Hi,
I'm Teresa Hubbard.
Welcome back to our continued reading of the text to A Course in Miracles.
We begin today in Chapter 2,
The Separation and the Atonement,
Section 1,
The Origins of Separation.
To summarize my takeaways,
In Section 1 of Chapter 2,
Jesus offers us the metaphor of the Garden of Eden,
Which represents our pre-separation condition.
He reminds us that we were,
And still remain,
Holy,
Perfect,
And complete.
In this metaphor,
Adam listened to the lies of the serpent,
And believing them,
Began our detour into fear.
We are told,
Though,
That we don't have to continue believing in truth unless we choose to do so.
Regardless of whatever untruth we choose to believe,
It has no effect whatsoever on the miracle.
The sole concern of the miracle is to distinguish between truth on the one hand,
And untruth,
Or error,
On the other.
Errors simply represent a lack of love.
Although some errors,
To us,
May seem to be of a higher magnitude,
Thus needing more correction,
We are reminded that there is no degree of difficulty in miracles.
In reality,
We are completely unaffected by any lack of love in any form,
Whether it come from ourselves or others.
Peace is within us,
It cannot be found outside of us.
Therefore,
We have a choice to remain unshaken by our perceptions of what is happening around us.
Through our acceptance of a miracle,
The conditions stemming from the projection of a lack of love are transformed within ourselves and in others.
I invite you to keep a few things in mind as you listen to the reading.
The Course uses male pronouns,
Yet this simply is 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 the truth,
Nothing more.
A few definitions of terms you will hear within this reading.
Separation.
The belief that our errors affirm our identity as separate from God.
It is represented by our ego,
Which is a result of the perception of pain,
Suffering,
And death which is unknown in eternity.
Atonement.
The Holy Spirit's plan of correction,
Healing our minds from the earthly world of illusion to God's world of truth.
Holy Spirit.
The communication link between God and us,
Bridging the gap between the mind of Christ and our human minds.
Christ.
The self that God created,
By extension of his Spirit.
It represents the potential within each of us.
Extension.
Offering Christ's vision in the form of forgiveness and peace.
Creation.
The extension of God's being or Spirit.
Spirit.
The nature of our true reality,
Which being of God,
Is changeless and eternal,
Contrasted with the body,
Which changes and dies.
Projection.
A law of mind.
What we see inwardly determines what we see outside ourselves.
This then is our perception,
Which we project onto the world around us.
Miracle.
The change in mind that shifts our perception,
Transcending the laws of this world to reflect the laws of God.
The miracle provides the means to heal our own minds and the minds of others.
And now,
Onto the reading.
A Course in Miracles Chapter 2.
The Separation and the Atonement.
Section 1.
The Origins of Separation.
To extend is a fundamental aspect of God,
Which he gave to his Son.
In the creation,
God extended himself to his creations and imbued them with the same loving will to create.
You have not only been fully created,
But have also been created perfect.
There is no emptiness in you.
Because of your likeness to your Creator,
You are creative.
No child of God can lose this ability because it is inherent in what he is,
But he can use it inappropriately by projecting.
The inappropriate use of extension,
Or projection,
Occurs when you believe that some emptiness or lack exists in you and that you can fill it with your own ideas instead of truth.
This process involves the following steps.
First,
You believe that what God created can be changed by your own mind.
Second,
You believe that what is perfect can be rendered imperfect or lacking.
Third,
You believe that you can distort the creations of God,
Including yourself.
Fourth,
You believe that you can create yourself and that the direction of your own creation is up to you.
These related distortions represent a picture of what actually occurred in the separation,
Or the,
Quote,
Detour into fear,
End quote.
None of this existed before the separation,
Nor does it actually exist now.
Everything God created is like him.
Extension,
As undertaken by God,
Is similar to the inner radiance that the children of the Father inherit from him.
Its real source is internal.
This is as true of the Son as of the Father.
In this sense,
The creation includes both the creation of the Son by God and the Son's creations when his mind is healed.
This requires God's endowment of the Son with free will,
Because all loving creations is freely given in one continuous line in which all aspects are of the same order.
The Garden of Eden,
Or the pre-separation condition,
Was a state of mind in which nothing was needed.
When Adam listened to the,
Quote,
Lies of the serpent,
End quote,
All he heard was untruth.
You do not have to continue to believe what is not true unless you choose to do so.
All that can literally disappear in the twinkling of an eye because it is merely a misperception.
What is seen in dreams seems to be very real.
Yet the Bible says that a deep sleep fell upon Adam and nowhere is there reference to his waking up.
The world has not yet experienced any comprehensive reawakening or rebirth,
Since such a rebirth is impossible as long as you continue to project or miscreate.
It still remains within you,
However,
To extend as God extended his Spirit to you.
In reality,
This is your only choice,
Because your free will was given you for your joy in creating the perfect.
All fear is ultimately reducible to the basic misperception that you have the ability to assert the power of God.
Of course,
You neither can nor have been able to do this.
Here is the real basis for your escape from fear.
The escape is brought about by your acceptance of the atonement,
Which enables you to realize that your errors never really occurred.
Only after the deep sleep fell upon Adam could he experience nightmares.
If a light is suddenly turned on while someone is dreaming a fearful dream,
He may initially interpret the light itself as part of his dream and be afraid of it.
However,
When he awakens,
The light is correctly perceived as the release from the dream,
Which is then no longer recorded reality.
This release does not depend on illusions.
The knowledge that illuminates not only sets you free,
But 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 error on the other.
Some miracles may seem to be of greater magnitude than others.
But remember the first principle in this course.
There is no order of difficulty in miracles.
In reality,
You are perfectly unaffected by all expressions of lack of love.
These can be from yourself and others,
From yourself to others,
Or from others to you.
Peace is an attribute in you.
You cannot find it outside.
This is some form of external searching.
Health is inner peace.
It enables you to remain unshaken by lack of love from without and capable through your acceptance of miracles of correcting the conditions preceding from lack of love in others.
