A Course In Miracles - Chapter 3, Section V

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. (Foundation for Inner Peace, 448 Ignacio Blvd #306 Novato, CA 94949 USA). 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 3,

The Innocent Perception.

Section 5 – Beyond Perception.

To summarize my takeaways,

In section 5 of chapter 3,

We are reminded of what we were told in the last section – that the abilities we currently possess are mere shadows of our real strength.

We are basically given a pep talk in this section to help us remember our truth – that God created us of a quality like to His own.

It is only our belief in separation from God – our untrue perception – that keeps us from knowing this power.

We learn that forgiveness is the healing of the perception of separation.

We also learn that the prayer of forgiveness is nothing more than the request to be able to recognize what we already have.

It is simply our part to accept the forgiveness that has already been given us.

We are told in no uncertain terms that our worth is beyond perception because it's beyond doubt.

We are told to not perceive ourselves in different lights,

But to know ourselves in the One Light where the miracle that we are is perfectly clear.

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 definitions of terms you will hear within this reading.

Perception What we see inwardly determines what we see outside ourselves.

It is the post-separation world of form and differences.

Knowledge Also referred to as heaven or the real world.

It is the pre-separation world of God and His unified creation in which there are no differences in form and therefore exclusive of the world of perception.

Spirit The nature of our true reality,

Which being of God is changeless and eternal,

Contrasted with the body which changes and dies.

Ego Our belief in the separated or false self we made as a substitute for the self that God created.

Separation The untrue belief in sin that affirms our identity as separate from God.

This idea is represented by the ego,

Which results in a world filled with a perception of pain,

Suffering,

And death.

The Holy Spirit's plan of correction,

Healing our minds from the earthly world of illusion to God's world of truth.

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,

On to the reading.

A Course in Miracles Chapter 3 The Innocent Perception Section 5 Beyond Perception I have said that the abilities you possess are only shadows of your real strength,

And that perception,

Which is inherently judgmental,

Was introduced only after the separation.

No one has been sure of anything since.

I have also made it clear that the resurrection was the means for the return to knowledge,

Which was accomplished by the union of my will with the Father's.

We can now establish a distinction that will clarify some of our subsequent statements.

Since the separation,

The words create and make have become confused.

When you make something,

You do so out of a specific sense of lack or need.

Anything made for a specific purpose has no true generalizability.

When you make something to fill a perceived lack,

You are tacitly implying that you believe in separation.

The ego has invented many ingenious thought systems for this purpose.

None of them is creative.

Inventiveness is wasted effort even in its most ingenious form.

The highly specific nature of invention is not worthy of the abstract creativity of God's creations.

Knowing,

As we have already observed,

Does not lead to doing.

The confusion between your real creation and what you have made of yourself is so profound that it has become literally impossible for you to know anything.

Knowledge is always stable,

And it is quite evident that you are not.

Nevertheless,

You are perfectly stable as God created you.

In this sense,

When your behavior is unstable,

You are disagreeing with God's idea of your creation.

You can do this if you choose,

But you would hardly want to do it if you were in your right mind.

The fundamental question you continually ask yourself cannot properly be directed to yourself at all.

You keep asking what it is you are.

This implies that the answer is not only one you know,

But it is also one that is up to you to supply.

Yet you cannot perceive yourself correctly.

You have no image to be perceived.

The word image is always perception related and not a part of knowledge.

Images are symbolic and stand for something else.

The idea of changing your image recognizes the power of perception,

But also implies that there is nothing stable to know.

Knowing is not open to interpretation.

You may try to interpret meaning,

But this is always open to error because it refers to the perception of meaning.

Such incongruities are the result of attempts to regard yourself as separated and unseparated at the same time.

It is impossible to make so fundamental a confusion without increasing your overall confusion still further.

Your mind may have become very ingenious,

But as always happens when method and content are separated,

It is utilized in a futile attempt to escape from an inescapable impasse.

Ingenuity is totally divorced from knowledge because knowledge does not require ingenuity.

Ingenious thinking is not the truth that shall set you free,

But you are free of the need to engage in it when you are willing to let it go.

Prayer is a way of asking for something.

It is the medium of miracles,

But the only meaningful prayer is for forgiveness because those who have been forgiven have everything.

Once forgiveness has been accepted,

Prayer in the usual sense becomes utterly meaningless.

The prayer for forgiveness is nothing more than a request that you may be able to recognize what you already have.

In electing perception instead of knowledge,

You placed yourself in a position where you could resemble your Father only by perceiving miraculously.

You have lost the knowledge that you yourself are a miracle of God.

Evolution is your source and your only real function.

The statement,

Quote,

God created man in his own image and likeness,

End quote,

Needs reinterpretation.

Image can be understood as thought and likeness can be understood as of a like quality.

God did create spirit in his own thought and of a quality like to his own.

There is nothing else.

Perception on the other hand is impossible without a belief in more and less.

At every level it involves selectivity.

Perception is a continual process of accepting and rejecting,

Organizing and reorganizing,

Shifting and changing.

Perception is an essential part of perception because judgments are necessary in order to select.

What happens to perceptions if there are no judgments and nothing but perfect equality?

Perception becomes impossible.

Truth can only be known.

All of it is equally true and knowing any part of it is to know all of it.

Only perception involves partial awareness.

Knowledge transcends the laws governing perception because partial knowledge is impossible.

It is all one and has no separate parts.

You who are really one with it need but know yourself and your knowledge is complete.

To know God's miracle is to know him.

This is the healing of the perception of separation.

Correct perception of your brother is necessary because minds have chosen to see themselves as separate.

Spirit knows God completely.

That is its miraculous power.

The fact that each one has this power completely is a condition entirely alien to the world's thinking.

The world believes that if anyone has everything there is nothing left.

That God's miracles are as total as his thoughts because they are his thoughts.

As long as perception lasts prayer has a place.

Since perception rests on lack those who perceive have not totally accepted the atonement and given themselves over to the truth.

Perception is based on a separated state so that anyone who perceives it all needs healing.

Communion,

Not prayer,

Is the natural state of those who know.

God and his miracles are inseparable.

How beautiful indeed are the thoughts of God who live in his light.

Your worth is beyond perception because it is beyond doubt.

Do not perceive yourself in different lights.

Know yourself in the one light where the miracle that is you is perfectly clear.

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