Hi,
I'm Teresa Hubbard.
Welcome back to our continued reading of the text to A Course in Miracles.
We continue today in Chapter 10,
The Idols of Sickness.
Section 2,
The Decision to Forget.
To summarize my takeaways,
In Section 2 of Chapter 10,
We are reminded that all attack is self-attack.
Arising from our decision not to recognize what we are,
It is an attack on our identification.
For when we attack,
We are denying ourself,
And are specifically teaching ourself that we are not what we are.
Yet,
Nothing is beyond God's will for us.
If we signify our will to remember Him,
Behold,
He will give us everything but for the asking.
We must then offer the Holy Spirit only our willingness to remember.
For He retains the knowledge of God and of ourselves for us,
Waiting for our acceptance.
We are invited to give up gladly everything that would stand in the way of our remembering,
For God is in our memory.
His voice will tell us that we are part of Him,
When we are willing to remember Him,
And know our own reality again.
Let nothing in this world delay our remembering of Him,
For in this remembering,
Is the knowledge of ourself.
I invite you to keep a few things in mind as you listen to the reading.
The Course uses male pronouns,
Yet this is simply a way of pointing to the spiritual being,
Having no gender.
The Course is written in first person,
And although not introduced directly to the reader,
It becomes clear that the words are from Jesus,
Often quoting from the Bible.
The Course uses traditional Christian terms in a non-traditional manner.
These words are simply pointers to truth,
Nothing more.
A few terms you will hear within this reading.
Knowledge and Perception.
These terms were introduced to us back in section 3 of chapter 3,
Where we were shown the difference between perception and knowledge.
Knowledge is power,
Because it is certain,
And certainty is strength.
Knowledge comes to us from God,
And provides the strength for creative thinking.
To create as God creates,
We must know what we are creating,
And accept it as ours.
Perception,
On the other hand,
Is temporary.
We can see in many ways,
Because perception involves interpretation,
Which means it is not whole or consistent.
Holy Spirit.
The communication link between God and us.
Bridging the gap between the mind of Christ and our human minds.
Through this bridge,
Our worldly perception of sin,
Guilt,
And fear is transformed into the reality of love and forgiveness.
God,
The Creator.
The source of all being,
Or life.
God's essence is Spirit,
Which is shared with all creation.
Yet,
The word God can be limiting,
Since universal energy and life are infinitely vast,
And cannot be contained in a word.
And now,
On to the reading.
A Course in Miracles,
Chapter 10.
The Idols of Sickness.
Section 2.
The Decision to Forget.
Unless you first know something,
You cannot dissociate it.
Knowledge must precede dissociation,
So that dissociation is nothing more than a decision to forget.
What has been forgotten,
Then,
Appears to be fearful,
But only because the dissociation is an attack on truth.
You are fearful because you have forgotten,
And you have replaced your knowledge by an awareness of the truth.
You have replaced your knowledge by an awareness of dreams,
Because you are afraid of your dissociation,
Not of what you have dissociated.
When what you have dissociated is accepted,
It ceases to be fearful.
Yet,
To give up the dissociation of reality brings more than merely lack of fear.
In this decision lie joy and peace,
And the glory of creation.
Offer the Holy Spirit only your willingness to remember,
For He retains the knowledge of God and of yourself for you,
Waiting for your acceptance.
Give up gladly everything that would stand in the way of your remembering,
For God is in your memory.
His voice will tell you that you are part of Him when you are willing to remember Him,
And know your own reality again.
Let nothing in this world delay your remembering of Him,
For in this remembering is the knowledge of yourself.
To remember is merely to restore to your mind what is already there.
You do not make what you remember.
You merely accept again what is already there,
But was rejected.
The ability to accept truth in this world is the perceptual counterpart of creating in the Kingdom.
God will do His part if you will do yours,
And His return in exchange for yours is the exchange of knowledge for perception.
Nothing is beyond His will for you,
But signify your will to remember Him and behold,
He will give you everything but for the asking.
When you attack,
You are denying yourself.
You are specifically teaching yourself that you are not what you are.
Your denial of reality precludes the acceptance of God's gift,
Because you have accepted something else in its place.
If you understand that this is always an attack on truth,
And truth is God,
You will realize why it is always fearful.
If you further recognize that you are part of God,
You will understand why it is that you always attack yourself first.
All attack is self-attack.
It cannot be anything else.
Arising from your own decision not to be what you are,
It is an attack on your identification.
Attack is thus the way in which your identification is lost,
Because when you attack,
You must have forgotten what you are.
And if your reality is God's,
When you attack,
You are not remembering Him.
This is not because He is gone,
But because you are actively choosing not to remember Him.
If you realize the complete havoc this makes of your peace of mind,
You could not make such an insane decision.
You make it only because you still believe it can get you something you want.
It follows,
Then,
That you want something other than peace of mind,
But you have not considered what it must be.
Yet the logical outcome of your decision is perfectly clear,
If you will only look at it.
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 Him.
