The seeming outer world is a reflection of the mind’s beliefs. Wow! Think about that for a minute! Everything in the perceived dream world is a reflection of thought. Since the unconscious ego is a death wish, it is not surprising that there seem to be so many atrocities in the world: rape, murder, war. Underneath the horror of these apparent atrocities is an even deeper horror: the idea that we could have permanently separated from our divine Creator.
“We have been trained to believe that the evil is outside of us and we haven’t been trained to uncover the darkness within. Even though a lot of our religions have talked about you’re a dirty, lowly sinner, and forgiveness is the answer, how do we go within and uncover that? If everything in the world is a pictorial representation of my consciousness and my thoughts, that’s pretty intense!”
Serial killers, terrorists … it can be quite shocking! There is so much resistance that comes up to the idea that this is all your mind. The ego is the belief that Love isn’t real. The ego is the belief that God isn’t real. The ego is the belief in separation. The ego is a death wish! Your mind has been given over to a death wish. When you approach it with this understanding, it might not be as shocking that the images on your screen are of death, disease, and violence.
In order for healing to occur, it is necessary to look upon the full extent of our own self-hatred caused by this idea, and when we do, the Spirit gently reminds us that its cause is false. The apparent separation from God never happened and could not happen. It was was merely, as ACIM says, a “tiny, mad idea,” forgiven the instant it seemed to occur!