A Course In Miracles - Chapter 12, Section III
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 12,
The Holy Spirit�s Curriculum.
Section 3,
The Investment in Reality.
To summarize my takeaways,
In Section 3 of Chapter 12,
Jesus,
Our brother and guide,
Tells us that when he asked us to sell all we have and give to the poor and follow him,
He was teaching us that if we have no investment in anything in this world,
We can teach the poor where their treasure lies.
We are asked to consider how perfectly our lesson would be learned if we were unwilling to share our brother�s poverty.
We must recognize what does not matter.
And if a brother asks for something outrageous,
We must offer it,
Because it does not matter.
By refusing,
Our opposition establishes that it does matter to us.
Insistence means investment,
And what we invest in is always related to our notion of salvation.
Poverty is of the ego and never of God.
Any response to our brothers,
Other than love,
Arises from a confusion about the what and how of salvation,
And places us among the poor that do not understand that we dwell in abundance.
The world we made is what we do not want projected from our mind because we are afraid of it.
Yet this world is only in the mind of the maker.
We must not believe it is outside of ourselves,
For only by recognizing where it is will we gain control over it.
We must bring our perceptions of the world we made to the altar of God,
For it is the altar of truth.
Christ has placed the atonement on the altar for us.
There we will see our vision changed,
And there we will learn to see truly.
Yet to find this altar,
We must relinquish our investment in the world as we project it,
Allowing the Holy Spirit to extend the real world to us from the altar of God.
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.
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.
We are saved from our belief in sin and guilt through the change of mind that forgiveness and the miracle bring about.
The Holy Spirit's plan of correction,
Healing our minds from the earthly world of illusion to God's world of truth.
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.
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.
This definition was extracted in part from Glossary of Terms from A Course in Miracles written by Robert Perry.
This useful tool can be found at circleofa.
Org under the tab Resources.
ALTER.
Not an external structure,
But an attitude.
It represents the part of our minds that chooses the world of God,
Truth,
Or chooses instead the earthly world,
Illusion.
Whatever attitude we choose,
That is our alter.
And now,
On to the reading.
A Course in Miracles Chapter 12 – The Holy Spirit's Curriculum Section 3 – The Investment in Reality I once asked you to sell all you have and give to the poor and follow me.
This is what I meant.
If you have no investment in anything in this world,
You can teach the poor where their treasure is.
The poor are merely those who have invested wrongly,
And they are poor indeed.
Because they are in need,
It is given you to help them,
Since you are among them.
Consider how perfectly your lesson would be learned if you were unwilling to share their poverty.
For poverty is lack,
And there is but one lack,
Since there is but one need.
Suppose a brother insists on having you do something you think you do not want to do.
This very insistence should tell you that he believes salvation lies in it.
If you insist on refusing,
And experience a quick response of opposition,
You are believing that your salvation lies in not doing it.
You then are making the same mistake he is,
And are making his error real to both of you.
This means investment.
And what you invest in is always related to your notion of salvation.
The question is always twofold.
First,
What is to be saved?
And second,
How can it be saved?
Whenever you become angry with a brother,
For whatever reason,
You are believing that the ego is to be saved,
And to be saved by attack.
If he attacks,
You are agreeing with this belief.
And if you attack,
You are reinforcing it.
Remember that those who attack are poor.
Their poverty asks for gifts,
Not for further impoverishment.
You who could help them are surely acting destructively if you accept their poverty as yours.
If you had not invested as they had,
It would never occur to you to overlook their need.
That's what does not matter.
And if your brothers ask you for something outrageous,
Do it,
Because it does not matter.
Refuse and your opposition establishes that it does matter to you.
It is only you,
Therefore,
Who have made the request outrageous.
And every request of a brother is for you.
Why would you insist in denying him?
For to do so is to deny yourself and impoverish both.
He is asking for salvation,
As you are.
Poverty is of the ego,
And never of God.
No outrageous request can be made of one who recognizes what is valuable,
And wants to accept nothing else.
Salvation is for the mind,
And it is attained through peace.
This is the only thing that can be saved,
And the only way to save it.
Any response other than love arises from a confusion about the what and the how of salvation,
And this is the only answer.
Never lose sight of this,
And never allow yourself to believe,
Even for an instant,
That there is another answer.
For you will surely place yourself among the poor who do not understand that they dwell in abundance and that salvation has come.
To identify with the ego is to attack yourself and make yourself poor.
That is why everyone who identifies with the ego feels deprived.
What he experiences,
Then,
Is depression or anger,
Because what he did was to exchange self-love for self-hate,
Making him afraid of himself.
He does not realize this.
Even if he is fully aware of anxiety,
He does not perceive its source as his own ego identification,
And he always tries to handle it by making some sort of insane arrangement with the world.
He always perceives this world as outside himself,
For this is crucial to his adjustment.
He does not realize that he makes this world,
For there is no world outside of him.
If only the loving thoughts of God's Son are the world's reality,
The real world must be in his mind.
His insane thoughts,
Too,
Must be in his mind.
But an internal conflict of this magnitude he cannot tolerate.
A split mind is endangered,
And the recognition that it encompasses completely opposed thoughts within itself is intolerable.
Therefore,
The mind projects the split,
Not the reality.
Everything you perceive as the outside world is merely your attempt to maintain your ego identification,
For everyone believes that identification is salvation.
Yet consider what has happened,
For thoughts do have consequences to the thinker.
You have become at odds with the world as you perceive it,
Because you think it is antagonistic to you.
This is a necessary consequence of what you have done.
You have projected outward what is antagonistic to what is inward,
And therefore you would have to perceive it this way.
That is why you must realize that your hatred is in your mind and not outside it before you can get rid of it.
And why you must get rid of it before you can perceive the world as it really is.
I said before that God so loved the world that he gave it to his only begotten Son.
God does love the real world,
And those who perceive its reality cannot see the world of death.
For death is not of the real world,
In which everything reflects the eternal.
God gave you the real world in exchange for the one you made,
Out of your split mind,
And which is the symbol of death.
For if you could really separate yourself from the mind of God,
You would die.
The world you perceive is a world of separation.
Perhaps you are willing to accept even death to deny your Father,
Yet he would not have it so,
And so it is not so.
You still cannot will against him,
And that is why you have no control over the world you made.
It is not a world of will,
Because it is governed by the desire to be unlike God,
And this desire is not will.
The world you made is therefore totally chaotic,
Governed by arbitrary and senseless laws,
Without meaning of any kind.
For it is made out of what you do not want,
Projected from your mind because you are afraid of it.
Yet this world is only in the mind of its maker,
Along with his real salvation.
Do not believe it is outside of yourself,
For only by recognizing where it is,
Will you gain control over it.
For you do have control over your mind,
Since the mind is the mechanism of decision.
If you will recognize that all the attack you perceive is in your own mind and nowhere else,
You will at last have placed its source,
And where it begins,
It must end.
For in this same place also lies salvation.
The altar of God,
Where Christ abideth,
Is there.
You have defiled the altar,
But not the world.
Yet Christ has placed the atonement on the altar for you.
Bring your perceptions of the world to this altar,
For it is the altar to truth.
There you will see your vision change,
And there you will learn to see truly.
From this place,
Where God and his Son dwell in peace,
And where you are welcome,
You will look out in peace and behold the world truly.
Yet to find the place,
You must relinquish your investment in the world as you project it,
Allowing the Holy Spirit to extend the real world to you from the altar of God.
