Chapter Two

THE ILLUSION OF SEPARATION

This section deals with a fundamental misuse of knowledge, referred to in the Bible as the cause of the "fall," or separation. There are some definitions which I asked you to take from the dictionary which will be helpful here. They are somewhat unusual, since they are not the first definitions which are given. Nevertheless, the fact that each of them does appear in the dictionary should be reassuring.

Project (verb): to extend forward or out.
Project (noun): a plan in the mind.
World: a natural grand division.

We will refer later to projection as related to both mental health and mental illness. We have already observed that man can create an empty shell, but he cannot created nothing at all. This emptiness provides the screen for the misuse of projection.

The Garden of Eden, which is described as a literal garden in the Bible, was not an actual garden at all. It was merely a mental state of complete need-lack. Even in the literal account, it is noteworthy that the pre-separation state was essentially one in which man needed nothing. The "tree of knowledge" is also an overly literal figure. These concepts need to be clarified before the real meaning of the separation, or the "detour into fear," can be fully understood.

To "project," as defined above, is a fundamental attribute of God, which He gave to His Son. In the Creation, God projected His Creative Ability from Himself to the Souls He created, and He also imbued them with the same loving will to create. The Soul has not only been fully created, but has also been created perfect. There is NO emptiness in it. Because of its likeness to its Creator, it is creative. No Child of God can lose this ability because it is inherent in what he IS, but he CAN use it inappropriately. Whenever projection is used inappropriately, it ALWAYS implies that some emptiness or lack exists, and that it is in man's ability to put his OWN ideas there INSTEAD of truth.

If you consider carefully what this entails, the following will become quite apparent:

First, the assumption is implicit that what God created can be CHANGED by the mind of man.
Second, the concept that what is perfect can be rendered imperfect, or wanting, is accepted.
Third, the belief that man can distort the Creations of God, INCLUDING HIMSELF, is accepted.
Fourth, the idea that, since man can create himself, the direction of his own creation is up to HIM is implied.

These related distortions represent a picture of what actually occurred in the separation. None of this existed before, nor does it actually exist now. The world WAS made as "a natural grand division," or a projecting outward of God. That is why everything that He created is like Him. Projection, as undertaken by God, is very similar to the kind of inner radiance which the Children of the Father inherit from Him. It is important to note that the term "project outward" necessarily implies that the REAL source of projection is internal. This is as true of the Son as of the Father.

The world, in the original connotation of the term included both the proper Creation of man by God AND the proper creation by man in his right mind. The latter required the endowment of man by God with free will, because ALL loving creation is freely given. Nothing in these statements implies any sort of level involvement, or, in fact, anything except one continuous line of creation, in which all aspects are of the same order.

When the "lies of the serpent" were introduced, they were specifically called "lies" because they are not true. When man listened, all he heard was untruth. He does not have to continue to believe what is not true unless he chooses to do so. All of his miscreations can literally disappear in "the twinkling of an eye," because they are merely visual misperceptions. Man's Spiritual eye can sleep, but a sleeping eye can still see. What is seen in dreams seems to be very real. The Bible mentions that "a deep sleep fell upon Adam," and nowhere is there any reference to his waking up.

The history of man in the world as he sees it has not yet been marked by any genuine or comprehensive reawakening or rebirth. This is impossible as long as man projects in the spirit of miscreation. It still remains within him, however, to project as God projected His Own Spirit to him. In reality, this is his ONLY choice, because his free will was given him for his own joy in creating the perfect.

All fear is ultimately reducible to the basic misperception that man has the ability to USURP the power of God. It can only be emphasized that he neither CAN nor HAS BEEN able to do this. In this fact lies the real justification for his escape from fear. The escape is brought about by his acceptance of the Atonement, which places him in a position to realize that his own errors never really occurred. When the "deep sleep" fell upon Adam, he was in a condition to experience nightmares BECAUSE he was asleep. If a light is suddenly turned on while someone is dreaming a fearful dream, he may initially interpret the light itself as a part of his own dream, and be afraid of it. However, when he awakens, the light is correctly perceived as the RELEASE from the dream, which is no longer accorded reality.

It is quite apparent that this release does NOT depend on the kind of "knowledge" which is nothing more than deceiving lies. The knowledge which illuminates rather than obscures is the knowledge which not only SETS you free, but which also shows you clearly that you ARE free. Whatever lies you may believe are of no concern to the miracle, which can heal ANY of them with equal ease. It makes NO distinctions among misperceptions. Its SOLE concern is to distinguish between truth on the one hand, and ALL kinds of errors on the other. Some miracles may SEEM to be of greater magnitude than others. But remember the first point in this course; that there is NO order of difficulty in miracles.

In reality, you are perfectly unaffected by ALL expressions of lack of love. These can be either from yourself AND others, or from yourself TO others, or from others to YOU. Peace is an attribute in YOU. You cannot find it outside. All mental illness is some form of EXTERNAL searching. Mental health is INNER peace. It enables you to remain unshaken by lack of love from without, and capable, through your own miracles, of correcting the external conditions which proceed from lack of love in others.

The Reinterpretation of Defenses

When you are afraid of ANYTHING, you are acknowledging its power to hurt you. Remember that where your heart is, there is your treasure also. This means that you believe in what you VALUE. If you are afraid, you are VALUING WRONGLY. Human understanding will inevitably value wrongly, and, by endowing all human thoughts with equal power, will inevitably DESTROY peace. That is why the Bible speaks of "The peace of God which PASSETH (human) understanding." THIS peace is totally incapable of being shaken by human errors of ANY kind. It denies the ability of ANYTHING which is not of God to affect you in ANY way.

This is the PROPER use of denial. It is not used to HIDE anything, but to CORRECT error. It brings ALL error into the light, and since error and darkness are the same, it corrects error automatically. True denial is a powerful protective device. You can and should deny any belief that error can hurt you. This kind of denial is not a concealment device, but a correction device. The "right mind" of the mentally healthy DEPENDS on it. You can do ANYTHING I ask. I have asked you to perform miracles, and have made it clear that miracles are NATURAL, CORRECTIVE, HEALING, AND UNIVERSAL. There is nothing good they cannot do, but they cannot be performed in the spirit of doubt.

God and the Souls He created are COMPLETELY dependent on each other. The creation of the Soul has already been perfectly accomplished, but the creation BY Souls has not. God created Souls so He could depend on them BECAUSE He created them perfectly. He gave them His peace so they could not be shaken, and would be unable to be deceived. Whenever you are afraid, you ARE deceived. Your mind is NOT serving the Soul. This literally starves the Soul by denying its daily bread. God offers ONLY mercy. YOUR words should reflect only mercy because that is what you have received, and that is what you should GIVE.

Justice is a temporary expedient, or an attempt to teach man the meaning of mercy. Its judgmental side arises only because man is capable of INjustice, if that is what his mind creates. You are afraid of God's Will because you have used your own will, which He created in the likeness of His Own, to MISCREATE. What you do NOT realize is that the mind can miscreate ONLY when it is NOT free. An imprisoned mind is not free, by definition. It is possessed, or held back, by ITSELF. Its will is therefore limited, and is not free to assert itself. The real meaning of "are of one kind," which was mentioned before, is "are of one mind or will." When the Will of the Sonship and the Father are One, their perfect accord IS Heaven.

Denial of error is a powerful defense of truth. You will note that we have been shifting the emphasis from the negative to the positive use of denial. As we have already stated, denial is not a purely negative device; it results in positive miscreation. That is the way the mentally ill DO employ it. But remember a very early thought of your own; - "Never underestimate the power of denial." In the service of the "right mind," the denial of ERROR frees the mind and reestablishes the freedom of the will. When the will is REALLY free, it CANNOT miscreate because it recognizes ONLY truth.

False projection arises out of false denial, NOT out of its proper use. My own role in the Atonement is one of TRUE projection; I can project to YOU the affirmation of truth. If you project error to me, or to yourself, you are interfering with the process. MY use of projection, which can also be yours, is NOT based on faulty denial. It DOES involve, however, the very powerful use of the denial of errors. The miracle worker is one who accepts my kind of denial and projection, unites his own inherent abilities to deny and project with mine, and imposes them back on himself and others. This establishes the total LACK of threat anywhere. Together we can then work for the real time of peace, which is eternal.

The improper use of defenses is quite widely recognized, but their proper use had not been sufficiently understood as yet. They can INDEED create man's perception, both of himself and of the world. They can distort or correct, depending on what you use them FOR.

Denial should be directed only to error, and projection should be reserved only for truth. You should truly give as you have truly received. The Golden Rule can work effectively only on this basis.

Intellectualization is a term which stems from the mind-brain confusion." Right-mindedness" is the device which defends the RIGHT mind, and gives it control over the body." Intellectualization" implies a split, while "right-mindedness" involves healing.

Withdrawal is properly employed in the service of withdrawing from the meaningless. It is NOT a device for escape, but for consolidation. There IS only one mind.

Dissociation is quite similar. You SHOULD split off or dissociate yourself from error, but only in defense of integration.

Detachment is essentially a weaker form of dissociation.

Flight can be undertaken in whatever direction you choose, but note that the concept itself implies flight FROM something. Flight from error is perfectly appropriate.

Distantiation can be properly used as a way of putting distance between yourself and what you SHOULD fly from.

Regression is an effort to return to your own original state. It can thus be utilized to RESTORE, rather than to go back to the LESS mature.

Sublimation should be a redirection of effort to the sublime.

There are many other so-called "dynamic" concepts which are profound errors due essentially to the misuse of defenses. Among them is the concept of different levels of aspiration, which actually result from level confusion. However, the main point to be understood from this section is that you can defend truth as well as error, and, in fact, much better.

The means are easier to clarify after the value of the goal itself is firmly established. Everyone defends his own treasure. You do not have to tell him to do so, because he will do it automatically. The real questions still remain. WHAT do you treasure, and HOW MUCH do you treasure it? Once you have learned to consider these two questions, and to bring them into ALL your actions as the true criteria for behavior, I will have little difficulty in clarifying the means. You have not learned to be consistent about this as yet. I have therefore concentrated on showing you that the means ARE available whenever you ASK. You can, however, save a lot of time if you do not extend this step unduly. The correct focus will shorten it immeasurably.

The Atonement is the ONLY defense which cannot be used destructively. That is because, while everyone must eventually join it, it is NOT a device which was generated by man. The Atonement PRINCIPLE was in effect long before the Atonement itself began. The principle was love, and the Atonement itself was an ACT of love. Acts were not necessary before the separation, because the time-space belief did not exist. It was only after the separation that the defense of Atonement, and the necessary conditions for its fulfillment, were planned.

It became increasingly apparent that all of the defenses which man can choose to use constructively OR destructively were not enough to save him. It was therefore decided that he needed a defense which was so splendid that he could not misuse it, although he COULD refuse it. His choice could not, however, turn it into a weapon of attack, which is the inherent characteristic of all other defenses. The Atonement thus becomes the ONLY defense which is NOT a two-edged sword.

The Atonement actually began long before the crucifixion. Many Souls offered their efforts on behalf of the separated ones, but they could not withstand the strength of the attack and had to be brought back. Angels came, too, but their protection did not suffice, because the separated ones were not interested in peace. They had already split their minds, and were bent on further dividing, rather than reintegrating. The levels they introduced into their minds turned against each other, and they established differences, divisions, cleavages, dispersions, and all the other concepts related to the increasing splits which they produced.

Not being in their right minds, they turned their defenses from protection to assault, and acted literally insanely. It was essential to introduce a split-proof device which could be used ONLY to heal, if it were used at all. The Atonement was built into the space-time belief in order to set a limit on the need for the belief, and ultimately to make learning complete. The Atonement IS the final lesson. Learning itself, like the classrooms in which it occurs, is temporary. The ability to learn has no value when change of understanding is no longer necessary. The eternally creative have nothing to learn. Only after the separation was it necessary to direct the creative forces to learning, because changed behavior had become mandatory.

Men can learn to improve their behavior, and can also learn to become better and better learners. This serves to bring them into closer and closer accord with the Sonship, but the Sonship Itself is a perfect Creation, and perfection is NOT a matter of degree. Only while there are different degrees is learning meaningful. The "evolution" of man is merely a process by which he proceeds from one degree to the next. He corrects his previous missteps by stepping forward. This represents a process which is actually incomprehensible in temporal terms, because he RETURNS as he goes forward.

The Atonement is the device by which he can free himself from the past as he goes ahead. It UNDOES his past errors, thus making it unnecessary for him to keep retracing his steps without advancing to his return. In this sense the Atonement saves time, but, like the miracle which serves it, does NOT abolish it. As long as there is need for Atonement there is need for time. But the Atonement, as a completed plan, does have a unique relationship TO time. Until the Atonement is finished, its various phases will proceed IN time, but the whole Atonement stands at time's end. At this point, the bridge of the return has been built.

The Atonement is a TOTAL commitment. You still think this is associated with loss. This is the same mistake ALL the separated ones make, in one way or another. They cannot believe that a defense which cannot attack IS the best defense. This is what is meant by "the meek shall inherit the earth." They will literally take it over because of their strength. A two-way defense is inherently weak precisely BECAUSE it has two edges, and can turn against the self very unexpectedly. This tendency cannot be controlled EXCEPT by miracles.

The miracle turns the defense of Atonement to the protection of the inner self, which, as it becomes more and more secure, assumes its natural talent of protecting others. The inner self knows itself as both a brother AND a Son. You know that when defenses are disrupted there is a period of real disorientation, accompanied by fear, guilt, and usually vacillations between anxiety and depression. This course is different in that defenses are NOT being disrupted but REINTERPRETED, even though you may experience it as the same thing. In the reinterpretation of defenses, only their use for ATTACK is lost. Since this means they can be used only ONE way, they become much stronger and much more dependable. They no longer oppose the Atonement, but greatly facilitate it.

The Atonement can only be accepted WITHIN you. You have perceived it largely as EXTERNAL thus far, and that is why your experience of it has been minimal. The reinterpretation of defenses is essential in releasing the INNER light. Since the separation, man's defenses have been used almost entirely to defend himself AGAINST the Atonement, and thus maintain the separation. They themselves generally see this as a need to protect the BODY. The many body fantasies with which men's minds are engaged arise from the distorted belief that the body can be used as a means for attaining "atonement."

Perceiving the body as a temple is only the first step in correcting this kind of distortion. It alters part of the misperception, but not all of it. It DOES recognize, however, that the concept of Atonement in physical terms is not appropriate. However, the next step is to realize that a temple is not a building at all. Its REAL holiness lies in the INNER altar, around which the building is built. The inappropriate emphasis men have put on beautiful church buildings is a sign of their FEAR of Atonement, and their unwillingness to reach the altar itself. The REAL beauty of the temple cannot be seen with the physical eye. The Spiritual eye, on the other hand, cannot see the building at all because It has perfect sight. It CAN, however, see the altar with PERFECT clarity.

For perfect effectiveness, the Atonement belongs at the center of the inner altar, where it undoes the separation and restores the wholeness of the mind. Before the separation the mind was invulnerable to fear, because fear did not exist. Both the separation AND the fear are miscreations of the mind, which must be undone. This is what is meant by "the restoration of the temple." It does not mean the restoration of the building, but the opening of the altar to receive the Atonement. This heals the separation, and places WITHIN man the one defense against ALL separation mind-errors which can make him perfectly invulnerable.

The acceptance of the Atonement by everyone is only a matter of time. In fact, both time AND matter were created for this purpose. This appears to contradict free will because of the inevitability of the final decision. If you review the idea carefully, however, you will realize that this is not true. Everything is limited in some way by the manner of its creation. Free will can temporize, and is capable of enormous procrastination. But it cannot depart entirely from its Creator, Who set the limits on its ability to miscreate by virtue of its own REAL purpose.

The misuse of will engenders a situation which, in the extreme, becomes altogether intolerable. Pain thresholds can be high, but they are not limitless. Eventually everyone begins to recognize, however dimly, that there MUST be a better way. As this recognition becomes more firmly established, it becomes a perceptual turning-point. This ultimately reawakens the Spiritual eye, simultaneously weakening the investment in physical sight. The alternating investment in the two types or levels of perception is usually experienced as conflict for a long time, and can become very acute. But the outcome is as certain as God.

The Spiritual eye literally CANNOT SEE error and merely looks for Atonement. All the solutions which the physical eyes seek dissolve in Its sight. The Spiritual eye, which looks within, recognizes immediately that the altar has been defiled, and needs to be repaired and protected. Perfectly aware of the RIGHT defense, It passes over all others, looking past error to truth. Because of the real strength of ITS vision, It pulls the will into Its service and impels the mind to concur. This reestablishes the true power of the will, and makes it increasingly unable to tolerate delay. The mind then realizes with increasing certainty that delay is only a way of increasing unnecessary pain which it need not tolerate at all. The pain threshold drops accordingly, and the mind becomes increasingly sensitive to what it would once have regarded as very minor intrusions of discomfort.

The Children of God are ENTITLED to perfect comfort, which comes from a sense of perfect trust. Until they achieve this, they waste themselves and their true creative powers on useless attempts to make themselves more comfortable by inappropriate means. But the real means is ALREADY provided, and does not involve any effort at all on their part. Their egocentricity usually misperceives this as personally insulting, an interpretation which obviously arises from their misperception of themselves. Egocentricity and communion CANNOT coexist. Even the terms are contradictory.

The Atonement is the only gift that is worthy of being offered to the altar of God. This is because of the inestimable value of the altar itself. It was created perfect, and is entirely worthy of receiving perfection. God IS lonely without His Souls and THEY are lonely without Him. Men must learn to perceive the world as a means of HEALING the separation. The Atonement is the GUARANTEE that they will ultimately succeed.

Healing as Release from Fear

The emphasis will now be on healing. The miracle is the means, the Atonement is the principle, and healing is the result. Those who speak of "a miracles of healing" are combining two orders of reality inappropriately. Healing is NOT a miracle. The Atonement, or the final miracle, is a REMEDY, while any type of healing is a result. The KIND of error to which atonement is applied is irrelevant. Essentially, ALL healing is the release from fear. To undertake this, you CANNOT be fearful yourself. You do not understand healing because of your OWN fear.

A major step in the Atonement plan is to undo error at ALL levels. Illness, which is really "not-right-mindedness," is the result of level confusion in the sense that it always entails the belief that what is amiss in one level can adversely affect another. We have constantly referred to miracles as the means of correcting level confusion, and all mistakes must be corrected at the level on which they occur. Only the MIND is capable of error. The body can ACT erroneously, but this is only because it is responding to mis-thought. The body cannot create, and the belief that it CAN, a fundamental error, produces all physical symptoms.

All physical illness represents a belief in magic. The whole distortion which created magic rests on the belief that there is a creative ability in matter which the mind cannot control. This error can take two forms; it can be believed that the mind can miscreate IN the body, or that the body can miscreate in the mind. If it is understood that the mind, which is the ONLY level of creation, cannot create beyond itself, neither type of confusion need occur.

The reason only the mind can create is more obvious than may be immediately apparent. The Soul HAS BEEN created. The body is a learning device for the mind. Learning devices are not lessons in themselves. Their purpose is merely to facilitate the thinking of the learner. The most that a faulty use of a learning device can do is to fail to facilitate learning. It has no power in itself to introduce actual learning errors. The body, if properly understood, shares the invulnerability of the Atonement to two-edged application. This is not because the body is a miracle, but because it is not INHERENTLY open to misinterpretation. The body is merely a fact in human experience. Its abilities can be, and frequently are, overevaluated. However, it is almost impossible to deny its existence. Those who do so are engaging in a particularly unworthy form of denial. The term "unworthy" here implies simply that it is not necessary to protect the mind by denying the unmindful. If one denies this unfortunate aspect of the mind's power, one is also denying the power itself.

All material means which man accepts as remedies for bodily ills are merely restatements of magic principles. It was the first level of the error to believe that the body created its own illness. It is a second misstep to attempt to heal it through non-creative agents. It does not follow, however, that the use of these very weak corrective devices are evil. Sometimes the illness has a sufficiently great hold over a mind to render a person inaccessible to Atonement. In this case it may be wise to utilize a compromise approach to mind AND body, in which something from the OUTSIDE is temporarily given healing belief.

This is because the LAST thing that can help the non-right-minded, or the sick, is an INCREASE in fear. They are already IN a fear-weakened state. If they are inappropriately exposed to an "undiluted" miracle, they may be precipitated into panic. This is particularly likely to occur when upside-down perception has induced the belief that miracles are frightening.

The value of the Atonement does not lie in the manner in which it is expressed. In fact, if it is truly used, it will inevitably BE expressed in whatever way is most helpful to the receiver. This means that a miracle, to attain its full efficacy, MUST be expressed in a language which the recipient can understand WITHOUT fear. It does not follow, by any means, that this is the highest level of communication of which he is capable. It DOES mean, however, that it is the highest level of communication of which he is capable NOW. The whole aim of the miracle is to RAISE the level of communication, not to impose regression in the improper sense upon it.

Before miracle workers are ready to undertake their function in this world, it is essential that they fully understand the FEAR OF RELEASE. Otherwise, they may unwittingly foster the belief that release is imprisonment, a belief that is very prevalent. This misperception arose from the underlying misbelief that harm can be limited to the body. This was because of the much greater fear that the mind can hurt itself. Neither error is really meaningful, because the miscreations of the mind do not really exist. THIS recognition is a far better protective device than ANY form of level confusion because it introduces correction at the level of the error.

It is essential to remember that ONLY the mind can create. Implicit in this is the corollary that correction belongs at the THOUGHT level. To repeat an earlier statement and to extend it somewhat, the Soul is already perfect, and therefore does not require correction. The body does not really exist except as a learning device for the mind. This learning device is NOT subject to errors of its own because it was created, but is NOT creating. It should be obvious, then, that correcting the creator, or inducing it to give up its miscreations, is the only application of creative ability which is truly meaningful.

Magic is essentially mindless, or the miscreative use of the mind. Physical medications are forms of "spells." Those who are AFRAID to use the mind to heal should not attempt to do so. The very fact that they ARE afraid has made them vulnerable to miscreation. They are therefore likely to misunderstand any healing they might induce, and, because egocentricity and fear usually occur together, may be unable to accept the real Source of the healing. Under these conditions, it is safer for them to rely TEMPORARILY on physical healing devices, because they cannot misperceive them as their own creations. As long as their sense of vulnerability persists, they should be preserved from even attempting miracles.

We have already said that the miracle is an expression of miracle-mindedness. Miracle-mindedness merely means right-mindedness in the sense that we are now using it. The right-minded neither exalt nor depreciate the mind of the miracle worker OR the miracle receiver. However, as a creative act, the miracle need not await the right-mindedness of the receiver. In fact, its purpose is to RESTORE him to his right mind. It is essential, however, that the miracle WORKER be in his right mind, or he will be unable to reestablish right-mindedness in someone else.

The healer who relies on his OWN readiness is endangering his understanding. He is perfectly safe as long as he is completely unconcerned about HIS readiness, but maintains a consistent trust in MINE. If your miracle working propensities are not functioning properly, it is ALWAYS because fear has intruded on your right-mindedness, and has literally upset it (or turned it upside-down). All forms of not-right-mindedness are the result of refusal to accept the Atonement FOR YOURSELF. If the miracle worker DOES accept it, he places himself in a position to recognize that those who need to be healed are simply those who have not realized that right-mindedness IS healing.

The SOLE responsibility of the miracle worker is to accept the Atonement for himself. This means that he recognizes that mind is the only creative level, and that its errors ARE healed by the Atonement. Once he accepts this, his mind can ONLY heal. By denying his mind any destructive potential, and reinstating its purely constructive powers, he has placed himself in a position where he can undo the level confusion of others. The message he then gives to others is the truth that THEIR minds are similarly constructive, and that THEIR miscreations cannot hurt them. By affirming this, the miracle worker releases the mind from overevaluating its own learning device (the body), and restores the mind to its true position as the learner.

It should be emphasized again that the body does not learn, any more than it creates. As a learning device it merely follows the learner, but if it is falsely endowed with self-initiative, it becomes a serious obstruction to the very learning it should facilitate. ONLY the mind is capable of illumination. The Soul is already illuminated, and the body in itself is too dense. The mind, however, can bring ITS illumination TO the body by recognizing that density is the opposite of intelligence, and therefore unamenable to independent learning. It is, however, easily brought into alignment with a mind which has learned to look beyond density toward light.

Corrective learning always begins with the awakening of the Spiritual eye, and the turning away from the belief in physical sight. The reason this so often entails fear is because man is afraid of what his Spiritual eye will see. We said before that the Spiritual eye cannot see error, and is capable only of looking beyond it to the defense of Atonement. There is no doubt that the Spiritual eye DOES produce extreme discomfort by what It sees. Yet what man forgets is that the discomfort is NOT the final outcome of Its perception. When the Spiritual eye is permitted to look upon the defilement of the altar, it also looks IMMEDIATELY toward the Atonement.

NOTHING the Spiritual eye perceives can induce fear. EVERYTHING that results from accurate spiritual awareness is merely channelized toward correction. Discomfort is aroused only to bring the NEED for correction forcibly into awareness. What the physical eye sees is NOT corrective, nor can it be corrected by ANY device which can be seen physically. As long as a man believes in what his physical sight tells him, ALL his corrective behavior will be misdirected. The REAL vision is obscured because man cannot endure to see his own defiled altar. But since the altar HAS been defiled, his state becomes doubly dangerous unless it IS perceived.

The fear of healing arises, in the end, from an unwillingness to accept the unequivocal fact that healing is necessary. Man is not willing to look on what he has done TO HIMSELF. Healing is an ability lent to man after the separation, before which it was completely unnecessary. Like all aspects of the space-time belief, healing ability is temporary. However, as long as time persists, healing is needed as a means for human protection. This is because healing rests on charity, and charity is a way of perceiving the perfection of another even if he cannot perceive it himself.

Most of the loftier concepts of which man is capable now are time-dependent. Charity is really a weaker reflection of a much more powerful love-encompassment which is FAR beyond any form of charity that man can conceive of as yet. Charity is essential to right-mindedness in the limited sense in which right-mindedness can now be attained. Charity is a way of looking at another AS IF he had already gone far beyond his actual accomplishments in time. Since his own thinking is faulty he cannot see the Atonement for himself, or he would have no need for charity. The charity which is accorded him is both an acknowledgment that he IS weak and a recognition that he COULD BE stronger.

The way in which both of these perceptions are stated clearly implies their dependence on time, making it quite apparent that charity lies within the human limitations, though toward its higher levels. We said before that only revelation transcends time. The miracle, as an expression of true human charity, can only shorten time at most. It must be understood, however, that whenever a man offers a miracle to another, he is shortening the suffering of BOTH. This introduces a correction into the whole record which corrects retroactively as well as progressively.

Fear as Lack of Love

You believe that "being afraid" is involuntary; something beyond your control. Yet I have told you several times that only CONSTRUCTIVE acts should be involuntary. We have said that Christ-control can take over everything that does NOT matter, while Christ-guidance can direct everything that DOES, if you so choose. Fear cannot be Christ-controlled, but it CAN be self-controlled. It PREVENTS me from controlling it. The correction is therefore a matter of YOUR will, because its presence shows that you have raised the UNIMPORTANT to a higher level than it warrants. You have thus brought it under YOUR will, where it does not belong. This means that YOU feel responsible for it. The level confusion here is obvious.

The reason I cannot control fear for you is that you are attempting to raise to the mind level the proper content of lower-order reality. I do not foster level confusion, but YOU can choose to correct it. You would not tolerate insane BEHAVIOR on your part, and would hardly advance the excuse that you could not help it. Why should you tolerate insane THINKING? There is a confusion here which you would do well to look at clearly. YOU believe that you are responsible for what you DO, but NOT for what you THINK. The truth is that you ARE responsible for what you think because it is only at this level that you CAN exercise choice. What you do COMES FROM what you think. You cannot separate yourself from the truth by "giving" autonomy to behavior. This is controlled by me automatically, as soon as you place what you think under my guidance. Whenever you are afraid, it is a sure sign that you have allowed your mind to miscreate, or have NOT allowed me to guide it. It is pointless to believe that controlling the OUTCOME of mis-thought can result in healing. When you are fearful you have willed wrongly. This is why you feel responsible for it. You must change your MIND, not your behavior, and this IS a matter of will.

You do not need guidance EXCEPT at the mind level. Correction belongs ONLY at the level where creation is possible. The term does not mean anything at the symptom level, where it cannot work. 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 which have brought the fear about. These conditions ALWAYS entail a separated mind willingness. At that level, you CAN help it. You are much too tolerant of mind wandering, thus passively condoning its miscreations. The particular result does not matter, but the fundamental error DOES. The correction is always the same. Before you will to do anything, ask me if your will is in accord with mine. If you are sure that it is, there will BE no fear.

Fear is always a sign of strain, which arises whenever the WILL to do conflicts with WHAT you do. This situation arises in two ways;

1. You can will to do conflicting things, either simultaneously or successively. This produces conflicted behavior, which is intolerable to yourself because the part of the will that wants to do something ELSE is outraged.

2. You can BEHAVE as you think you should, but without entirely WILLING to do so. This produces consistent behavior, but entails great strain WITHIN the self. In both cases, the will and the behavior are out of accord, resulting in a situation in which you are doing what you do NOT will. This arouses a sense of coercion, which usually produces rage. The rage then invades the mind, and projection in the wrong sense is likely to follow. Depression or anxiety is virtually certain.

Remember that whenever there is fear, it is because you have NOT MADE UP YOUR MIND. Your will is split, and your behavior inevitably becomes erratic. Correcting at the behavioral level can shift the error from the first to the second type of strain described above, but will NOT obliterate the fear. It is possible to reach a state in which you bring your will under my guidance without much conscious effort, but this implies habit patterns which you have not developed dependably as yet. God cannot ask MORE than you will. The strength to DO comes from your own undivided WILL to do. There is NO strain in doing God's Will as soon as you recognize that it is also your OWN.

The lesson here is quite simple, but particularly apt to be overlooked. I will therefore repeat it, urging you to listen. Only your MIND can produce fear. It does so whenever it is conflicted in what it wills, thus producing inevitable strain because willing and doing become discordant. This cannot be corrected by better DOING, but it CAN be corrected by higher WILLING.

The Correction for Lack of Love

The first corrective step is KNOW FIRST that this is an [expression of] fear. Then say to yourself that you must somehow have willed not to love [or] the fear which arises from behavior-will conflict could not have arisen, [then the] whole process is nothing more than a series of pragmatic steps in the [larger] process of accepting the Atonement as THE remedy. These steps can be summarized as follows:

1. Know first that this is fear.
2. Fear arises from lack of love.
3. The ONLY remedy for lack of love is perfect love.
4. Perfect love is the Atonement.

We have emphasized that the miracle, or the EXPRESSION of [Atonement] is always a sign of real respect FROM the worthy TO the worthy. This [worth is] re-established by the Atonement. It is obvious, then, that when you [are afraid] you have placed yourself in a position where you NEED Atonement, [because you] have done something loveless, having willed without love. This is [precisely] the situation for which the Atonement was offered. The need for the [remedy inspired] its creation. As long as you recognize only the need for the [remedy, you] will remain fearful. However, as soon as you REMEDY it, you have also [abolished] the fear. This is how true healing occurs.

Everyone experiences fear, and no-one enjoys it. Yet it would [take] very little right-thinking to realize why fear occurs. Very few people appreciate the real power of the mind, and no-one remains fully aware of [it all] the time. However, if anyone hopes to spare himself from fear, there [are some] things he must realize, and realize fully. The mind is a very powerful[ ___ ] and it never loses its creative force. It never sleeps. Every instant [it is] creating, and ALWAYS as you will. Many of your ordinary expressions reflect this. For example, when you say, "Don't give it a thought," you imply that [if] you do not think about something, it will have no effect on you. And [this is] true enough.

On the other hand, many other expressions clearly illustrate the prevailing LACK of awareness of thought-power. For example, you say, "Just an idle thought," and mean that the thought has no effect. You also speak of some actions as "thoughtless," implying that if the person had thought, he would not behave as he did. While expressions like "think big" give some recognition to the power of thought, they still come nowhere near the truth. You do not expect to grow when you say it, because you do not really think that you will.

It is hard to recognize that thought and belief combine into a power surge that can literally move mountains. It appears at first glance that to believe such power about yourself is merely arrogant, but that is not the real reason why you do not believe it. People PREFER to believe that their thoughts cannot exert real control because they are literally AFRAID of them. Many psychotherapists attempt to help people who are afraid, say, of their death wishes by depreciating the power of the wish. They even try to "free" the patient by persuading him that he can think whatever he wants without any REAL effect at all.

There is a real dilemma here which only the truly right-minded can escape. Death wishes do not kill in the physical sense, but they DO kill spiritual awareness. ALL destructive thinking is dangerous. Given a death wish, a man has no choice except to ACT upon the thought, or behave CONTRARY to it. He thus chooses only between homicide and fear. The other possibility is that he depreciates the power of his thought. This is the usual psychoanalytic approach. It DOES allay guilt, but at the cost of rendering thinking impotent. If you believe that what you think is ineffectual you may cease to be overly afraid of it, but you are hardly likely to respect it.

The world is full of examples of how man has depreciated himself because he is afraid of his own thoughts. In some forms of insanity thoughts are glorified, but this is only because the underlying depreciation was too effective for tolerance. The truth is that there ARE no "idle" thoughts. ALL thinking produces form at some level. The reason people are afraid of ESP and so often react against it is because they KNOW that thoughts can hurt them. Their own thoughts have made them vulnerable.

You who constantly complain about fear still persist in creating it. I told you before that you cannot ask ME to release you from fear because I KNOW it does not exist, but YOU do not. If I merely intervened between your thoughts and their results, I would be tampering with a basic law of cause and effect, the most fundamental law there is in this world. I would hardly help if I depreciated the power of your own thinking. This would be in direct opposition to the purpose of this course. It is much more helpful to remind you that you do not guard your thoughts carefully except for a small part of the day, and somewhat inconsistently even then. You may feel at this point that it would take a miracle to enable you to do this, which is perfectly true.

Men are not used to miraculous thinking, but they can be TRAINED to think that way. All miracle workers need that kind of training. I cannot let them leave their minds unguarded or they will not be able to help me. Miracle working entails a full realization of the power of thought, and real avoidance of miscreation. Otherwise a miracle will be necessary to set the mind ITSELF straight, a circular process which would hardly foster the time collapse for which the miracle was intended. Nor would it induce the healthy respect for true cause and effect which every miracle worker must have.

Both miracles AND fear come from thoughts, and if you were not free to choose one, you would also not be free to choose the other. By choosing the miracle you HAVE rejected fear. You have been afraid of God, of me, of yourselves, and of practically everyone you know at one time or another. This is because you have misperceived or miscreated us, and believe in what you have made. You would never have done this if you were not afraid of your own thoughts. The vulnerable are essentially miscreators because they misperceive creation.

You persist in believing that, when you do not consciously watch your mind, it is unmindful. It is time, however, to consider the whole world of the unconscious or "unwatched" mind. This may well frighten you because it is the SOURCE of fear. The unwatched mind is responsible for the whole content of the unconscious which lies ABOVE the miracle level. All psychoanalytic theorists have made some contribution in this connection, but none of them has seen it in its true entirety. They have all made one common error in that they attempted to uncover unconscious CONTENT. You cannot understand unconscious activity in these terms because "content" is applicable ONLY to the more superficial unconscious levels, to which the individual himself contributes. This is the level at which he can readily introduce fear, and usually does.

When man miscreates he is in pain. The cause and effect principle here is temporarily a real expeditor. Actually, "Cause" is a term properly belonging to God, and "Effect," which should also be capitalized, is His Son. This entails a set of Cause and Effect relationships which are totally different from those which man introduced into his own miscreations. The fundamental opponents in the real basic conflict are Creation and miscreation. ALL FEAR is implicit in the second, just as all LOVE is inherent in the first. Because of this difference, the basic conflict IS one between love and fear.

It has already been said that man believes he CANNOT control fear because he himself created it. His belief in it seems to render it out of his control by definition. Yet any attempt to resolve the basic conflict through the concept of MASTERY of fear is meaningless. In fact, it asserts the POWER of fear by the simple assumption that it NEED be mastered. The essential resolution rests entirely on the mastery of LOVE. In the interim, the SENSE of conflict is inevitable, since man has placed himself in a strangely illogical position. He believes in the power of what does not exist.

Two concepts which CANNOT coexist are "nothing" and "everything." To whatever extent one is believed in, the other HAS BEEN denied. In the conflict fear is really nothing, and love is everything. This is because whenever light enters darkness, the darkness IS abolished. What man believes IS true for him. In this sense the separation HAS occurred, and to deny this is merely to misuse denial. However, to concentrate on error is merely a further misuse of defenses. The true corrective procedure is to recognize error temporarily, but ONLY as an indication that IMMEDIATE correction is mandatory. This establishes a state of mind in which the Atonement can be accepted WITHOUT delay.

It should be emphasized, however, that ultimately there IS no compromise possible between everything and nothing. Time is essentially a device by which all compromise in this respect can be given up. It seems to be abolished by degrees because time itself involves a concept of intervals which do not really exist. The faulty use of creation made this necessary as a corrective device." And God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish, but have eternal life" needs only one slight correction to be entirely meaningful in this context. It should read, "He gave it TO His only begotten Son."

It should especially be noted that God has only ONE Son. If all the Souls God created ARE His Sons, then every Soul MUST be an integral part of the whole Sonship. You do not find the concept that the whole is greater than its parts difficult to understand. You should, therefore, not have too much trouble in understanding this. The Sonship in its Oneness DOES transcend the sum of its parts. However, this is obscured as long as any of its parts are missing. That is why the conflict cannot ultimately be resolved until ALL the parts of the Sonship have returned. Only then can the meaning of wholeness, in the true sense, be fully understood.

Any part of the Sonship can believe in error or incompleteness, if he so elects. However, if he does so, he is believing in the existence of nothingness. The correction of this error is the Atonement. We have already briefly spoken about readiness, but there are some additional points which might be helpful here. Readiness is nothing more than the PREREQUISITE for accomplishment. The two should not be confused. As soon as a state of readiness occurs, there is usually some will to accomplish, but this is by no means necessarily undivided. The state does not imply more than a POTENTIAL for a shift of will.

Confidence cannot develop fully until mastery has been accomplished. We have already attempted to correct the fundamental error that fear can be mastered, and have emphasized that only LOVE can be mastered. You have attested only to your readiness. Mastery of love involved a much more complete confidence than either of you has attained. However, the readiness at least is an indication that you believe this is possible. That is only the beginning of confidence. In case this be misunderstood to imply that an enormous amount of time will be necessary between readiness and mastery, let me remind you that time and space are under my control.

One of the chief ways in which man can correct his magic-miracle confusion is to remember that he did not create himself. He is apt to forget this when he becomes egocentric, and this places him in a position where the belief in magic in some form is virtually inevitable. His will to create was given him by his own Creator, Who was expressing the same Will in His Creation. Since creative ability rests in the mind, everything that man creates is necessarily a matter of will. It also follows that whatever he creates is real in his own sight, but not necessarily in the Sight of God. This basic distinction leads us directly into the real meaning of the Last Judgment.

The Meaning of the Last Judgment

The Last Judgment is one of the greatest threat concepts in man's perception. This is only because he does not understand it. Judgment is not an essential attribute of God. Man brought judgment into being only because of the separation. After the separation, however, there WAS a place for judgment as one of the many learning devices which had to be built into the overall plan. Just as the separation occurred over many millions of years, the Last Judgment will extend over a similarly long period, and perhaps an even longer one. Its length depends, however, on the effectiveness of the present speed-up.

We have frequently noted that the miracle is a device for shortening but not abolishing time. If a sufficient number of people become truly miracle-minded quickly, the shortening process can be almost immeasurable. It is essential, however, that these individuals free themselves from fear sooner than would ordinarily be the case, because they must emerge from the conflict if they are to bring peace to other minds.

The Last Judgment is generally thought of as a procedure undertaken by God. Actually it will be undertaken by man, with my help. It is a Final Healing, rather than a meting out of punishment, however much man may think that punishment is deserved. Punishment is a concept in TOTAL opposition to right-mindedness. The aim of the Last Judgment is to RESTORE right-mindedness to man.

The Last Judgment might be called a process of right evaluation. It simply means that finally all men will come to understand what is worthy and what is not. After this, their ability to choose can be directed reasonably. Until this distinction is made, however, the vacillations between free and imprisoned will cannot BUT continue. The first step toward freedom MUST entail a sorting out of the false from the true. This is a process of division only in the constructive sense, and reflects the true meaning of the Apocalypse. Man will ultimately look upon his own creations and will to preserve only what is good, just as God Himself looked upon what He had created and knew that it WAS good.

At this point, the will can begin to look with love on its own creations because of their great worthiness. The mind will inevitably disown its miscreations which, without the mind's belief, will no longer exist. The term "Last Judgment" is frightening not only because it has been falsely projected onto God, but also because of the association of "last" with death. This is an outstanding example of upside-down perception. Actually, if the meaning of the Last Judgment is objectively examined, it is quite apparent that it is really the doorway to life.

No-one who lives in fear is really alive. His own last judgment cannot be directed toward himself because he is not his own creation. He can, however, apply it meaningfully and at ANY time to everything he has created, and retain in his memory ONLY what is good. This is what his right-mindedness cannot BUT dictate. The purpose of time is solely to "give him time" to achieve this judgment. It is his own perfect judgment of his own creations. When everything he retains is loveable, there IS no reason for fear to remain with him. This IS his part in the Atonement.

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