In this A Course in Miracles talk,
I will explore the nature of reality,
Which will take us deeper into the Course's teachings on metaphysics,
Or truth and illusion.
Lesson 139 states,
Everyone in this world seems to have his own special problems,
Yet they are all the same and must be recognized as one,
If the one solution that solves them all is to be accepted.
The temptation to keep the problems as many is the temptation to keep the problem of separation from God unsolved.
If you could recognize that your only problem is separation,
No matter what form it takes,
You would accept the answer because you would see its relevance.
This lesson summarizes some of the teachings of A Course in Miracles about the nature of reality.
These teachings are central to understanding that everything we experience comes from a mental origin.
We live in a mental,
Not a physical universe,
And everything is an idea.
By changing our mind,
We can change the way we perceive the world,
Our body,
Disease and suffering,
And achieve a state of inner peace and joy.
The ideas presented here may seem quite strange and even shocking.
However,
It is important to grasp these principles in order to reach an understanding of the cause of disease.
I experienced great difficulty when I first studied the metaphysics of the Course.
In fact,
I took the advice of my ego and denied that there were any metaphysics in the Course,
Even though I had read and re-read them for some time.
It was not until Ken and Gloria Wapnick came to the Fintorn Foundation to give a workshop that I seriously looked at my fear around this issue.
Like most people,
I carried a comforting image of a kind Father God who had created the universe and was looking after it,
All including me.
As I began to study this area of the Course,
An altogether different picture emerged.
I came to see that the metaphysics in the Course were at the heart of its teachings,
And that it is a wonderful message of hope.
It has given me a key to understand the cause of our suffering and where true healing must take place.
Lesson 331 teaches us that This world you seem to live in is not home to you.
Our reality is not in this world of form,
Which is made within the confines of space and time.
Here we experience separation,
Limits,
Imperfections and death.
What God created is like himself,
Perfect,
Eternal,
Limitless,
Formless and changeless.
This is who we really are,
And this can never be harmed by what we do.
We are ideas in the mind of God,
And were created perfect for all eternity.
Lesson 326 states Father,
I was created in your mind,
A holy thought that never left its home.
I am forever your effect,
And you forever and forever are my cause.
As you created me,
I have remained.
Where you established me,
I still abide.
And all your attributes abide in me,
Because it is your will.
Our true home in heaven and our true function is co-creation with God.
Heaven is not a place,
But a state of perfect unity between God and his creation,
Christ or Son of God.
The text states Heaven is not a place nor a condition.
It is merely an awareness of perfect oneness and the knowledge that there is nothing else.
Heaven cannot be described using language,
For language pertains to the world of form.
Heaven can only be experienced in this world through revelation,
Which is a mystical experience.
In our world we learn through our senses,
Whilst in heaven there is no learning,
For we were given everything at our creation.
Learning implies time,
And there is no time in heaven.
You may be wondering,
If the abstract perfection of heaven is our true home,
What then are we doing in this imperfect world of form?
Although this is a good question,
It does imply that we really are here,
And that separation from God is a fact.
The text states that we have fallen asleep in heaven and are dreaming of this separated state.
It says,
You dwell not here but in eternity.
You travel but in dreams,
While safe at home.
You are at home in God,
Dreaming of exile,
But perfectly capable of awakening to reality.
Thus our whole lives are spent in dreams.
When we wake up in the morning,
We still continue to dream,
But in other forms.
Our waking dream seems very real to us,
And the Course does not ask us to deny what we believe.
However,
Through the practice of forgiveness,
We can begin to undo our belief in separation,
And start the process of waking up,
Until finally we regain our awareness of heaven.
The ego is a thought we have created in our mind.
It is the idea that separation from God is possible to achieve.
The text states,
Into eternity,
Where all is one,
There crept a tiny mad idea,
At which the Son of God remembered not to laugh.
This idea that there could be something different from the perfect unity of heaven,
And that we could take the role of God away from him,
Is impossible to achieve.
However,
It is possible to dream that we have achieved it,
And this is what we have done.
Our universe has become the ego's playground,
Where it can pretend that it is God.
Our true function of co-creation with God has been replaced by the miscreation of our ego.
This universe is not physically nature,
But is an idea in the mind of the sleeper's mind.
It is an idea in the mind of the sleeping Son of God.
And ideas can be changed.
Question 4 in the clarification of terms in the manual states,
The world you see is an illusion of a world.
God did not create it,
For what he creates must be eternal as himself.
Yet there is nothing in the world you see that will endure forever.
Some things will last in time a little while longer than others.
But the time will come when all things visible will have an end.
For reasons we cannot fully comprehend,
Part of the mind of Christ fell asleep,
And dreamt that separation from his Father had been achieved.
The Son's mind is analogous to a film projector,
Into which a film of separation has been loaded.
These thoughts become projected images,
Out there so to speak,
In the world,
Which are now perceived as separate objects.
We believe we are on this screen,
Moving around in the physical universe.
Not only do we now believe we have achieved our desire to be a creator like God,
We also believe we have stolen God's power and taken his function.
The universe now serves a dual function,
For as well as proving that we have succeeded in doing better than God,
It also acts as a place where God cannot enter,
And thus saves us from his avenging anger.
The text states,
The body is a tiny fence around a little part of a glorious and complete idea.
It draws a circle,
Infinitely small,
Around a very little segment of heaven,
Splintered from the whole,
But claiming that within it is your kingdom,
Where God can enter not.
What I have described above is not in our conscious awareness.
We cannot tolerate the memory of what we think we have done to God.
In our arrogance we think we have smashed heaven into thousands of pieces,
And created a better alternative in its place.
This insane belief produces a deep sense of wrongdoing,
Which the Course refers to as sin,
And we have denied and pushed this deeply into our unconscious mind.
But to deny something does not prevent it having power over us.
This sense of sin produces a deep sense of guilt,
This sense of sin produces guiltiness,
And a fear of justified punishment for our wrongdoing.
The Course states that this is the origin of our feelings of inferiority,
Self-hate,
Lack of self-worth and bodily disease.
Every problem we think we have,
Whether psychological or physical,
Can be traced to just one problem,
The belief that we have separated from our Creator.
It would be impossible to wake up from this convincing dream without the presence of the Holy Spirit in our mind.
As we fell asleep in heaven,
God placed the Holy Spirit in our mind as a correction for our dream.
The Course calls this plan of correction the Atonement,
And its goal is to undo our belief in the ego's thought of separation.
The Holy Spirit is variously referred to in the Course as the Voice for God,
Teacher,
Comforter,
Guide and Mediator.
His shining presence in our mind can undo all our ego dreams of darkness,
If we but turn to Him for help.
Because of the presence of the Holy Spirit,
In one part of our mind,
We cannot completely forget our real home.
The text states,
Listen,
Perhaps you catch a hint of an ancient state not quite forgotten,
Dim perhaps,
And yet not altogether unfamiliar,
Like a song whose name is long forgotten,
And the circumstances in which you heard completely unremembered.
Not the whole song has stayed with you,
But just a little whispered melody,
Attached not to a person or a place,
Or anything in particular,
But you remember,
From just this little part,
How lovely was the song,
How wonderful the setting where you heard it,
And how you loved those who were there and listened with you.
When the thought of separation was taken seriously,
The One Mindedness of Christ appeared to fragment into three parts,
The ego,
The Holy Spirit,
And the Decision Maker,
Or Sleeping Son of God.
The term Decision Maker originated from Kenneth Wapnick,
And although it is not used in the Course,
It is implied throughout the book.
Every moment of our day,
The Decision Maker chooses to listen either to the voice of the ego,
Or the voice of the Holy Spirit.
The ego tells us that separation has happened,
The world is real,
The body is our home,
And we must defend and attack to get our needs met.
The Holy Spirit's counsel is that this world is not real,
Our home is in heaven,
Our reality is formed of Spirit,
And the world is but a classroom,
Where we can learn our lessons of forgiveness,
And awaken from our nightmare.
The text states,
The ego made the world as it perceives it,
But the Holy Spirit,
The reinterpreter of what the ego made,
Sees the world as a teaching device for bringing you home.
This lesson has been a deeper exploration of the metaphysics of the Course.
It is a necessary lesson for us to understand the world as it perceives it.
It is a necessary foundation for what is to come,
As we explore the ego's world of denial,
Sin,
Guilt and fear,
The bodily sickness produced by these states of mind,
And how forgiveness heals the mind,
And therefore the body,
And brings inner peace,
The prerequisite for spiritual awakening.
As we slowly learn to allow the love of the Holy Spirit,
To undo the ego's thought system,
We shall begin to awaken from our dream of separation from God.
The peace of God will begin to return to our mind,
And we shall use our body as a vehicle for loving communication.
As we lose our belief that we are sinful creatures,
Our body will automatically experience good health and vitality.
We shall come to perceive it simply as an instrument of learning for the mind,
With no intrinsic value in itself.
When we have completed all our lessons of forgiveness,
We shall be happy to lay our body aside.
Question 4 in the clarification of terms in the manual states,
O my brothers,
If you only knew the peace that will envelop you,
And hold you safe and pure,
And lovely in the mind of God,
You could but rush to meet Him where His altar is.
Hallowed your name,
And His,
For they are joined here in this holy place.
Here He leans down to lift you up to Him,
Out of illusions into holiness,
Out of the world and to eternity,
Out of all fear and given back to love.
