Unlearning the World
- Materials Set Two
This section covers many concepts, particularly the middle and later metaphors used by the Course. This is the stage of learning where egoic assumptions, beliefs and distortions are brought more clearly into awareness. A solid understanding of the ACIM metaphysics is the key to moving into the final stage of learning to unlearn the world; the transfer of training.
Read about how to use this website
- Going
Through the Workbook Lessons - (MP3 6:08mins 2.37MB) - Read
the Transcript - Jesus advises the student to do no more than one Workbook lesson per
day. The lessons are designed sequentially and start with little structure,
leading to more structure as they go along. Pace and approach to studying
ACIM is individualized. Applying the lessons means that all values and
beliefs will be questioned and released.
Read also: How
to do the workbook lessons , Workbook
Lesson 157
- Review
of Lessons 1 to 7 ; Attack Thoughts are Not My Real Thoughts
- (MP3 40:56mins 16.4MB) - Read
the Transcript - The metaphysics of ACIM are covered in
the first 25 lessons, whose purpose is to clear the mind and anchor
the meaning. The correction takes no time, but the acceptance of the
correction seems to take time. The ordering of thought is preferences
/ judgments. These hold the world in place and maintain the perceived
separation. Judgment is automatically projected because it is intolerable.
The world does not dissolve with wishful thinking; a new purpose must
be given to the dream. The light in the mind (the Holy Spirit) guides
the awakening. Judgment is the attempt to bring order into chaos. To
see this falsity leads to peace; the realization that judgment is impossible.
Upset comes from the attempt to justify ego thoughts. Reality is replaced
with illusion (the belief in separation). The mind is powerful and illusions
are experienced as real by belief.
Correcting Perception - (MP3 Set)
This materials set is a gentle introduction to what it really means
to make a correction of perception. What is our purpose? What keeps
us from this purpose? What needs correction? These questions are answered
and also discussed are some early workbook lessons which are the basis
for all the rest of the Course. Uncover what is false and what is true
will be revealed.
- Correcting
Perception part 1 - A Gentle Introduction - (32:18mins
22.1MB) - Read
the Transcript - As the mind begins to awaken it becomes
aware that the world is not it; that there is a higher calling, a vocation
of the mind which is healing. The ego is backwards thinking; the belief
that mind is at the mercy of an outside world. The Holy Spirit is forward
thinking; recognizing that the world is a reflection of one's thoughts.
The mind that is identified with the ego is in a fearful state; bound
to the 'laws' of the world – laws of nutrition, friendship, people
pleasing. It fears retribution and will live in a state of compromise
because it has lost the awareness that I am sustained by the Love of
God. The Course says that in order to correct this error, which is a
perceptual error, there must be a replacement for your wrong perceptions.
There is one problem (belief in separation) and one solution (the Holy
Spirit). Problems cannot be solved the way that you perceive them because
problems are not on multiple levels. The first step in healing the mind
is the recognition that all problems are perceptual problems.
- Correcting
Perception part 2 - Applying Lessons 1-14 - (57:43mins
39.6MB) - Read
the Transcript - The early lessons of the Course are the
basis of the whole thought - reversal process. These lessons bring one
to a sense of true humility in which it is seen that one does not see
clearly, one does not know anything about the world, and only then can
one be open to changing perception. These lessons alternate from thought
to perception, to show that they are directly related, and gets into
the reversing of effect and cause (backwards thinking). The answer for
what is wrong cannot be found in the past, as the problem is the interpretation
of what is seen through distorted perception. The lessons define the
meaning of upset, the meaning of now, and uncovers false assumptions
about those ideas. Uncovering false beliefs is what the Course is about.
The unconscious fear of God must be recognized and the ego wants no
part of this.
Read also: The
impossibility of attack; the story of Jesus
- What
You Believe of Your Brother and God - This transcript puts
belief into a whole new perspective. If I think my brother is doing
something irritating to me, those are the gifts that I think my Father
in heaven is giving to me. If I think my brother is untrustworthy, I
think my Father is untrustworthy. If I think my brother is greedy, is
disrespectful, controlling; whatever the thoughts I have about my brother
that go through my mind – those are the gifts that I think my
Father has for me.
Read also: Looking
Past Form by Releasing False Beliefs
- How are Healing and Atonement Related? - (45:36mins 19.2MB) - Read
the Transcript - Healing and Atonement are not related; they are identical. There is no order of difficulty in miracles because there are no degrees of Atonement. You are either in the right mind or the wrong mind. Partial Atonement is a meaningless idea. The deceived mind has assigned the properties of the body to the mind. This is level confusion. The mind that has associated itself with the body will feel guilty for what the body seems to do and say. The deceived mind sees separate, autonomous bodies with separate minds with separate thoughts. In reality, there's just one sleeping mind and all of the characters on the screen are all playing out a pre-arranged script. The mind already wrote the script, hired the characters, and gave out the parts. The right mind is above the images, seeing them all as equally false; as unreal effects. The Holy Spirit has looked to the cause and judged it as unreal. Awareness of dreaming is the only function of God's teachers. Healing and Atonement occur simultaneously as the mind realizes that it has been wrong about everything it thought it was.
- Approaching
the Idea of Forgiveness - (MP3 12:08mins 4.86MB)
- Read
the Transcript - An excellent synopsis of the process of forgiveness, which begins
with forgiving my brother, and leads inward to forgiving what never
occurred. Forgiveness is bringing attack thoughts inward to the mind,
and then choosing peace. The belief in personhood and all consequent
emotions including anger, are the out picturing of the authority problem
with God. ACIM is practical and leads to an experience of true forgiveness.
Read also: Is
it real?
- On
Decision and Belief; how this relates to perception and experience - What one sees in the world is the outcome of conflicting beliefs.
But this seemingly stable singular outcome that the mind seems to be
seeing is being produced by this conflicted mind or this belief system
which has a number of conflicting beliefs, but the beliefs are unconscious.
They are kept out of awareness; all the mind is seeing is the picture
that the beliefs are producing.
- Introduction
to Thought, Emotion and Perception - (MP3 25:29mins
10.28MB) - Read
the Transcript - When the separation seemed to occur, the
Holy Spirit was given immediately as the answer. The answer is right
next to the problem in the mind. There are only two emotions, love and
fear. Every instant the mind decides for the ego or the Holy Spirit,
and the world is reinforcement; it witnesses to love or guilt. Emotion
is produced by the thought system that the mind identifies with. The
difference between form and content must be understood as form beliefs
are all the same, they are illusions. Content is a single purpose that
is given to everything. Purpose is the healing of Gods Son, it is love,
it is forgiveness, it is seeing the Christ. Miracles are inspired by
God, and result in a change of perception. The approach to true forgiveness
leads to the real world; the reverse of a fear-based thought system.
- Memory
vs. Present Interpretation - (MP3 4:00mins 1.16MB)
- Read
the Transcript - Mind cannot attack, nor be attacked. This
realization brings the awareness of guiltlessness. God does not forgive
because God has not condemned. The deceived mind gives present meaning
to memories. It believes that the past is causative, that painful memories
affect the present. To withdraw all meaning from memories means that
they become neutral. Guilt, fear, anger etc can then come up into awareness
and be watched with the Holy Spirit, from above the battleground, for
healing. Right now in this instant, the script can be seen differently.
Guilt comes from a present decision, and the solution can only be accepted
in the present.
Read also: Does
my brother's pain exist?
- The
World Has No Real Cause - (MP3 32:22mins 15MB)
- Read the Transcript - This deep discussion goes into the topics of discernment, causation,
level confusion, interpretation, and the script is written. To observe
from above the battleground is to see with the Holy Spirit; to see that
identification as Christ or as a victim is a present decision. The script
is written and there is no control over the form. God is the real Cause,
and only mind is causative. To attempt to change the form or believe
that the world is causative is an error. Peace is the result of the
relinquishment of judgment.
- The
Mind has Forgotten It Is Mind - (MP3 16:57mins 2.77MB)
- Read
the Transcript - Creation is expansion. Christ is an idea in the
mind of God. The law of Creation is, What you extend you are. Spirit,
"I Am", is vast, eternal, infinite, powerful. Miracle impulses
comes through the mind, and when filtered through layers of form, they
are perceived as choices in the world (between illusions). The world
and body are projected. Anger is projected and allies / witnesses are
desired. The self concept is the belief that I am a different person
to you, and there is a subject-object split. I am the subject and anyone
else / anything else is the object. Salvation is no compromise; every
decision is either for the ego or for the Holy Spirit. When the decision
is for the Holy Spirit then it is for the whole Sonship.
Read also: The
frustration of pretending to be human ,
Perceive
the body or the spirit
- Seeing
the Problem Where It Is - (MP3 2:13mins 3.05MB)
- Read
the Transcript - The ego defines all problems in terms of form.
Every problem is in the mind. The problem needs to be brought to the
solution, inward to the mind, to the Holy Spirit, to be shone away in
light. The last decision is to see that there is no choice to be made
in the world; there is nothing to choose between. This realization results
in rest, in the bliss of Heaven.
- Cause
Is In My Mind; A Dialogue on Interpretation - (MP3
24:46mins 9.92MB) - Read the Transcript - God is Cause, Christ is Effect. In this world
cause and effect are split off and turned around; now it seems that
the mind is an effect and the world is causative. The mind believes
it is a dream figure at the mercy of the world. It takes great mind-training
to bring causation back inward to the level of mind, to see that the
mind draws forth witnesses to its belief and that peace as a choice
is available now. Guiltlessness comes from detachment, from seeing the
false as false. All pain comes from the belief in separation from God.
When the ego is transcended and guilt is seen as completely without
reason, pain is no longer experienced.
- Looking
to the Cause Rather Than Effects - (MP3 26:00mins 10.4MB)
- Read
the Transcript - The cause produces the effects. All upsets are
about effects; look beyond effects to see the cause as unreal i.e. the
belief in separation. The dreamer of the dream sees everything as symbolic.
The ego and the Holy Spirit have very different uses for time. Helpful
stepping stones and analogies are shared regarding seeing and using
symbols for awakening. The development of trust is a process.
- You
Respond to What You Perceive - (MP3 33:05mins 22.7MB)
- Read the Transcript - The Golden rule is "Do unto others as
you would have them do unto you", this leads to correct perception.
Behavior is an effect that comes from perception/ interpretation, for
example, defense is the reaction to the perception of attack. Fear and
all fear-based emotions are the effect of ego attack thoughts. There
are two thought systems; one of fear and one of love. A choice is made
in every moment between the two. If there is confusion, discernment
is needed to tell the difference. Perception, personhood and decisions
between things in this world are on the surface of the mind. Going deeper
into the mind is where the false beliefs are seen and released.
Read also: Purpose
determines perception
- What
I Believe, I Perceive - (MP3 28:24mins 19.5MB)
- Read
the Transcript - The world witnesses to the thoughts in the mind.
Pain is a wrong perspective and the deceived mind sees the cause of
pain in the world. The cause of illusions is guilt, and the correction
is right-mindedness. There is nothing causative on the screen / in the
world. The script is written and pain comes from judging the script.
Guilt comes from ordering thoughts. Atonement alleviates guilt –
the miracles sees thoughts as unreal. It is the alternative. “Private
thoughts” goes way beyond personal secret thoughts – the
whole cosmos is a private world
Read also: What
lies beneath perception , Healing
the perception of world disasters
- Setting the Goal - (MP3 20mins 9.9MB) - Read
the Transcript - Our minds are powerful. The Holy Spirit urges us to rivet our minds on what we want in advance of any situation rather than letting perception be the determiner of our state of mind. By deciding what we want in advance, we then perceive the situation as a means to make it happen. If the goal is peace, it is inevitable that we will be peaceful and see the outcome truly. If we fail to decide the goal in advance, we are at the mercy of the situation and our assessment afterward will always be wrong. If the ego perceives a problem, it will attempt to fragment or split off the negative aspect of the situation to solve it somewhere else in time or space. In this way, the problem may appear to be fixed, and with it the illusion of peace, but it never lasts. It is when we change our minds and make peace our focus that we find the only lasting solution.
Forward and Backward Thinking -
(MP3 Set)
- Forward
and Backward Thinking part 1 - Thought; the Level of Correction
(30:05mins 11.7MB) - Read
the Transcript - All healing is of the mind. Level confusion
is sickness; it is a confusion about your identity. There seem to be
three levels the mind can identify with: Oneness (which is essentially
levelessness), right mind which is the Holy Spirit - and the wrong mind
which is the ego. The split mind describes the mind as if the separation
has occurred and is believed in. This is the level of mind at which
most of the Course is directed. The concept of an individual mind is
made up. Remembering that everything that seems to happen is one's own
lesson speeds the process of awakening. All correction must take place
at the level of mind and not behavior, which flows from a choice at
the mind level. It seems as if choice is among forms but choice is really
only between the right and wrong mind.
- Forward
and Backward Thinking part 2 - The Function of Forgiveness is Your Purpose
(29:10mins 12.2MB) - Read
the Transcript - Unlearning the world can seem scary. The
prospect of giving up judgment can be unsettling as it seems survival
is dependent upon it in this world. The learning of the world includes
giving each image a different function. This means that the idea of
"purpose" has become splintered among images. But forgiveness
is the one unified purpose for all images, the purpose that unifies.
Listening to the Holy Spirit is the means by which the world’s
purposes are replaced. It is the substitute and listening requires trust.
As you allow forgiveness to be your single purpose, you experience immediate
changes. Your happiness and your function are one.
- Forward
and Backward Thinking part 3 - Taking a Closer Look at Forgiveness and
Healing (31:23mins 21.5MB) - Read
the Transcript - Some of the early visualization exercises
in the Course workbook are an introductory idea of what it means to
forgive. Eventually they lead into the idea that you forgive what has
not occurred (what is false) rather than the ego's idea of forgiveness
which is that you forgive what is “true” (what seems to
have occurred). Getting clear on forgiveness is the reversal of cause
and effect in the mind. To give up fragmented purposes is to give up
judgment and to give up judgment is to give up all addictions. Sickness
is identification with forms and concepts; images. There are two orders
of thought; love and a call for love. One must always be clear on who
is the healer and who is the patient; its always one’s own lesson.
Change your thinking, rather than focusing on behavior.
- Bring
It On - (MP3 4:55mins 1.93MB) - Read
the Transcript - The spiritual journey can be overwhelming and intense. An attitude
of “bring it on is helpful to be able to look at and deal with
what comes up. Jesus sees beyond the error to love. Fear comes from
believing the darkness (private thoughts) is who I am. Fear is to be
faced as soon as possible, it doesn't help to put it off or wait. When
it is realized that images are images, appearances no longer matter.
- Are
These My Thoughts? - (MP3 3:19mins 1.33MB) -
Read the
Transcript - A brief discussion about the process of detaching
from attack thoughts through mind watching.
Read also: Mind
watching
- What
Are Private Thoughts? - (MP3 29:12mins 13.8MB)
- Read
the Transcript - Private thoughts are past thoughts. They are unreal.
They are perceptual, they involve specifics, and they are attack thoughts
because they deny abstraction and wholeness (God). All thoughts of this
world are private thoughts. Private minds and private worlds are metaphors.
They are made up of private thoughts and cannot be shared. Thoughts
of God can be shared, they extend outward. Early workbook lessons involve
becoming aware of the meaninglessness of private thoughts. The mind
is blank when thinking them, and to see this is a prerequisite for vision.
Revealing private thoughts involves resistance and fear, and is very
different to wearing a mask and protecting them (the ego). The mind
has wound itself into the dream world through a series of decisions.
Steps have to be retraced, as the mind is loosened and the mind is unwound.
Read also: On
prophecy, private minds and the script
- How
to Mind Watch - An article on what it means to "mind
watch". What am I looking for and how do I release thoughts that
are not mine? "Mind watching" is crucial in learning to become
aware of values and beliefs and to see the false as false.
Read also: Intimacy,
Peace, Freedom; the fruits of mind training , Effects
of mind training
- Learning
the Art of Mind Watching - (MP3 60:00mins 24.3MB)
- Read
the Transcript - Using Lesson 31 as a backdrop,this session
describes the process of learning how to mind watch, common pitfalls
and how to use the lessons and the instructions to their maximum potential.
This session sheds light on common misunderstandings of what "mind
watching" is and helps the miracle worker make the shift from overly
analytical, critical (egoic) mind watching to a whole perspective of
true mind watching with the Holy Spirit. Anyone who finds that there
is a tendency to try to force the awakening, or experiences a general
lack of trust in the Holy Spirit or has confusion on how to use the
lessons and how to apply mind-watching will find the answers in this
session helpful.
- Mind
Watching; The Danger of Division - Mind-watching is the
flowering of love. Mind-watching without judgment is the light; the
substance that awakens the flower's perfume deep within; awakening the
one sweet nectar - the nectar of eternal life. When one accepts ones
sole Responsibility - the responsibility of sight, meaning seeing life
as total, not partial - this acceptance is the acceptance of ones innocence
as a whole. When one denies all concepts as divisionary, then ones innocence
is brought froth through the unification of the totality.
- The
Initial Vigilance / Effort of Mind Watching - (MP3
16:37mins 9.51MB) - Read
the Transcript - This dialogue is largely one on interpretation
(perception) and the idea that the mind always gets what it wants. No
matter what tool the mind has available; be it the Course, the bible
or something else, the mind that desires clarity above all else will
have it. The only way out of wrong perception is through true perception,
which ultimately leads to no perception (Heaven). Asking, "What
is it for?" leads the way for this. Will you use the specifics
of the world for mind watching/mind training or as a distraction from
mind watching/mind training? If peace comes only from a clear mind,
is it really a “break” to avoid mind watching? Initially
mind watching seems to require a certain effort and requires vigilance,
but as the false is cleared away, it picks up momentum and ease is experienced.
Mind watching has no price – there is no sacrifice for what is
gained.
Read also: Attentiveness
to the Holy Spirit
- A Question
of Vigilance: Can the Ego Be Vigilant? - There is a sentence
in the text that says, “By deciding against your reality you have
made yourself vigilant against God and his kingdom and it is this vigilance
that makes you afraid to remember this.” What kind of vigilance
is this? Can the ego be vigilant?
- The
Ego Trap of Familiarity Versus Attentiveness to Purpose
- (MP3 24:24mins 16.7.MB) - Read
the Transcript - Change can seem unsettling. Growing accustomed to the familiar
seems to offer some sense of security, but it is false. The mind is
attached to the past. To release that opens one up to a different experience.
When things seem to fall apart, you can see how you were asleep in the
idea of the "perfect life." Build your house upon the rock,
not the sand. Know where true security lies; not in form. Routines can
be used in purpose but they can be very dangerous. They are to be experimented
with. You must be attentive and stay attentive; thinking that you "know"
about a situation or a person is the "I know" mind and is
all based in the past - a huge ego defense. Being intuitive and tuning
into prompts is the alternative to routine. Passion must be nurtured
and not neglected. It is worth the energy that it takes to maintain
attentiveness.
- Why
Specialness Was Made - (MP3 18:51mins 7.07MB)
- Read
the Transcript
- The belief in separation was answered in an instant, with the Holy
Spirit. The ego's answer to the Holy Spirit was special relationships.
The mind is terrified of God and the self concept. The world and special
love and special hate relationships were constructed to cover over the
first belief in the mind. The special love relationship serves as a
God substitute. Co-dependency is involved because the relationship is
used as a haven, as security from the world. The Holy Spirit uses everything
the ego made for waking up, and special relationships can be used as
an accelerated path for exposing and releasing ego beliefs. Singleness
of purpose is holding one goal, the Peace of God, in mind. The Holy
Spirit is in the mind, helping to release all other goals.
- What
Makes a Relationship Special - (MP3 8:55mins 3.48MB)
- Read
the Transcript - All perceived relationships are special relationships because
they involve seeing the past in my brother or my self. Elements of special
relationship are reciprocity, expectations, and proximity of bodies.
The ego is grievances and lack. Its purpose in relationships is to fulfill
needs, which involves anger and vengeance. The Holy Spirit will take
special relationships and purify them, using the metaphor of holy relationships.
ACIM is a tool for the mind that has forgotten it is the Christ and
has identified with personhood and specifics. It is written in these
terms so the mind can relate to it. The only real relationship is the
Father and the Son, being a song of continuous praise. None of the elements
of special relationship are in Heaven.
- The
Purpose of Special Relationships - (MP3 44:54mins 30.8MB)
- Read
the Transcript - The world does not need another theology, only a universal experience.
The Holy Spirit gives the specifics of the world the purpose of healing.
Any other purposes obscure healing. Special relationships are an attempt
to find a replacement for God. They are the ego's answer to the Holy
Spirit. For the mind that feels that it lacks, it is an attempt to find
completion, yet meaninglessness is still inevitable. The Holy Spirit
uses all relationships for His purpose, to unlearn the meaning they
have been given. These relationships can often accelerate the healing
process if given over. A wish for things to be different is a prayer
for specifics and denies God's will. Changing one's prayer for a unified
purpose, for peace, gives the world and all it 's relationships a new
purpose.
Read also: Releasing
Specialness , Specialness
and special relationships
- More
on Specialness - (MP3 7:14mins 2.9MB) - Read
the Transcript - The mind is terrified of the light. It believes it has thrown
away the Kingdom of Heaven and so, to give itself meaning, it has run
away from the light and attached itself to form and specifics. Specialness
is an offering of the ego, and the special love relationship seems attractive,
but when specialness is seen for what it is, the ego is out of business.
Special relationships are built with partners, places, food, jobs ,
etc. The belief that there can be an order of difficulty in miracles
comes from specialness because there is investment in relationships,
and there is identity attachment with form, and these are defended.
- Level
Confusion: Sickness - (MP3 11:05mins 4.44MB) -
Read
the Transcript - The idea that "I am responsible" is empowering at the
mind level, but if it used in reference to form, there is guilt and
confusion. For example, I created cancer, I attracted that disaster.
When form and content are confused is it because the mind is invested
in form and is choosing sickness. The mind feels guilty because it believes
it separated from God; this sickness is then projected to the body.
The mind is in fear and wants to be right. The miracle cannot come to
the mind that is too fearful; therefore a mixture of magic and miracles
can be helpful. "I am responsible for what I see" means that
I choose to see with the ego or the Holy Spirit. Right-mindedness is
a choice.
Read also: Physical
pain, enlightenment, killing and vegetarianism , The
impossible belief in illness
- Where
is Life? - (MP3 2:03mins 1.41MB) - Read
the Transcript - “This” is not life, it is all part of perception,
part of the illusion. Different planes, the after-life, the belief in
a collective world and collective egos are all assumptions.
Read also: The
reality of life, the unreality of death
- The
Two Premises of Sickness - (MP3 3:24mins 1.14MB)
- Read
the Transcript
- When you can see that the two premises of sickness are impossible
you will never be sick again. The first premise is that minds can attack.
The mind believes it has attacked by separating from God. This is a
false belief because mind is whole, mind is one, and mind is abstract.
There is nothing to attack with and there is nothing to attack. The
second premise is the belief that I am a body. Jesus teaches repeatedly
that I am mind, I am not a body. The guilt from the belief that mind
can attack is projected to the body, resulting in sickness. Sickness
is a defense against the truth, against wholeness.
- Exploring
the Topic of Death - (MP3 44:05mins 17.66MB) -
Read
the Transcript
- In this world the idea of physical death is equated with heaven. Jesus
brings this from the physical realm to the mental realm. Realizing that
there is no death involves mind training to see that all upset, doubt,
discomfort, cravings, and so on, are death. There is only one mind,
and all thoughts and beliefs are in the mind. The mind believes in separation
and it seems that minds are contained in bodies. Level confusion is
to believe that minds are in bodies, that the mind is a brain. The mind
is vast, it is watching the script, and it is not within the world.
As all false beliefs and misperceptions of the Self are undone, the
by -product is no pain and the awareness that there is no death. God
is love, God is life.
Read also: Addressing
the subject of death , Releasing
the death wish forever , Immortality
- Body,
Life, Death, Mind - (MP3 34:34mins 13.8MB) -
Read the
Transcript - It is essential to get clear about the Holy
Spirits versus the ego’s purposes for the body, so that fear and
guilt is released and God can be remembered. The ego uses the body for
pride, pleasure and attack, to keep the mind asleep and maintain guilt.
The Holy Spirit uses the body solely for communication. If the focus
is on form, there is upset. This state of mind is unable to see the
divine order and experience the Peace of God. The goal of ACIM is to
have such a sense of purpose that there is no dependence on form or
the environment for the experience of peace and happiness and awareness
of God. This discussion goes into a redefinition of life and death,
the appropriate and inappropriate use of denial, the mind in relation
to the body, purpose, and the goal of ACIM in terms of form and content.
- What
You Extend You Are - (MP3 6:36mins 4.53MB) - Read the
Transcript - There is one law of Heaven: what you project,
you are. In this world this law is distorted; it comes out as "What
you project, you believe". Projection is the attempt to get rid
of anger and dissatisfaction. Fear-based thoughts are used by the ego
as justification for unhappiness. When attack thoughts are seen as unreal
they have no effect on the state of mind. Mind training, living and
practicing our God-given function, being in purpose, means that the
form becomes irrelevant.
Read also: Love extends
Love
- Concern
for the Body (MP3 1:01:43mins 24.7MB) - Read the
Transcript - A dialogue
involving a participant willingly exposing fears and concerns for her
friend and child. This leads to readings and discussions on Lesson 135,
ACIM. In truth, in reality there is nothing to fear. Fear comes from
identification with the body. Healing is associated with loss of self
which is fearful. A mixture of magic and miracles is helpful for the
mind that is in fear. When problems are defined as in the world, illusions
are seen as real and are then defended against. When life is defined
as in the body it is defended. There is an experiential shift from identifying
as a body to being Mind.
Read also: Diet
and health , Healthy
and unhealthy foods , The
importance of diet , Healing
and Medicines , Food, exercise and physical care
-
I Do Not Perceive My Own Best Interest - This transcribed
dialogue is an in-depth look at the concept of the script is written,
the authority problem and the idea that the split mind cannot perceive
its own best interests. The split mind has many conflicting goals and
personal investments. A unified goal that gives everything the same
purpose is the reason why all circumstances are indeed for one's own
best interest because they are all a backdrop to make a choice for the
Holy Spirit.
Read also: Approaching
the truth
- The
'self construct' - This is a transcript that includes
the topics of the self concept, victimization and the subject-object
split. This conversation also makes a general reference to Lesson 80
in the Workbook, "Let me recognize my problems have been solved."
Read also: The
meaning of Letting Go and Living in Love
- On
Duality and Forgiveness - The transcript begins with the
idea of the impossibility of attack and goes on to cover ideas of duality
such as good and bad and the unreliability of perception. It ends by
outlining the true meaning of forgiveness as an ultimate concept.
Read also: Beyond
the belief in victimization
- Ordering
Thought; Judgment - To even see a world, to even perceive
anything, there must be an authority problem going on. Ultimately, that's
why the mind judges ' because it wants to be the author of itself. There
is a very deeply rooted belief that reality can be selected from and
that's what all judgments in this world seem to be. The assumption underneath
all that is that I can choose reality, and that reality is not something
that I can accept, but that it is something that I can select from.
Read also: Sexuality;
regarding ordering of thought
Defining Sickness as Ordering Thought
- (MP3 Set)
- Defining
Sickness as Ordering Thought part 1 (43:35mins
29.9MB) - Read the
Transcript - Sickness is seeing separate specifics. The self - concept
wants to order its own thoughts, which leads to sickness and justification
of guilt. Guilt comes from interpretation of symptoms. Sickness and
pain prove the body is real to the ego. Healing is seeing that sickness
serves a meaningless purpose and has no cause. "Only God's plan
for salvation will work" means that you must change your mind about
your mind.
- Defining
Sickness as Ordering Thought part 2 (41:24mins 14.7MB)
- Read the
Transcript - A great discussion about sickness and perception. Jesus redefines
sickness as being a denial of the truth, the purpose of sickness is
a defense against wholeness. One must understand this to see that sickness
has no cause. Sickness is dispelled in the truth and healing is then
automatic. The ego’s perception is seeing separate objects, whereas
the Holy Spirits perception is seeing a unified purpose. Every event
is in divine order because it is part of the whole. The deceived mind
judges separate events and circumstances as favorable and unfavorable.
There is nothing good or bad, it is judgment / thinking that makes it
so. Perception of the outcome is a threat, not what is perceived.
Read also: Looking
past the form by releasing false beliefs
- Preferences
as Ordering of Thought - (MP3
6:45mins 2.7MB) - Read the
Transcript - A good, concise look at preferences and the belief
in sacrifice. Likes, dislikes and preferences are judgments, and they
involve expectations. All upsets come from expectations and judgments.
Priorities and expectations are a replacement for peace of mind. To
accept the Holy Spirits purpose is to train the mind to release ego
thinking. As the mind heals, ego desires fall away, therefore there
is no sacrifice.
- The
Ordering of Thought; Looking at Preferences - (MP3
45:11mins 31MB) - Read the
Transcript - Judgment is the wish to be the author of reality.
The authority problem (wanting to author one's self) is why the mind
judges; the mind is trying to bring order into chaos. There is a deep
rooted belief that reality can be selected from rather than accepted;
there are pieces you want, pieces you don't and this denies wholeness.
Images themselves are not a problem, it is the ordering of them in hierarchies
of values that prevents from seeing them as illusory and distracts from
looking at the ego. Holy Spirit gives everything one value, one purpose,
as nothing has meaning in and of itself; this is allowing the Holy Spirit
to order thought. Guilt is inescapable if you believe you can order
thought (judge). You cannot be in your right mind if you are ordering,
if you have preferences for one illusion over another. One is only responsible
for accepting the solution for what one sees; the miracle. You must
see the past in purified form; that all images are false and that there
is no ordering of images. One is the dreamer of the dream.
- Mind
Overhaul - Truth is within the mind. Yet there is a belief
system that produces deception, a state of unawareness, which obscures
the awareness of truth. We have an opportunity, in a deeply meaningful
way, to come together and look calmly at the obstacles to Love and ask
the Spirit to bring illumination. The mind which perceives itself as
existing within a world of duality always operates from a dualistic
belief system. Continually questioning this dualistic belief system
is often perceived as unsettling and overwhelming; yet this questioning
is necessary if one is to attain a constant state of peace.
Read also: Witnesses
to my Fatherhood , Yielding
Special Relationships to Real Love
A Week Long Intensive - (MP3
Set) - This set of dialogues summarizes and expands on many of
the ideas presented up to this point. It also introduces a tool that
can be helpful for working through upsets and goes more deeply into
the ideas of choice and the real world. It touches on the fundamental
idea of "purpose" which is covered in much more depth in some
later materials.
- Week
Intensive part 1 - Introduction to the Ego Belief System
(27:19mins 12.5MB) - Read the
Transcript - Truth is simple. Heaven
is oneness. ACIM leads to the correction of error, which is healing
in mind. The cosmos is different realms, degrees, levels, produced by
the original belief in separation. Redefinition of the problem is from
form and specifics to judgment, being a problem in the mind. The ego
perceives problems in terms of the screen, for example, sickness of
the body. Self responsibility is to raise ego thoughts to awareness,
and to choose to withdraw value from them. When identified with the
ego, there is fear of the Holy Spirit. The trust issue is to be taken
from the screen and inward to God.
- Week
Intensive part 2 - Becoming Aware of Resistance
(23:46mins 10.8MB) - Read the
Transcript - The mind that is invested
in the body is resistant to healing, as it fears sacrifice. The ego’s
idea of intimacy involves companionship of bodies and keeping a sense
of a unique, separate self. Salvation is no compromise. All separate
interests are given to the Holy Spirit and allegiance is withdrawn from
the ego. To be right-minded is to be joined in mind. Exposing private
thoughts seems personal to the mind that is identified with them. Fatigue
comes from resistance to going inward. Effort is involved because the
mind is conditioned to backwards thinking – it believes external
forces are causative.
- Week
Intensive part 3 - Touching on the Parent Role (19:59mins
9.16MB) - Read the Transcript - The mother role involves feeling responsibility for behavior,
having expectations and giving advice. This involves specialness, the
"I know mind", and self-concept issues. The spiritual path
is humbling; I realize I do not perceive my own best interests so I
cannot judge what is best for another. Coming to clarity of mind is
sorting out the valueless from the valuable. The deceived mind perceives
the world in terms of value. Money is valued because it is a form of
magic that temporarily alleviates the problem of scarcity and lack in
terms of the body. Jesus taught, "I am the bread of life, partake
of me and you will never hunger or thirst."
Read also: Holy
Spirit Parenting , Parenting:
Disciplining the sleeping mind
- Week
Intensive part 4 - A Parable on Following Guidance
(35:53mins 16.4MB) - Read the Transcript - This discussion gives
a clear description of how the separation seemed to occur, resulting
in the perception of duality and a subject-object split and an ongoing
authority problem. Healing the mind involves questioning the ego belief
system, not studying and questioning the screen / the world. A wonderful,
inspiring parable is shared of listening and following Guidance, being
available to be truly helpful, leading to witnessing a miracle and experiencing
that giving and receiving are the same.
- Week
Intensive part 5 - The Branching of the Road & Substitution
(44:59mins 20.6MB) - Read the Transcript - ACIM is a course in non-compromise
–it is believed entirely or not at all. Peace and happiness are
absolute. It is a course in right-thinking, not right and wrong behavior.
Illusion was substituted for truth and the screen of the world arose
to cover the fear of this first error. Many more substitutions were
made to cover over the first. Fear was substituted for love, resulting
in fragmented perception. The branching of the road is a point where
the decision is made to go one way or the other. The first few steps
down the branch seem hard and right mindedness must be chosen. The right
mind / the miracle sees the false as false. The release comes from seeing
illusions are one and Mind is one.
- Week
Intensive part 6 - A Private World Cannot Be Shared
(36:50mins 16.8MB) - Read the Transcript - The ego sees the awakening
process as personal, overwhelming, and impossible. Fear takes many forms
and these forms make up a private world. All perceived concepts seen
in one’s brother are projected from one’s own mind, for
example, witnesses of guilt or innocence. Anything involving perception
is symbolic. The Holy Spirit is within the mind. Jesus was the manifestation
of the Holy Spirit; a symbolic parable when you realize it is all a
dream. The right mind is still perceptual. One-Mindedness is outside
of / beyond perception.
- Week
Intensive part 7 - Death as the Ego's Purpose & Relationships and
Responsibility (44:57mins 20.5MB)) - Read the Transcript -This discussion is on the definition of life, death, transition, location,
immediacy of salvation, desire, and the atonement. An intellectual understanding
is not the answer; the experience of Life comes with the release of
preferences, assumptions, special relationships and responsibilities.
The mind is identified with the body and on the surface it seems to
be afraid of death. Beneath the surface it is really attracted to death
and is afraid of God. Attraction to death, guilt and pain is the attraction
to form, to pleasure and to ego goals. The miracle is the alternative.
Read also: Can
I drop it all?
- Week
Intensive part 8 - Mind is the Learner (41:14mins
18.8MB)) - Read the Transcript - The mind learns. The body is a learning device that is
over-valued and raised up to the level of mind. The right mind is a
lesson and the wrong mind is a lesson. The world is not the teacher;
the Holy Spirit or the ego are the teacher. The wrong mind identifies
with concepts and roles. The right mind is free of all concepts. Transcending
roles and concepts is the pathway to enlightenment. Jesus is Calling
you out of the world to a spiritual kingdom that is not of this world.
- Week
Intensive part 9 - God Orders My Thought (32:19mins
14.7MB)) - Read the Transcript - God orders thought. Guilt comes from the belief that
I can order my own thoughts and I have responsibilities in form. The
one responsibility is to accept the atonement. I am not responsible
for the error / for what is atoned for. Forgiveness is the step back
that undoes the erroneous belief that I can order my own thought. Forgiveness
sees that all illusions are equally unreal, ordering is meaningless.
Divine order is beyond hierarchies and levels constructed by the ego.
Salvation is now. There is no other time.
- Week
Intensive part 10 - Tracing Back Upsets part 1 (38:03mins
17.4MB)) - Read the Transcript - A session using the Instrument for Peace for tracing
back a specific upset, dealing with a family member and feeling anger
and intolerance. Going deep is relative to readiness and desire. As
an understanding of the metaphysics becomes clear, tracing back becomes
easier. Lack of peace is to be traced back to the singular cause and
identification with what I think I know is let go of. The ego
/ self concept is the belief in lack. The world does not cause
upset; it witnesses to beliefs in the mind.
See also: Instrument
for Peace Worksheet
- Week
Intensive part 11 - Tracing Back Upsets part 2 (36:58mins
16.9MB) - Read the Transcript - Continued Instrument for Peace session: Perceiving problems
on the screen is projection. Correction is making the choice for the
right mind. The concept of mirroring is not at the behavioral level,
it is at the level of mind; that is, wrong minded beliefs are reflected
in another. Perceived problems reinforce the self - concept. Upsets
that seem to be caused by situations, events, past or future actions
are triggered by thoughts that are already in the mind. When traced
in deeply they come from the original belief in separation from God.
See also: Instrument
for Peace Worksheet
- Week
Intensive part 12 - Tracing Back Upsets part 3 (35:53mins
16.4MB) - Read the Transcript - Session continued: Defense mechanisms such as pleasures
and comforts are made to protect the self-concept. As these are laid
aside, the mind experiences defenselessness. Either peace or an external
(behavioral) change is valued. The mind is occupied with past and future
thoughts, believing in a past or future cause of upset. Questioning
values and beliefs is how they are raised into awareness, and a strong
desire for the miracle is how they are released. The healed perspective
sees a flow; the personal history sees separate events and makes adjustments.
Correction of misperception is letting go of boxes and categories, and
seeing everything in one category: forgiveness.
See also: Instrument
for Peace Worksheet
- Week
Intensive part 13 - Tracing Back Upsets part 4 (38:12mins
17.4MB) - Read the Transcript - Session continued. True forgiveness is carefully learned;
it is the release from the belief in victimhood. Mind believes in the
reality of memory, of the past. The past does not explain the present.
Jesus asks, "Are you interested in healing insanity or studying
its past?" The Spirit has no history. History is of a split mind.
It is better to devote one's self to knowing God rather than searching
the past; it is gone. The right mind sees there is no value in the past.
The "right way" is right-mindedness, and it is not based on
behaviors. The self-concept is built upon preferences and a hierarchy
of illusions. If unable to choose peace or feel the joy of release by
the end of the worksheet then there is something else to look at. As
the lens is cleared and blocks are removed, more light shines through
and situations that were used by the ego for defense become backdrops
for joining.
See also: Instrument
for Peace Worksheet
- Week
Intensive part 14 - The Choice for Completion part 1
(27:49mins 12.7MB)) - Read the Transcript - The ego thought system
is to be thoroughly investigated; if part of it is left in darkness
then the mind is still asleep. As long as mind is invested in special
relationship there is illusion of progress but the ego is not entirely
released. Holy Relationship is a metaphor for healed perception. Special
relationship is a love-hate relationship, involving pain, despair and
attack. There is no difference between minor irritation and rage; all
are attempts to make God guilty because of the belief in abandonment.
The first substitution was illusion for truth. A world of fragmentation
sprang from the first substitution and the the mind identified with
the screen of images. There is a deep identity confusion which is projected
i.e. onto biology. The entire world is learned, including instincts,
and can be unlearned.
- Week
Intensive part 15 - The Choice for Completion part 2
(48:57mins 22.4MB)) - Read the Transcript - Love is union. Monogamy
and marriage can be a helpful stepping stone. The image of the perfect
relationship and seeking for the right partner is an illusion; a substitute
for Life Eternal. Every relationship given to the Holy Spirit can be
a total commitment. The ego wants acknowledgment from God for it's made-up
Kingdom. The ego's definition of relationship is bodies together, minds
are kept private. Senseless rituals are a denial of God. Undoing the
illusion is moving towards intimacy of mind where everything is openly
revealed. Only ideas can be shared, everything else is a backdrop. As
communication is valued, attention is withdrawn from the body, and honesty,
trust and integrity are raised up. The purpose of relationship is to
see that there are no private minds. As concern for the body is released,
the experience is one of synchronicities and detachment. With attention
riveted on the Holy Spirit / on purpose, there is no struggle, everything
is provided effortlessly and there is a sense of completion. The body
is a learning device. The ego uses it for developing skills and pride.
The Holy Spirit uses it to expand perception, leading to right-mindedness,
learning of holy relationship and the real world / true perception.
Ideas are kept in the mind through giving them away. When there is no
longer a need for a learning device, it is "wake up time";
abstraction, total love and unimaginable joy.
- Week
Intensive part 16 - The Bridge to the Real World
(26:22mins 12MB)) - Read the Transcript - To value special relationship
is to value the body. The experience of the Great Rays is one in which
the body is gone from awareness. If joining is in mind and nothing but
the Holy Spirit is valued, then the universe is included, being a symbol
of inviting the whole sonship to enter. The special relationship is
the ego's distorted frame of reference. Letting it go is disorienting
because it is familiar and comfortable, and reality is unknown and feared.
Special love and special hate relationships involve memories of bodies,
behaviors and idiosyncrasies. Healed perception is to look upon all
scenes of the world as the same. Healing occurs through calling upon
the Holy Spirit and holding the intention of healing; offering willingness
to Him. Beliefs have to be deeply questioned to experience a change
of mind. Beyond the world of distorted perception is the real world;
when this is experienced and the mind awakens and the hallucination
disappears.
- Week
Intensive part 17 - Getting Clear on Life and Death
(34:57mins 16MB)) - Read the Transcript - Jesus describes the dream
in two parts; the dream that you dream in secret (which produces the
world), and the dreaming of the world. The dream of the world is not
seen as a dream because the role of dreamer has been given away. The
mind believes it is not responsible for the dream and identifies as
a figure at the mercy of the world. This secret is kept hidden, and
is believed to be in a brother's body, as if it is a secret treasure.
The secret is within. The Holy Spirit is the reminder of the true treasure,
which is in Heaven. Death is the central dream from which all illusions
are born. The world's perception of life is that all things end in death.
This involves fear of an unloving God and a world of contradictions
and opposites. Life is lived in terms of avoidance and prevention. The
goal is to come to clarity, to see another way of looking at death.
Support groups are seen in terms of purpose; for commiserating and forming
special relationships or for the healing of the mind and inspiration.
The ego attempts to join through suffering, seeing the past, and pain,
as unreal. True empathy; to be truly helpful, is to refuse to understand
suffering and to teach its unreality.
- Identifying
and Removing the Obstacles to Peace
- Many sincere students and seekers cling to affirmations and metaphors
and symbols only because there are unconscious fearful beliefs which
remain unquestioned and hidden. Yet the consistent experience of inner
peace comes only when nothing remains assumed to be real and true.
- Using
the Instrument for Peace - (MP3
1:11:52mins 28.81MB) - Read
the Transcript
- An entire session on how to use the Instrument for Peace Worksheet.
Listen as the speaker walks through the worksheet step by step and explains
how to use this healing forgiveness tool.
See also: Instrument
for Peace Worksheet (requires Adobe
Reader) - This worksheet is built to help the mind gain perspective
on the workings of projections and grievances and bring them back to
one's own mind. A powerful forgiveness tool if used properly.
Read also: Stuck
in hatred , Nothing
happening and not seeing , Releasing
the ego impulse to blame , Releasing
pockets of guilt , Forgiveness
is easy, judgement is impossible , Feelings
of irritability or frustration , Allowing
anger to come into awareness , ACIM
Frustration , Releasing
the pain of past , Releasing
betrayal and hurts , Sexual
abuse issues
- Upsets;
Values and Beliefs - (MP3 25:30mins 20.4MB) -
Read the Transcript - The first belief was the separation from God. All other beliefs are
stacked upon this first belief as an attempt to alleviate the guilt
from the first decision. The belief in separation is a control issue,
it maintains the world and the belief in choice. All relationships in
this world involve control issues. All decisions are pseudo decisions,
because decisions are conclusions based on what you believe. Your belief
system determines what you do. Beliefs held about ones’ self and
the world are identical - it is all part of the self concept. Accepting
the atonement is not really a change at all because the deceived mind
doesn’t exist. Perception is simultaneous; you see what you believe.
The world represents beliefs.
- Putting
the Ideas into Practice - A Q&A Session
- (MP3 22:41mins 9.08MB ) - Read
the Transcript - This Q & A goes into practical issues
for the participants involving form and content. Topics and questions
discussed are issues such as categorizing time and feeling discontented
with life, how it is that changing your mind seems to cause the world
to change, and why guilt seems to increase as one becomes aware of the
illusion and one's own responsibility. Gets into true cause and effect,
fear-based thinking, the belief in separation, the projection of the
world and the use of magic and miracles.
Going Beyond the Obvious
- (MP3 Set)
- Going
Beyond the Obvious part 1 - Wanting the Experience (11:29mins
6.57MB) - Read the Transcript - To remember Heaven one must learn to overlook (forget)
the error (the world). All backwards thinking " the belief that
the world is causative" is to be investigated. Mind is causative
and there is a need to go beyond the false reasons for experiences in
the world to realize that one's perception and experience comes from
desire. To hear only the Holy Spirit's Voice involves single desire.
Click here to download a PDF file of the resource mentioned in this talk - Levels of Mind Diagram
- Going
Beyond the Obvious part 2 - Seeing the Problem As It Is (45:54mins 26.2MB) - Read the Transcript - Examining ego thinking leads to empowerment.
This discussion about form and content brings preferences inward; tastes
are learned, and desires are of the ego. Mysticism is the release of
body-focused habits, and the remembrance that I am the dreamer of the
dream - not a character at the mercy of someone else's dream. To function
in the world, knowing it is a dream, simply maintain a passion for the
truth. The wisdom of the message will be shared from the right mind
through attitude and deliverance.
- An
Introduction to Purpose - (MP3 10:13mins 4.09MB)
- Read the Transcript - The key question, "What is it for?" leads to purpose. The
ego's purpose is to reinforce separation and the body as real, whereas
the Holy Spirits purpose is forgiveness. Purpose is at the level of
mind, not form. The brain and body receive directions from the mind.
When the ego's purposes are laid aside or withdrawn, the Holy Spirit's
purpose dawns on the mind. This involves mind training.
- Delving
Into Form and Content - (MP3 49:31mins
19.84MB) - Read the Transcript - The world of form was made as a defense, as a place where
God could enter not, and is the sole focus of the ego. The Holy Spirit
looks to content, the miracle, seeing only love or a call for love.
This discussion goes very deeply into the topic of form and content
in terms of decision, purpose and the dream. The Holy Spirit and the
ego are decisions within the mind. In order to learn the goal of ACIM
one must become aware of the difference between the Holy Spirits purpose
and ego's purpose for the mind, body and world. Covers judgment, form
and content, decision, the miracle, repression and indulgence, behavior,
hierarchy of illusions, the miracle, specialness, the dream, the world
as a hallucination, Holy Spirits and ego's purposes for world, body,
mind.
- The Use
of the Body - When we talk about the body as nothing, it's
in a very deep ultimate sense of what it truly is. The Course does not
ask us to deny the perception of the body. The most helpful way to come
at this is to come at it with a sense of purpose, or with the "What
is it for?" question. This brings us back to the mind level. What
is helpful here is to look at the ego’s purpose for the body and
the Holy Spirit's purpose for the body.
- Exploring
the Idea of Purpose - (MP3 12:54mins 5.16MB) - Read the Transcript - The Holy Spirit's purpose is forgiveness/salvation/atonement. "Teach
only love, for that is what you are."Ask the Holy Spirit "what
would you have me do?" Then action is guided in terms of purpose
and intention. The sleeping mind sees purpose in terms of specifics,
in relation to the body, perceiving distorted images with millions of
purposes that seem to have meaning in and of themselves. The false world
is to be carefully unlearned and a new purpose, forgiveness, is to be
carefully learned. Neither purpose is natural to the mind because in
Heaven there is no need for correction. In dealing with concerns, turn
to thoughts of holiness, aligning the mind with God, which reverses
the rules of the world.
Read also: The
true meaning of action , You
can't mess up: purpose and the script
- On
Ambition and Specialization - (MP3 14:33mins 5.83MB)
- Read the Transcript - Ambition is striving to achieve something of this world and other
people are seen as competition. Worldly goals involve expectations and
a desire to control the script. No goals that are strived for truly
satisfy. The mind is now accustomed to the world, to seeking and pursuing
outside of itself and does not equate this with dissatisfaction and
pain. The self concept is made up by the categorizing, ordering, and
judging of thought. False meaning has been given to everything; therefore
an unlearning process must occur. The ego teaches that specialization
is essential for survival in this world, whereas the Holy Spirit teaches
that every belief held in mind is to be questioned.
Read also: Help
with Lesson 25 , On
Goals and Ambitions , Goals,
Doing and Purpose , To
Desire Wholly is to Be , Are
Dreams also Idols?
- Abilities,
Work and Purpose - It seems as though everyone has a different
personality, with different people having different levels and types
of skills and abilities. The Course is teaching that if they are put
towards the same purpose, they will be channeled and that the perceived
differences between them will start to fade from awareness. Nothing
valued needs to be given up. Allowing yourself to be guided and asking
the question, "What is it for?" keeps things in perspective.
It becomes clear that the ego's purpose and the Holy Spirit's purpose
will never coincide.
Read also: On
Finding Your Special Function
- Freedom
is of the Mind, Not the Body - (MP3 27:04mins 10.84MB)
- Read
the Transcript -The goal is either the mind or the body and the means serve the end;
either the mind or the body is used as a means to serve the goal. That
which is valued and perceived as freedom will be the goal. By seeking
for form goals, the mind identifies with the body. Seeking outside of
itself is the attraction to sin. Association with form means identification
with the eternal is forgotten, which is the cause of confusion. Guilt
comes from believing that minds can attack. Guilt and self hatred are
in the mind but are displaced onto the body. The properties of the body
are assigned to the mind and separation then seems possible; hence the
belief in private minds. Sickness is guilt and hatred displaced onto
the body. The body appears to get sick and die, which is the out-picturing
of the mind that is sick.
- Beyond
the Body - (MP3 21:24mins 8.57MB) - Read
the Transcript - Mind is unlimited
and expansive. Mind is not located and has no reference point in this
world. There is nothing outside of mind – the body is outside
of mind and is therefore unreal. The ego’s most boasted gift is
the special relationship; the belief in bringing heaven into form, the
infinite into the finite. This is the attraction to guilt and the attraction
to fear. Anger is the belief in sacrifice, in being deprived. This concept
is only possible in this world, as there is no sacrifice in heaven.
Salvation and happiness are only available now. Deprivation is a present
decision.
Read also: Wanting the experience of forgiveness , Releasing
the family role
- Going
Deep With Some Early Lessons - (MP3 1:23:26mins 33.46MB)
- Read the Transcript - Lessons 1 & 3 are about distorted perception. Lesson 4 brings
in thinking. Lesson 7 brings in time. Lesson 8 combines time with thinking.
The mind is trying to use time against God. Used for the ego’s
purposes, time reinforces guilt and skips over the present. Used for
the Holy Spirit's purpose, time emphasizes the present. A bottom-up
approach is essential as all concepts and assumptions are to be questioned,
as the mind becomes ready for the light, for abstraction. Thoughts cannot
be without effects. Thoughts are true or false. Mind is very powerful;
when the power of the mind is given to attack thoughts, they seem real.
To deny thoughts have power is to experience impotence. To perceive
oneself as a person in a world denies the fact of reality. God did not
create a meaningless world. Remembering the power of decision and where
I abide is a fore-shadowing of a leap that must come. The atonement
is the awareness that the separation never happened.
- This
Instant is the Endpoint; Clarity is Now - (MP3 35:17mins
13.1MB) - Read
the Transcript - The mind is released from the possibility of sickness as limits
and separate purposes are removed from the mind and the body. Present
fear, linear thinking and analyzing are blocks to clarity and peace.
Continue
to 'Transfer of Training' - Materials Set Three
Complete
materials index
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