What am I identified with, right here, right now in this present moment? Could it be that there is an identification that has its own thoughts and its own feelings that isn’t me, yet I believe it is? Can I be that insane? No. It is only that I am believing in something that is that insane.
Split Mind
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?”
The Debate on Morality
Right and wrong are the polarities of a dualistic mind. The ego will find numerous ways to keep the mind preoccupied with these kinds of external distractions. Arguing about “good and bad” ways of being can never bring about better behavior—personal or social. Whereas right thinking—or a peaceful mind—will lead towards knowing one’s true nature. The Atonement is the great undoing of all personal goals and behaviors.
The Impossibility of Duality
When you see the healing of God’s Son as all you wish to see accomplished by the world and by time and all experiences, you will know the Father and the Son. The world was made as a distractive device, and if we do anything to reinforce the duality of the world, we cover over the oneness that we truly are.
Responsibility for Events in the World
If this is a dream, does that mean I have to take all responsibility for events in the world? Does “I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my thoughts” (W-54) mean I am responsible for an earthquake? The answer lies in “My Self is ruler of the universe.” (W-253) What we experience is what we desire. Giving and receiving are the same. The world is projected thought images. The world is not outside of mind. Our ego’s perception is fragmented and shows fragments, but they are all the same. Trust Spirit. With healed perception you see wholeness; you experience peace; you become a miracle worker.
Perception Is Selective
Instead of focusing on the body, put your attention on joining, connecting. The ego-mind looks for problems to solve; the whole world is a mirror of this mind searching and exaggerating the problem instead of the solution (joining). A succession of personality identities will be revealed; even “teacher of God” or the “saint” are masks. We must keep unveiling until all is exposed and we have moved completely into the light. Always be authentic and guidance for the next step will be there.
Inner Peace = World Peace
The world is an outward picture of an inward condition. The world is a projection of trying to hold on to both love and fear. Everything emanates from consciousness. While we believe in the world we will seem to experience a world outside of ourselves. Perfect love casts out fear. If we come to find the peace in ourselves, the world we picture will be peace-full.
True Forgiveness
Some of us have read philosophies that would say to “accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative,” but we must go much deeper in the mind in order to see that the ego invented both the “negative” AND the “positive.” The “good” also needs to be forgiven along with the “bad,” since both come from the dualistic perception of the ego. When we judge things as positive or negative, it’s just making duality, and therefore separation, real. Love is beyond it all.
Giving It All over to the Holy Spirit
It doesn’t matter how high your principles are; if you don’t apply them, it’s not going to give you peace of mind. If you took just ONE spiritual principle and applied it in your life across the board with all your situations, you could reach Enlightenment so much faster than by trying to accumulate hundreds of principles. And if you really wanted to boil “A Course in Miracles” down to one idea or principle, it would be the serenity prayer: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” The things I cannot change would be anything of this world of form, of time and space; the only thing I CAN change is my mind; and the wisdom to know the difference is the Holy Spirit’s Love which has already been given.