A Course In Miracles - Chapter 11, Section VIII

ACIM is read one section at a time. It is a guidebook leading us back to our true natures, as we open to the awareness of love's presence. All quoted material is from A Course in Miracles, copyright ©1992, 1999, 2007 by the Foundation for Inner Peace, publisher, and the copyright holder. This material is used with permission.

Glossary-Index for a Course In Miracles, 8th edition, Kenneth Wapnick, Ph.D.

Music by Bensound.

Transcript

Hi,

I'm Teresa Hubbard.

Welcome back to our continued reading of the text,

To A Course in Miracles.

We continue today in Chapter 11,

God or the Ego?

Section 8,

The Problem and the Answer.

To summarize my takeaways,

In Section 8 of Chapter 11,

We are lovingly reminded that we do not know the meaning of anything we perceive.

Not one thought we hold is wholly true.

Yet the recognition of this is our firm beginning.

We must come to know that we are not misguided.

We have accepted no guide at all.

Little children perceive frightening ghosts and monsters and dragons and are terrified.

But when they ask someone they trust for the meaning of what they perceive and are willing to let their own interpretations go in favor of reality,

Their fear goes too.

When a child is then helped to translate his ghost into a curtain,

His monster into a shadow,

And his dragon into a dream,

He is no longer afraid and laughs happily at his own fear.

We too must not make the mistake of believing that we understand what we perceive.

For while we think we know what its meaning is,

We will see no need to ask its meaning of the Holy Spirit.

We are afraid of our brothers,

Of our father,

And of ourself,

But we are merely deceived in them.

It is not the reality of our brothers or our father or ourself that frightens us.

We do not know what they are,

And so we perceive them as ghosts and monsters and dragons.

We must ask what their reality is from the One who knows,

And hearing His answer,

We too will laugh at our fears and replace them with peace.

We must not be deceived in God's Son,

For He is one with Himself and one with His Father.

We must love Him who is beloved of His Father,

And we will learn of the Father's love for us.

When we perceive ourself without deceit,

We will accept the real world in place of the false one we have made.

And then our Father will lean down to us and take the last step for us by raising us unto Himself.

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.

Reality Pure spirit,

Which is changeless,

Eternal,

Formless and boundless.

Reality is also referred to in the course as heaven or the kingdom of God.

Real world Through total forgiveness,

We are released from our perception of guilt allowing us to see through the vision of Christ,

Which blesses rather than condemns.

Perception What we see inwardly determines what we see outside of us.

This then is our perception which we project onto the world around us.

Holy Spirit The communication link between God and us,

Bridging the gap between the mind of Christ and our human minds.

The voice for God.

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 onto the reading.

A Course in Miracles Chapter 11 God or the Ego Question 8.

The Problem and the Answer This is a very simple course.

Perhaps you do not feel you need a course which in the end teaches that only reality is true.

But do you believe it?

When you perceive the real world,

You will recognize that you did not believe it.

Yet the swiftness with which your new and only real perception will be translated into knowledge will leave you but an instant to realize that this alone is true.

And then everything you made will be forgotten.

The good and the bad,

The false and the true.

For as heaven and earth become one,

Even the real world will vanish from your sight.

The end of the world is not its destruction,

But its translation into heaven.

The reinterpretation of the world is the transfer of all perception to knowledge.

The Bible tells you to become as little children.

Little children recognize that they do not understand what they perceive,

And so they ask what it means.

Do not make the mistake of believing that you understand what you perceive,

For its meaning is lost to you.

Yet the Holy Spirit has saved its meaning for you,

And if you will let Him interpret it,

He will restore to you what you have thrown away.

Yet while you think you know its meaning,

You will see no need to ask it of Him.

You do not know the meaning of anything you perceive.

Not one thought you hold is wholly true.

The recognition of this is your firm beginning.

You are not misguided.

You have accepted no guide at all.

Instruction in perception is your great need,

For you understand nothing.

Recognize this,

But do not accept it,

For understanding is your inheritance.

Perceptions are learned,

And you are not without a teacher.

Yet your willingness to learn of Him depends on your willingness to question everything you learned of yourself.

For you who learned amiss should not be your own teacher.

No one can withhold truth except from himself,

Yet God will not refuse you the answer He gave.

Ask then,

For what is yours,

But which you did not make?

And do not defend yourself against truth.

You made the problem God has answered.

Ask yourself therefore one simple question.

Do I want the problem,

Or do I want the answer?

Decide for the answer,

And you will have it,

For you will see it as it is,

And it is yours already.

You may complain that this course is not sufficiently specific for you to understand and use.

Yet perhaps you have not done what it specifically advocates.

This is not a course in the play of ideas,

But in their practical application.

Nothing could be more specific than to be told that if you ask,

You will receive.

The Holy Spirit will answer every specific problem,

As long as you believe that problems are specific.

His answer is both many and one,

As long as you believe that the one is many.

You may be afraid of His specificity,

For fear of what you think it will demand of you.

Yet only by asking will you learn that nothing of God demands anything of you.

God gives,

He does not take.

When you refuse to ask,

It is because you believe that asking is taking rather than sharing.

The Holy Spirit will give you only what is yours,

And will take nothing in return.

For what is yours is everything,

And you share it with God.

That is its reality.

Would the Holy Spirit,

Who wills only to restore,

Be capable of misinterpreting the question you must ask to learn His answer?

You have heard the answer,

But you have misunderstood the question.

You believe that to ask for guidance of the Holy Spirit is to ask for deprivation.

Little child of God,

You do not understand your Father.

You believe in a world that takes,

Because you believe that you can get by taking.

And by that perception,

You have lost sight of the real world.

You are afraid of the world as you see it,

But the real world is still yours for the asking.

Do not deny it to yourself,

For it can only free you.

Nothing of God will enslave His Son,

Whom He created free,

And whose freedom is protected by His being.

Blessed are you who are willing to ask the truth of God without fear,

For only thus can you learn that His answer is the release from fear.

Little child of God,

You are asking only for what I promised you.

Do you believe I would deceive you?

The kingdom of heaven is within you.

Believe that the truth is in me,

For I know that it is in you.

God's sons have nothing they do not share.

Ask for truth of any son of God,

And you have asked it of me.

Not one of us but has the answer in Him,

To give to anyone who asks it of Him.

Ask anything of God's Son,

And His Father will answer you.

For Christ is not deceived in His Father,

And His Father is not deceived in Him.

Do not then be deceived in your brother,

And see only his loving thoughts as his reality.

For by denying that his mind is split,

You will heal yours.

Accept him as his Father accepts him,

And heal him unto Christ.

For Christ is his healing and yours.

Christ is the Son of God,

Who is in no way separate from His Father,

Whose every thought is as loving as the thought of His Father by which He was created.

Be not deceived in God's Son,

For thereby you must be deceived in yourself.

And being deceived in yourself,

You are deceived in your Father,

In whom no deceit is possible.

In the real world there is no sickness,

For there is no separation and no division.

Only loving thoughts are recognized,

And because no one is without your help,

The help of God goes with you everywhere.

As you become willing to accept this help by asking for it,

You will give it,

Because you want it.

Nothing will be beyond your healing power,

Because nothing will be denied your simple request.

What problems will not disappear in the presence of God's answer?

Ask then to learn of the reality of your brother,

Because this is what you will perceive in him,

And you will see your beauty reflected in his.

Do not accept your brother's variable perception of himself,

For his split mind is yours,

And you will not accept your healing without his.

For you share the real world as you share heaven,

And his healing is yours.

To love yourself is to heal yourself,

And you cannot perceive part of you as sick and deceive your goal.

Brother we heal together as we live together and love together.

Be not deceived in God's Son,

For he is one with himself and one with his Father.

Love him who is beloved of his Father,

And you will learn of the Father's love for you.

If you perceive offense in your brother,

Pluck the offense from your mind,

For you are offended by Christ and are deceived in him.

Be still in Christ,

And be not offended by him,

For there is no offense in him.

If what you perceive offends you,

You are offended in yourself and are condemning God's Son,

Whom God condemneth not.

Let the Holy Spirit remove all offenses of God's Son against himself,

And perceive no one but through his guidance,

For he would save you from all condemnation.

Accept his healing power and use it for all he sends you,

For he wills to heal the Son of God,

In whom he is not deceived.

Children perceive frightening ghosts and monsters and dragons,

And they are terrified.

Yet if they ask someone they trust for the meaning of what they perceive,

And are willing to let their own interpretations go in favor of reality,

Their fears go with them.

When a child is helped to translate his ghost into a curtain,

His monster into a shadow,

And his dragon into a dream,

He is no longer afraid,

And happily laughs at his own fear.

You,

My child,

Are afraid of your brothers and of your father and of yourself,

But you are merely deceived in them.

Ask what they are of the Teacher of Reality,

And hearing his answer,

You too will laugh at your fears and replace them with peace.

For fear lies not in reality,

But in the minds of children who do not understand reality.

It is only their lack of understanding that frightens them,

And when they learn to perceive truly,

They are not afraid.

And because of this,

They will ask for truth again when they are frightened.

It is not the reality of your brothers or your father or yourself that frightens you.

You do not know what they are,

And so you perceive them as ghosts and monsters and dragons.

Ask what their reality is from the One who knows it,

And He will tell you what they are.

For you do not understand them,

And because you are deceived by what you see,

You need reality to dispel your fears.

Would you not exchange your fears for truth,

If the exchange is yours for the asking?

For if God is not deceived in you,

You can be deceived only in yourself.

Yet you can learn the truth about yourself from the Holy Spirit,

Who will teach you that as part of God,

Deceit is not in you.

When you perceive yourself without deceit,

You will accept the real world in place of the false one you have made.

And then your Father will lean down to you and take the last step for you,

By raising you unto Himself.