your true Father, Who hath need of you as I have. Will you not answer the call of love with joy?
5 You have learned your need of healing. Would you bring anything else to the Sonship, recognizing your need of healing for yourself? For in this lies the beginning of knowledge, the foundation on which God will help you build again the thought system which you share with Him. Not one stone you place upon it but will be blessed by Him, for you will be restoring the holy dwelling place of His Son, where He wills His Son to be and where he is. In whatever part of the mind of God's Son you restore this reality, you restore it to yourself. For you dwell in the Mind of God with your brother, for God Himself did not will to be alone.
6 To be alone is to be separated from infinity, but how can this be if infinity has no end? No one can be beyond the limitless because what has no limits must be everywhere. There are no beginnings and no endings in God, Whose universe is Himself. Can you exclude yourself from the universe or from God, Who is the universe? I and my Father are one with you, for you are part of us. Do you really believe that part of God can be missing or lost to Him.
7 If you were not part of God, His Will would not be unified. Is this conceivable? Can part of His Mind contain nothing? If your place in His Mind cannot be filled by anyone except you, and your filling it was your creation, without you there would be an empty place in God's Mind. Extension cannot be blocked, and it has no voids. It continues forever, however much it is denied. Your denial of its reality arrests it in time but not in eternity. That is why your creations have not ceased to be extended and why so much is waiting for your return.
8 Waiting is possible only in time, but time has no meaning. You who made delay can leave time behind simply by recognizing that neither beginnings nor endings were created by the Eternal, Who placed no limits on His creation nor upon those who create like Him. You do not know this simply because you have tried to limit what He created, and so you believe that all creation is limited. How, then, could you know your creations, having denied infinity? The laws of the universe do not permit contradiction. What holds for God holds for you. If you believe you are absent from God, you will believe that He is absent from you.
9 Infinity is meaningless without you, and you are meaningless without God. There is no end to God and His Son, for we are the universe. God is not incomplete, and He is not childless. Because He did not will to be alone, He created a Son like Himself. Do not deny Him His Son, for your unwillingness to accept His Fatherhood has denied you yours. See His creations as His Son, for yours were created in honor of Him. The universe of love does not stop because you do not see it, and your closed eyes have not lost the ability to see. Look upon the glory of His creation, and you will learn what God has kept for you.
10 God has given you a place in His Mind which is yours forever. Yet you could keep it only by giving it, as it was given you. Could you be alone there if it was given you because God did not will to be alone? God's Mind cannot be lessened. It can only be increased, and everything He creates has the function of creating. Love does not limit, and what it creates is not limited. To give without limit is God's Will for you because only this can bring you the joy which is His and which He wills to share with you. Your love is as boundless as His because it is His.
11 Could any part of God be without His love and could any part of His love be contained? God is your heritage because His one gift is Himself. How can you give except like Him if you would know His gift to you? Give, then, without limit and without end to learn how much He has given you. Your ability to accept Him depends on your willingness to give as He gives. Your fatherhood and your Father are one. God willed to create, and your will is His. It follows, then, that you will to create since your will follows from His. And being an extension of His Will, yours must be the same.
12 Yet what you will you do not know. This is not strange when you realize that to deny is to "not know." God's Will is that you are His Son. By denying this, you denied your own will and therefore do not know what it is. The reason you must ask what God's Will is in everything is merely because it is yours. You do not know what it is, but the Holy Spirit remembers it for you. Ask Him, therefore, what God's Will is for you, and He will tell you yours. It cannot be too often repeated that you do not know it. Whenever what the Holy Spirit tells you appears to be coercive, it is only because you do not recognize your own will.
13 The projection of the ego makes it appear as if God's Will is outside yourself and therefore not yours. In this interpretation, it is possible for God's Will and yours to conflict. God then may seem to demand of you what you do not want to give and thus deprive you of what you want. Would God, who wants only your will, be capable of this? Your will is His Life, which He has given to you. Even in time you cannot live apart from Him, for sleep is not death. What He created can sleep, but it cannot die. Immortality is His Will for His Son and His Son's will for himself. God's Son cannot will death for himself because His Father is Life and His Son is like Him. Creation is your will because it is His.
14 You cannot be happy unless you do what you will truly, and you cannot change this because it is immutable. It is immutable by God's Will and yours, for otherwise His Will would not have been extended. You are afraid to know God's Will because you believe it is not yours. This belief is your whole sickness and your whole fear. Every symptom of sickness and fear arises here because this is the belief that makes you want not to know. Believing this, you hide in darkness, denying that the light is in you.
15 You are asked to trust the Holy Spirit only because He speaks for you. He is the Voice for God, but never forget that God did not will to be alone. He shares His Will with you; He does not thrust it upon you. Always remember that what He gives, He holds, so that nothing He gives can contradict Him. You who share His Life must share it to know it, for sharing is knowing. Blessed are you who learn that to hear the Will of your Father is to know your own. For it is your will to be like Him, Whose Will it is that it be so. God's Will is that His Son be one, and united with Him in His Oneness. That is why healing is the beginning of the recognition that your will is His.
ON LINE SEARCHABLE Original Edition
PDF 2016 Schedule of Lessons & Text Readings
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