The ego has set up many different kinds of self-concepts and roles to keep us trapped, including identification with family relationships and with the body. The only responsibility we have is for our state of mind, we are not responsible for people, animals, debt, etc. If we give ourselves over to the Holy Spirit and following His guidance, the Spirit will handle all of the needs we seem to have in miraculous ways while we unwind our mind back to God. All things will be used in this unwinding, including family relationships. “The whole purpose of life is to wake up from this dream of this world. The ego would have you believe that you exist in this world and you have to attain and achieve certain things in your lifetime. And all of education and learning is based on learning more, but everything in this world is backward and upside down. When you think you advance in this world you are really falling back. And when you think your life is completely falling apart, you are actually opening your heart. So actually, there are always miracles and there are always blessings. The ego invented linear time, and God only knows eternity. So, past and present and future are part of the trick.”
Body
People Are Thoughts
People are thoughts in the mind, they are not really people. People do not have their own private minds and private thoughts. And they cannot seem to exist outside of the One Mind. A Course in Miracles states that at no single instant does the body exist at all, it is always remembered or anticipated. It is the fiction of identity as a person that has to be forgiven, and that’s it. You can see as many thoughts as you want. You can watch those thoughts come by, come and go in your awareness. The ones that seem to be dead, the ones that seem to be living..there’s no difference. It’s artificial, birth and death. And responsibility, there’s only one that ACIM teaches us, and that’s to accept the Atonement.
Forgiveness Is the Now Plan
The plan is always now and the plan is forgiveness. When we focus our attention on this single purpose, anything is possible. The Course teaches that in this illusion of time and space, there is only one tool that will lead us to salvation, and that is forgiveness. This in turn leads to the Holy Instant.
Sexual Repression & Promiscuity
The Spirit will unwind our mind from all the sexual repression and denial that has gone on, and it will use symbols in a highly individualized way depending on each person’s patterns. For example, one who has been very sexually promiscuous in the past may very well be Guided to be celibate for a time. On the other hand, one who has repressed their sexuality may be Guided to start having more sexual experiences which undo old ideas about what sexuality means. In either case…
A Witness for Divine Love
The mind that is lost in darkness needs an experience of divine Love to know that there is hope. “A Course in Miracles” is a powerful tool used to witness the light that Jesus brings to the world. We can shine our way out of hell, if we let Spirit make the rescue. It’s a journey of letting go of everything that seems to be interpreted through our five senses, because they are extremely unreliable witnesses, and choosing instead to see our brothers and sisters as innocent. Spirit sees only the truth of our innocence.
The Chakra System and ACIM
The chakra system is not mentioned in “A Course in Miracles,” for it is merely another set of symbols that can be used by the Holy Spirit or by the ego, depending on one’s purpose. Used by the Spirit, the chakra system could be a helpful stepping stone in one’s journey towards getting in touch with one’s mind. Used by the ego, it can be a delay maneuver that keeps the mind believing there is causation in form.
Where Did I Come From?
At some point in our lives, we have asked ourselves a few questions. “How did I get here? Where did I come from? Was I really born, or did I pop into consciousness 13.5 billion years ago? Was it really 13.5 billion years ago or 5 minutes ago? If I’m constantly recreating myself, how do I stop?”
Your Transcendent Life
The mind has become the slave of the body, doing meaningless things. You are a transcendent being. Use the body as a miracle worker for the glory of God, as a blessing for the whole universe. You are headed for joy and peace! In this illusion, the body has become the end—pleasure, comfort, and convenience are all for the body. In the Kingdom of Heaven, minds don’t work to give the body a life because there is no body to have a life. Everything is reversed here. Here, mind seems private and separate and has its own private thoughts and that it has to work out life.
Speak from Your Experience
Are you willing to see your brother sinless? Let your emotions come up. Take an honest look. The Workbook of “A Course in Miracles” is designed to take you from there to a high state of mind. Don’t try to deny the body. Don’t skip to “it’s all an illusion.”
ACIM Talk (Part 8)
Tilba, Australia 2009