Lesson 23 - I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts. This lesson provides us with clear statements about the nature of world, and what salvation is and what it is not. A valuable aspect of this lesson is its simple language, which makes it even more difficult to mistake its message. The world we see is a world of death: vengeance, violence, pain and suffering. It might also be described as a world of pleasure and happiness, but no happiness and pleasure in this world lasts. As pleasure and happiness fade, our anxiety and anger grow, our specialness feels unfulfilled, and we inevitably experience pain. Jesus is teaching us now that the way to escape from this pain is not by doing anything to the world, but by changing how we look on the world. You do not deal with fear by overcoming it directly, or by changing anything of the world or the body. You can escape from fear only by changing its cause, which is the decision to be separate. Many of the worlds methods will work, but not all the time. In other words, the gains you may receive from following the worlds guidelines will to last--no matter how noble and ideal they might seem--because the cause of the distress is overlooked. If you go to T-2.VI.4:14 and VII.1:1,47) you will see that Jesus pointed response to Helen when she asked Him to remove her fear: The correction of fear is your responsibility. When you ask for release from fear, you are implying that it is not. You should ask, instead, for help in the conditions that have brought the fear about. These conditions always entail a willingness to be separate..... Jesus was thus appealing to the power of Helens mind to choose to be afraid, directing her attention to the cause of her distress, away from its effect. It is never the effect we want to change. It is always the cause. The cause of everything in this world is our thoughts, and the effect is everything we experience. It is important to remember that thoughts are of the mind, not the brain. What we usually identify as our thoughts belong to the brain, which, we are told time and time again, does not truly think. Jesus is speaking to us exclusively about the mind. Remember, the mind is outside time and space, and the world of time and space emanates from the one thought of separation. It is necessary first to accept the premise that the cause of the world is attack thoughts. This is true both on the larger level--that the cause of the entire physical universe is an attack thought--as well as on the personal level--that the individual world of our physical and psychological self is caused by an attack thought, which is the belief that we are separate. Jesus is telling us that--to express it in a specific example--if you do not like a shadow on a wall, you do not approach it and try to change the shadow, ignoring the object that is casting the shadow. If you do not like what you see on the wall, change the object! To try to peel the shadow, or modify it in some way is silly. The physical universe can be likened to a shadow, reminiscent of Platos Allegory of the Cave, which is why Jesus says in an oft-quoted line: Trust not your good intentions. They are not enough (T-18.IV.2:1-2) It is well intentioned people in the world who want to change, fix, or make it better. They may succeed up to a point, but they will ultimately fail if they ignore the worlds underlying cause of separation. If we choose Jesus as our teacher, he will have us act in a loving way, in forms understood by the world. These passages then, should not be used as an excuse for doing nothing in the world, or our or other peoples bodies. Rather, whatever we do about the world or ourselves should be done with Jesus guidance instead of egos. The body comes to serve another purpose and has a different meaning that the one we have given it, which is to undo all the guilt and hatred of others. With this new purpose in mind, you are free to use your body lovingly, treating yourself and others more kindly. The forms do not matter; the teacher you choose does. Everyone is tempted to skip steps, because of fear of looking at what it truly means to live in the egos world of fear, it is too painful. As a result, A Course in Miracles all too often becomes a way of escaping the pain of our everyday lives, rather than the means of undoing it. When Jesus talks about changing your thoughts, understand him to mean changing the teacher of your thoughts. Again, if you choose him as your teacher, all your thoughts, perceptions, and behavior will be loving. You can tell you have chosen the ego instead of Jesus, when you are caught in a way of thinking that causes you to look different from others, separating yourself in some way--behavior that makes you special. Anything that causes you to deny your body or to live in a way that calls attention to yourself you can bet 99.99 percent of the time is of your ego and not Jesus. The real cause you want to change is your need to prove that you are right and Jesus is wrong, which you do by establishing your personal identity. Remember, this identity is one of specialness, which is a red flag signaling you have chosen the ego as your teacher. (3:1) The world you see is a vengeful world, and everything in it is a symbol of vengeance. Strong statements! And uncompromising. Everything in this world..... Why? Because if you believe there is a world, you are saying God no longer exists. If God no longer exists, it is because you have killed Him and believe He is justified in taking vengeance on your. You block out that horrendous thought and conflict, project it, and then believe it is the world that will seek its vengeance on you. There is of course another meaning we can give to the symbol of the world--the Holy Spirits purpose of forgiveness--but here the focus is on the ego. Every thought you have, makes up some segment of the world you see. (3:2) External reality is in quotes because there is no reality outside. This is the same as Jesus mentions earlier All thinking produces form at some level (T-2.VI.9:14). This is projection, as we see in this statement that cannot be quoted too often: If [the world] is the sites to your state of mind, the outside picture of an inward condition (T-21.in.1:5). Once again, Jesus refers to the thinking occurring within the ego thought system, which always reflects some aspect of attack. (4:2-3) You cannot be saved from the world, but you can escape from its cause. This is what salvation means, for where is the world you see when its cause is gone? Ultimately you cannot be saved from the world because there is no world. You are saved from your belief system that tells you there is a world. (4:4-5) Vision already holds a replacement for everything you think you see now. Loveliness can light your images, and so transform them that you will love them, even though they were made of hate. Vision is the Courses term for right-minded or true perception, identifying with the Holy Spirits thought system of Atonement. (4:6) For you will not be making them alone. This is the principle that minds are joined. Jesus is not speaking of bodily joining of any kind. We will not be making them alone because when we choose to identify with Jesus we are making a distinct choice against separation and for unity. This is the meaning of being with Jesus. If he is the Christ because he is Gods one Son, and I join with him in a holy instant, I am the Christ, too, along with everyone else. (5:1-2) Identifying the cause is to recognize the problem is not what is in the world; my upset is not caused by what my or someone elses body does or does not do to me. The cause rests in a decision made in my mind. That is the first step in forgiveness. Letting go--the second step--means asking Jesus for help to look at my guilt and attack thoughts differently. The third step--In the instant in which I ask Jesus for help in looking at my guilt, his shining and forgiving light causes the guilt to disappear. My responsibility is only to bring the guilt to him, the meaning of the accepting the Atonement for myself. Our little willingness -- to bring to Jesus our ego thoughts; those we projected out, wherein we made the world, and those we made up about ourselves. Everything we believe in has already gone, as the passage quoted earlier states: This world was over long ago (T-28.I.1:6). We just believe the world is here, which is why Jesus uses the term hallucination to describe it. Remember, searching your mind, is a prominent theme in A Course in Miracles because our attack thoughts are hidden. Part of the training we undergo as students of the workbook and of the Course itself is to allow ourselves to see the concealed attack thoughts in our minds. It is very difficult to accept that seeing yourself at the mercy of forces beyond your control is an attack. Yet this is the point of the lesson. Again, Jesus is not asking us to accept it just yet, but he is asking that we hear his words and try to understand them, and thus include thoughts of victimization in our practice periods. Needless to say, we are still in the early stages of our mind training.
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 07:53:09 +0000
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