Hi,
I'm Teresa Hubbard.
Welcome back to our continued reading of the text to A Course in Miracles.
We continue today in Chapter 8,
The Journey Back.
Section 1,
The Direction of the Curriculum.
To summarize my takeaways,
In Section 1 of Chapter 8 we are reminded that the motivation for learning this course is peace,
Not knowledge.
Peace is the prerequisite for knowledge because when we are in conflict we are not peaceful.
And peace is the condition of knowledge because it is the condition of the Kingdom.
The lesson we must learn is that every response we make to the ego robs us of our peace.
The key we must consider is that we have no opponents and those we perceive as opponents are part of our peace,
Which we are giving up by being in conflict with them.
How can we have what we give up?
We are reminded that we share to have,
While not giving it up ourselves.
When we give up peace,
We are depriving ourselves from it.
This is the reinterpretation of reality that we must make to secure peace and the only one we ever need to make.
We are asked to consider our past learning in terms of its results to us.
If it has not made us happy,
On the basis of this alone should its value be questioned.
We are reminded that the curriculum of the Atonement is the opposite of the curriculum of the ego.
If our learning outcome has made us unhappy and if we want a different outcome,
The first change we must introduce is a change in the direction of our learning by choosing which teacher to learn from.
We cannot learn simultaneously from two teachers who are in total disagreement about everything.
The total senselessness of such a curriculum must be fully recognized though,
Before a change in direction is possible.
We are further reminded that although the distractions of the ego may seem to interfere with learning,
We must know that the ego has no power to distract us unless we give it the power to do so.
We are told that the ego's voice is an hallucination and we are lovingly reminded that we are not asked to dispel this hallucination alone.
If we do not want it on the basis of our loss of peace,
It will be removed from our minds for us.
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 versus perception.
These terms were introduced to us back in section 3 of chapter 3 where we were shown the difference between knowledge and perception.
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 our own.
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.
Kingdom,
A state of consciousness,
The non-dualistic world of knowledge wherein God and His creations dwell in perfect unity.
Ego,
Our belief in the separated or false self that we made as a substitute for the self that God created.
God,
The Creator,
The Source of all being or life.
God's essence is Spirit which is shared with all creation.
Reality,
Pure Spirit which is changeless,
Eternal,
Formless and boundless.
It has no orders or levels.
Even though reality is completely obvious,
We lose our awareness of it when we try to be the author of reality,
Including our own reality.
Reality is also referred to in the Course as Heaven or the Kingdom of God.
This definition was extracted in part from the 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.
And now,
On to the reading.
A Course in Miracles Chapter 8,
The Journey Back Section 1,
The Direction of the Curriculum Knowledge is not the motivation for learning this course.
Peace is.
Peace is the prerequisite for knowledge only because those who are in conflict are not peaceful.
And peace is the condition of knowledge because it is the condition of the Kingdom.
Knowledge can be restored only when you meet its conditions.
This is not a bargain made by God who makes no bargains.
It is merely the result of your misuse of God's laws on behalf of an imaginary will that is not His.
Knowledge is God's will.
If you are opposing His will,
How can you have knowledge?
I have told you what knowledge offers,
But perhaps you do not yet regard this as wholly desirable.
If you did,
You would not be so ready to throw it away when the ego asks for your allegiance.
The distractions of the ego may seem to interfere with your learning,
But the ego has no power to distract you unless you give it the power to do so.
The ego's voice is an hallucination.
You cannot expect it to say it's not real.
Yet you are not asked to dispel your hallucinations alone.
You are merely asked to evaluate them in terms of their results to you.
If you do not want them on the basis of loss of peace,
They will be removed from your mind for you.
Every response to the ego is a call to war,
And war does deprive you of peace.
Yet in this war,
There is no opponent.
This is the reinterpretation of reality that you must make to secure peace and the only one you need ever make.
Those whom you perceive as opponents are part of your peace,
Which you are giving up by attacking them.
How can you have what you give up?
You share to have,
But you do not give it up yourself.
When you give up peace,
You are excluding yourself from it.
This is a condition so alien to the kingdom that you cannot understand the state that prevails within it.
Your past learning must have taught you the wrong things simply because it has not made you happy.
On this basis alone,
Its value should be questioned.
If learning aims at change,
And that is always its purpose,
Are you satisfied with the changes your learning has brought you?
Dissatisfaction with learning outcomes is a sign of learning failure,
Since it means that you did not get what you wanted.
The curriculum of the atonement is the opposite of the curriculum you have established for yourself,
But so is its outcome.
If the outcome of yours has made you unhappy,
And if you want a different one,
A change in the curriculum is obviously necessary.
The first change to be introduced is a change in direction.
A meaningful curriculum cannot be inconsistent.
If it is planned by two teachers,
Each believing in diametrically opposed ideas,
It cannot be integrated.
If it is carried out by these two teachers simultaneously,
Each one merely interferes with the other.
This leads to fluctuation,
But not to change.
The volatile have no direction.
They cannot choose one because they cannot relinquish the other,
Even if it does not exist.
Their conflicted curriculum teaches them that all directions exist,
And gives them no rationale for choice.
The total senselessness of such a curriculum must be fully recognized before a real change in direction becomes possible.
You cannot learn simultaneously from two teachers who are in total disagreement about everything.
Their joint curriculum presents an impossible learning task.
They are teaching you entirely different things in entirely different ways,
Which might be possible except that both are teaching you about yourself.
Your reality is unaffected by both,
But if you listen to both,
Your mind will be split about what your reality is.
