ACIM Chapter 12. V. The Sane Curriculum, P 1, 2

ACIM Chapter 12. V. The Sane Curriculum, P 1, 2

V. The Sane Curriculum, P 1

1 Only love is strong because it is undivided. The strong do not attack because they see no need to do so. Before the idea of attack can enter your mind, you must have perceived yourself as weak. Because you attacked yourself and believed that the attack was effective, you behold yourself as weakened. No longer perceiving yourself and your brothers as equal, and regarding yourself as weaker, you attempt to “equalize” the situation you made. You use attack to do so because you believe that attack was successful in weakening you.

The idea of equalizing the situation really brought the problem of attack and defend into focus for me. I attack myself and feel weak, and thus, I have taught myself that attack makes weak. Now, my brother and I are no longer equal, and I want us to be equal. I know that attack makes weak because I proved it when I attacked myself. So, I attack the other in an effort to equalize the situation.  And, of course, I reinforce the idea that attack is a viable tool.

So, what does this look like in my life? Here is something that used to happen at work all the time. I never felt like I was enough, that I worked hard enough, that I did enough, that I did it well enough. I felt like my boss constantly threatened me because he could affect my salary and even my job. He seemed to have all the power. In an effort to equalize the situation, I always found fault with him. At least in my mind, and sometimes in conversation, I would point out all his flaws.

In fact, none of this was true.

I did a good job, and I worked hard. He appreciated me, and he was a good man. The company had many excellent policies and was generous in their pay. There was nothing to equalize, and my attacks on him and the company were not warranted. Sure, he had moments in which he reacted from his own fear, and so did I, but he was not against me. It was all a war of my own making that came from the untrue thoughts in my mind.

Here is what changed: I began to undo the idea of guilt. I stopped making myself guilty all the time. Without these guilt attacks on myself, I stopped feeling less than. I began to understand that God is my Source in all things, that I am sustained, not by man, not by my job, not by my boss, but by God.  As my mind healed, my self-worth was no longer in question, and my self-attacks ended (or lessened a great deal), so there was no need to equalize the situation. Also, as my mind healed, I stopped thinking of attack as a viable tool and began to see love as the healing balm that soothed all upsets.

V. The Sane Curriculum, P 2

2 That is why the recognition of your own invulnerability is so important to the restoration of your sanity. For if you accept your invulnerability, you are recognizing that attack has no effect. Although you have attacked yourself, you will be demonstrating that nothing really happened. Therefore, by attacking you have not done anything. Once you realize this you will no longer see any sense in attack, for it manifestly does not work and cannot protect you. Yet the recognition of your invulnerability has more than negative value. If your attacks on yourself have failed to weaken you, you are still strong. You therefore have no need to “equalize” the situation to establish your strength.

How is it that I know myself as invulnerable? This certainly doesn’t seem to be the case if I look at my life. I see myself as vulnerable to the economy, my body, sickness, and other people’s opinions. I even imagine I am vulnerable to my own thoughts, over which I seem to have so little control. And yet, at times, I have proven to myself that none of this is true. It is a very ingrained belief, though, and I can slip back into it.

In lesson (54), Jesus says this about our thoughts: What I see witnesses to what I think. If I did not think I would not exist, because life is thought. Let me look on the world I see as the representation of my own state of mind. I know that my state of mind can change. And so I also know the world I see can change as well.

It is clear that my thoughts make the world I see.

And it is also clear that when I change my thoughts, I change my world. So, if I want to see myself as invulnerable, I must break the cycle of thinking that shows me a dangerous world from which I must be defended. I have thought for too long that the world is dangerous and I am vulnerable, but no matter how long I believe a lie, it does not become true. However, if I think I am vulnerable, the world will feel dangerous to me.

I make a change as I am vigilant for my thoughts and am willing to accept the Atonement for the ones that imagine I could be vulnerable. In this way, I undo the idea of vulnerability in my mind, and at the same time, I undo it for the Sonship. This is the way I know myself as invulnerable. This is the way I change the world from a dangerous place to one that fully supports and loves me. It doesn’t happen in the world. It happens in my mind.

Another thing that I have been doing lately is this. As I become aware that I feel vulnerable, I stop and notice my thoughts. Then, I let myself move beneath those thoughts to silence. From that more centered space, I let myself remember that I am still as God created me, and that means even now, I rest in God in complete invulnerability. I let trust carry me to certainty. This is the same as my earlier process but is more abstract and a more complete surrender. I do nothing and trust that everything is being done for me.

I will mention here that the ego doesn’t sit still for this.

It tries relentlessly to pull me back into the drama of the moment. But if I engage in this process for even the briefest time, I have made a crack in my defenses and the light pours in. I have so much gratitude for that light! Sometimes I can go from distress to peace almost instantly, with so very little effort on my part – just a desire to change and a willingness to allow it.

To read Pathways of Light insights into this section, CLICK HERE.