ACIM Chapter 13. The Guiltless World. Introduction, P 1, 2

ACIM Chapter 13. The Guiltless World. Introduction, P 1, 2

Introduction, P1

¹ If you did not feel guilty you could not attack, for condemnation is the root of attack. It is the judgment of one mind by another as unworthy of love and deserving of punishment. But herein lies the split. For the mind that judges perceives itself as separate from the mind being judged, believing that by punishing another, it will escape punishment. All this is but the delusional attempt of the mind to deny itself, and escape the penalty of denial. It is not an attempt to relinquish denial, but to hold on to it. For it is guilt that has obscured the Father to you, and it is guilt that has driven you insane.

I don’t think that I am the only one who has, at some point, questioned why it is that I have so thoroughly forgotten who I am and cannot remember my Father at all. When I wonder about that, the ego warns that there is probably a good reason. And it intimates that I am so evil that I dare not look within to find myself. When I doubt that I am all that evil, the ego quickly points out all my faults and reminds me of past behaviors of which I am not proud. It seems best not to look too deeply.

Then it warns that maybe I am hiding from my Father because He will condemn me for my evil. All we have to do is read the Old Testament to see how man has projected his fear onto God and sees God as vengeful, punishing, and pretty scary. The ego says it’s best to leave well enough alone. Then, it suggests solutions to this problem through projection, pointing the finger at someone else so I go unnoticed in my guilt.

And that is the real problem: guilt.

If I believe in guilt, from that one belief comes unworthiness, condemnation, punishment, the need to be separate, and insanity. If I feel guilty, this makes me feel unworthy of love and fearful of punishment. Ego’s solution of projection makes me believe that God is part of all this as I project the belief in guilt onto Him. So now I think He is the ultimate source of punishment. I made of myself something with little resemblance to creation. And then I reimagined God so that He would be like me. Insanity.

Guilt had made so much fear in my mind that I saw enemies everywhere I looked, and thus, I attacked everyone and everything as a defense of my guilty self. I attacked boldly, and I attacked in secret, sometimes so secret I didn’t even tell myself I was attacking. I attacked myself, and I attacked others. Even God was not safe from my attack. I felt like I must stay in a constant state of defense because when someone attacks, they expect to be attacked in return. I found a solution to this madness. As it turns out, guilt is not real, and so no one is actually guilty. There is no reason to attack, and thus, no one we need to defend against.

Introduction, P2

² The acceptance of guilt into the mind of God’s Son was the beginning of the separation, as the acceptance of the Atonement is its end. The world you see is the delusional system of those made mad by guilt. Look carefully at this world, and you will realize that this is so. For this world is the symbol of punishment, and all the laws that seem to govern it are the laws of death. Children are born into it through pain and in pain. Their growth is attended by suffering, and they learn of sorrow and separation and death. Their minds seem to be trapped in their brain, and its powers to decline if their bodies are hurt. They seem to love, yet they desert and are deserted. They appear to lose what they love, perhaps the most insane belief of all. And their bodies wither and gasp and are laid in the ground, and are no more. Not one of them but has thought that God is cruel.

I don’t need to be convinced that the world is pretty awful. Feeling like you are separate from God is awful, so even the best life is bereft. At its best, the world is still cruel because it always holds the threat of loss. When I love and feel loved, when I am at peace, when I am happy, I know that it will not last. Something will happen to undo this moment of respite from loss. So, there is not a single moment of perfect love and perfect peace where happiness is complete.

This world of uncertainty and loss is the result of guilt.

It began when we accepted guilt into our minds, and thus, separation began. I notice that Jesus says it began when we accepted guilt. So, that means guilt was not inevitable. We had a tiny mad idea, but was that the cause of our unhappiness? Or was it that the idea of separation brought with it the belief in guilt, and we accepted the belief as real? Isn’t that what we do now each time we choose to believe in guilt?

The world we see cannot be sustained without our moment-by-moment decisions to keep it in place. We are continuously deciding for the world, and we do this by deciding continuously for guilt. When I think that I should not have said or done something, this is me deciding for guilt. Regret is past guilt held onto. Fear is guilt projected into the future. Someone else’s guilt is my guilt projected in an effort to be free of it.

When I read the news and think what a cruel act by someone, or when I judge a politician, or when I think that things should be different than they are, this is me deciding for guilt. Even if I don’t use the words, I am implying that the someone who acted cruelly is guilty of doing so, the politician is guilty of his policies, that the circumstances of my life are guilty of making me unhappy, and so they need to change.

Guilt permeates the world because it permeates the mind.

Sometimes, I think it would be so good if my children would accept A Course in Miracles like I did. I am actually saying they are guilty of not choosing what I think they should choose. I am implying that I would be happy if they did what I wanted them to do. So that they do not make that choice makes them guilty of my unhappiness. In my mind, I, someone, or even some circumstance is always guilty.

I was looking at a fence I paid to have constructed. I saw a flaw in the work, and I thought that the man who put it up for me should have done better. It seemed to me that he was guilty of doing less than he promised. I felt foolish for hiring him. I thought I was guilty of bad judgment. Did I make a mistake in spending my money this way? Am I guilty of making a snap decision that I might come to regret?

Thus, the world I see continues to exist in my mind. As long as I continue to accept guilt as real and meaningful, pain, suffering, and death will continue to exist for me. But there is a way out of the prison of guilt that I have designed for myself. My salvation is the Atonement. Just as I was free to accept guilt, I am free to accept the Atonement, and when I do, I will have undone the separation.

I seem to accept the Atonement for this guilty thought or that guilty thought.

I say to myself, I accept the Atonement in this situation. But there must come a time when all these acceptances lead to the transfer of learning. In forgiving the belief in guilt itself, I will know that guilt is not real and that there is only innocence. I will accept the Atonement. Thus the world I see will be undone, and the real world will be revealed to me.

I cannot have the peace of God if I choose to believe in guilt. I really believe that the peace of God is everything I want. Then, the idea of guilt enters my mind. And obviously, I think that keeping guilt real is more important to me than the peace of God. I have sometimes despaired of this healing ever occurring for me. So, when I start to feel discouraged, I think of others who have succeeded in awakening from this dream. And I feel encouraged to keep making the choice for love. Success is inevitable, being the Will of God.

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