ACIM The Origins of Separation, P 1. To extend is a fundamental aspect of God which He gave to His Son.
I. The Origins of Separation, P 1
I. The Origins of Separation, P 1
1 To extend is a fundamental aspect of God which He gave to His Son. In the creation, God extended Himself to His creations and imbued them with the same loving Will to create. You have not only been fully created, but have also been created perfect. There is no emptiness in you. Because of your likeness to your Creator you are creative. No child of God can lose this ability because it is inherent in what he is, but he can use it inappropriately by projecting. The inappropriate use of extension, or projection, occurs when you believe that some emptiness or lack exists in you, and that you can fill it with your own ideas instead of truth. This process involves the following steps:
First, you believe that what God created can be changed by your own mind.
Second, you believe that what is perfect can be rendered imperfect or lacking.
Third, you believe that you can distort the creations of God, including yourself.
Fourth, you believe that you can create yourself, and that the direction of your own creation is up to you.
A Perfect Creation
What a very clear explanation this is. Jesus is straightforward and easy to understand. I am amazed that I failed to see this clarity in the past and even more surprised that I sometimes reject it even now. But I am finding it easier and easier to let go of that which is not true. I am perfectly created, and so I am a perfect creator, which means I create through the extension of what I am.
Our ability to create is inviolate. It cannot be lost. But I can also project. Projection is the inappropriate use of my powers of creation. Instead of extending the Love that I am, I project the false beliefs in my mind. I choose projection when I believe lack exists in me. I do this even though I cannot lack because that would mean I was not a perfect creation.
(Let me note that these points Jesus makes about my mistaken beliefs are not things I could believe or might believe or sometimes believe. Nor are they what my neighbor believes, but I don’t. He says very clearly, “you believe.” It won’t be helpful to the healing of my mind if I go back into denial.)
Strange and Impossible
The present situation seems very strange and not possible. I mean, I am perfect, and I am a creator. And yet, I have forgotten how to create and instead use my powers to project. I do this because I feel empty, and yet I cannot be empty. I think I have a better idea than God, and so I try to fill up the imaginary emptiness with my thoughts of what things are and how they should be.
So here I am in my made-up world with my made-up character, Myron. She has a particular personality with many traits, some helpful and some not so much. But in my imaginary world, I am trapped in this body and stuck with these traits until I am released in death. Perhaps that is the strangest of all, the belief that Life can die. So, let’s look at what Jesus tells us.
Fundamental Beliefs Leading to Error
First, you believe that what God created can be changed by your own mind.
How could we believe this? Can an apple become an orange just because it wants to? Can a dog become a cat? We are what we are. We were created as an extension of God, and so we cannot be something else. But, as Jesus tells us later in the Course, what we believe is true for us. Not true in reality, but true in our experience. So, we let our experience convince us that we could actually accomplish this.
Second, you believe that what is perfect can be rendered imperfect or lacking.
We imagined that we could be separate from God and that the Sonship itself could be shattered and exist as separate pieces. And then we imagined we had done this impossible thing. Now, for the first time, we seemed not to be whole and complete. We felt lack. We felt as if we were no longer perfect. What a shock that must have been!
Third, you believe that you can distort the creations of God, including yourself.
I looked up the meaning of distorted to be sure I understood what is being said here. This is what it said: not truly or completely representing the facts or reality; misrepresented; false. We are created by Love as Love, perfect in every way, complete and whole. We thought we could distort this creation of God by making it many instead of one. And by giving it form that is imperfect. Maybe the strangest of all distortions is that we believed we could distort Life Itself so that it appeared to die.
And This Unbelievable Belief
Fourth, you believe that you can create yourself, and that the direction of your own creation is up to you.
And this unbelievable belief. We are the perfectly free Sons of God, and so we can have any experience we want, no matter how painful it is. But we cannot create ourselves. This idea is so absurd, I cannot imagine how we thought that could occur. I can’t even think of what else to say about it. We can play around in our imagination all we want because we are free. But we cannot change creation. Though obviously, we can convince ourselves that we succeeded in the clearly impossible.
Looking at Guilt
Now with some understanding of what happened, I wonder how to undo it. Looking at the world we made, I see that it is a mess. I have felt guilty and afraid of what I have done, afraid to keep doing it, and afraid to stop. I have come to understand that guilt is the problem. The belief that I rejected God is the source of the deep well of unconscious guilt that keeps fueling the apparent guilt in my life. The world is a projection of my beliefs, and so this fundamental belief in guilt is projected as one guilt-ridden experience after another.
I think that I have singlehandedly undone God. Jeepers creepers! What a belief! I want to let this go, but I keep getting distracted by all the apparent proof I have that this is true. That “proof” convinces me that I have actually undone God and made myself different. I have distorted creation and am now in charge.
Mass Shootings
For instance, look at the killing of those schoolchildren. Either God did it, or I did it in spite of God. Either way, I am totally creeped out and don’t want to think about it. There is a place in me that, while outwardly denied, is certain that this is not the work of God. If this is my work, my “creation,” I messed up badly. And so now I want to jump in and make it better.
I suspect I feel desperate to make up for it. I have projected this bit of drama, and now I further project by making it someone else’s fault. This projection of guilt onto others was supposed to get it out of my mind. It doesn’t work, but I have seemed to be determined to continue trying.
This confused part of mind is probably very glad right about now that it thought to make a lot of bodies on which to project. And so, I think that it’s those self-centered gun mongers who are at fault. It’s the makers of the violent video games, or the lack of funds for more mental health care. Or maybe we should just lock up all the loonies before they get a chance to hurt anyone.
One newscaster suggested we start keeping an eye on our neighbors for signs of aberrant behavior. (According to what is considered normal in our world, I’ll probably be the first one they take in.) But no matter how many times I project the guilt, it remains in my mind. This just doesn’t work. There is a solution, though, and I have discovered it.
Discovering a Solution That Works
I found it through the study and practice of A Course in Miracles. The truth is in my mind and has always been there. I am allowing that truth to be uncovered and to rise to the forefront of my mind. It is uncovered as I forgive these crazy thoughts and my unsuccessful attempt to correct the error through projection. I forgive, and I let go so that the Holy Spirit can heal my sick mind. At first, this was hard because I was still waffling about my ability to change creation.
We are created by Love as Love. And yet, people kill each other. But what we are cannot be anything except Love, and Love does not murder. Thus, murder is part of our imaginary story. Because we believe in our story, we suffer from the effects of our beliefs. But we, who we really are, remain untouched by our dream story. We remain as we were created. I cannot look to the illusion to tell me what is real. I forgive what I see there and let it go. This is something we will discuss in more detail as we go along.
This understanding of what happened and a way to undo what I have done relieves any trepidation that is still in my mind. It has become a simple task of being vigilant for untrue thoughts and releasing them. I can do this and have done it, so I know this works. We will talk about this in more detail as well. Thank God for the Voice in my mind that is leading me gently from my delusions back to truth.
To read insights by Pathways of Light, CLICK HERE.