ACIM Chapter 11. IV. The Inheritance of God’s Son P 4, 5
IV. The Inheritance of God’s Son P 4
4 Only you can deprive yourself of anything. Do not oppose this realization, for it is truly the beginning of the dawn of light. Remember also that the denial of this simple fact takes many forms, and these you must learn to recognize and to oppose steadfastly, without exception. This is a crucial step in the reawakening. The beginning phases of this reversal are often quite painful, for as blame is withdrawn from without, there is a strong tendency to harbor it within. It is difficult at first to realize that this is exactly the same thing, for there is no distinction between within and without.
This is something from a past journal written while I was still working.
I absolutely accept that I am responsible for everything. I but do it to myself! And yet, I still notice a tendency to want to place blame. For instance, yesterday I got a call from a customer asking why he had not received his report on his water system. My first thought was that someone should have gotten this report to him and I felt anger. The ego always speaks first, but I don’t always listen, thank goodness. So, I let the unforgiven thought go.
I looked his information up and saw that he had a problem. I felt frustrated again and felt like the new sales coordinator was never going to be as good as the old one, who would have told me about this. Another attack thought, another attempt to displace blame and deny responsibility. This one was a little stronger, which means I liked that idea and was interested in it. But only for a moment, and then I let it go as well.
The truth is, the world I see is one of my own making.
I began with a belief that I am a victim and that I am always besieged from without and unfairly treated. From that belief I made an image that represented these ideas, adding some guilt and fear as well. This would be the story of my customer blaming me for what someone else did and maybe losing that customer as a result of their incompetence. Then I projected the story outward where I pretended that I didn’t know where it came from, but certainly, it is handy to have it here. I tell myself that things go wrong and it’s not my fault, but, by golly, someone is guilty!
I let that thought go, too and went to see the customer to reassure him and find the source of the problem. It turned out to be a fruitful visit. I was calm, confident, and at peace when I visited him because I had seen my projected image and chosen against it rather than defending it. Having chosen peace instead, I gave peace.
I explained the delay in the report, and I found his problem.
And all of it was done quickly and well. He thinks better of me now than he would have if the error had never occurred. Had I held onto the anger and blame, I am sure there would have been a different ending to this story, one where we both would likely have been out of peace, and so looking for someone to blame.
As Jesus predicted, when I first began to understand this and started withdrawing my projections, I was dismayed at the resulting self-attacks. I felt so guilty and so hopeless about the whole thing. The more work I did in the Course, the worse I felt. But I kept doing the work, and as my mind healed of the belief in guilt, I stopped projecting the guilt onto others, and I let myself off the hook, too. Instead, I am happy to see the error and allow God’s Light to shine it away. I am the Son of God and cannot be guilty – cannot even know guilt. That’s the truth.
IV. The Inheritance of God’s Son P 5
5 If your brothers are part of you and you blame them for your deprivation, you are blaming yourself. And you cannot blame yourself without blaming them. That is why blame must be undone, not seen elsewhere. Lay it to yourself and you cannot know yourself, for only the ego blames at all. Self-blame is therefore ego identification, and as much an ego defense as blaming others. You cannot enter God’s Presence if you attack His Son. When His Son lifts his voice in praise of his Creator, he will hear the Voice for his Father. Yet the Creator cannot be praised without His Son, for their glory is shared and they are glorified together.
Here is something from a previous journal when I was still working.
Jesus is trying to help us to understand a very simple thing. We are all part of one Self. What we do to another, we do to ourselves because the other is our self. He is trying to help us understand that blame, whether directed at ourselves or others, is ego identification. If I believe I am guilty, I will believe that others are guilty. If I believe others are guilty, I will believe in my own guilt. Either way, I forget who I am and accept the ego as my identity.
When blame is involved, whether we say something out loud or only think it, whether it seems to be a big grievance or just an idle thought, we are denying our true identity and choosing to align with the ego identity. It is helpful for a while to look at each situation and let the Holy Spirit guide us to the truth about it, but eventually, we must accept the Atonement for the belief in guilt and blame. Then, all the stories of wrongdoing will lose their appeal, and so we will stop making them.
There is no way to be in the presence of God if we attack His Son.
We cannot know God without His Son, and to see His Son as guilty is to separate His Son from Him. This is an attack on the Son and so an attack on the Father as well. There is nothing that will snap me out of my grievance faster than remembering that I cannot enter God’s Presence if I attack His Son.
It might take me a bit to completely let go of the grievance as I consider the ego justifications for holding onto it. I know that feeling of thinking that I must forgive and, at the same time, thinking that I can’t let this person off the hook. After all, the ego argues, they really did this. If it is myself that I am blaming, I will have the same experience of thinking that I really did this bad thing, and so I must be guilty.
But no matter the appearance, no matter the justification, God’s Son is innocent. And no matter where I look, I see only God’s Son. It’s up to me when I choose to acknowledge this indisputable fact. But until I do, I suffer the belief I am separated from God, and that is true suffering. It is the cause of all suffering. Accepting that we are all innocent as God created us is the only relief we will ever get from this suffering. This is the only way to know my Self.
Pathways of Light has a free 30-Day course, Listen and Recieve. Learn how to develop clear awareness of your inner guidance. CLICK HERE to learn more.