ACIM The Origins of Separation, P 2, 3. These related distortions represent a picture of what actually occurred in the separation, or the “detour into fear.”
ACIM The Origins of Separation, P 2, 3
I. The Origins of Separation, P 2
2 These related distortions represent a picture of what actually occurred in the separation, or the “detour into fear.” None of this existed before the separation, nor does it actually exist now. Everything God created is like Him. Extension, as undertaken by God, is similar to the inner radiance that the children of the Father inherit from Him. Its real source is internal. This is as true of the Son as of the Father. In this sense the creation includes both the creation of the Son by God, and the Son’s creations when his mind is healed. This requires God’s endowment of the Son with free will, because all loving creation is freely given in one continuous line, in which all aspects are of the same order.
I like the way Jesus phrases our present experience. He calls it the separation and the detour into fear, and later he calls it the tiny mad idea. I am relieved Jesus doesn’t call it the unforgivable sin or the betrayal of God, or the last straw. However he describes it, he reminds us that in spite of how real it feels to us, it is only an illusion and never actually happened. He says this over and over in very clear and direct terms. It’s amazing, really, that we can read it over and over and still think it must mean something else.
Seems so Unlikely
I certainly spent a lot of time reading right over those words. Maybe I didn’t want to embarrass Jesus by pointing out his obvious error. ~smile~ I continued to look at the seeming proof that my story of pain and suffering was reality and that Jesus was delusional. Happy to say that my apparent mental confusion is a temporary illness, and I seem to be recovering. I have not flung God from His throne, and reality has not abdicated to fantasy.
No matter how long I sit huddled within myself, quaking in fear and planning my defenses, God is still love. The something else that seems to exist is only my fevered imagination. I detoured into fear, but I have an internal guide to direct me to the straight and narrow path Home. It may be that I speak of being afraid or of anger and guilt. Perhaps I will be uncertain or doubtful. Or if I were to shake at the thought of death, could one of you give me a gentle shake? I still tend to fall back to sleep now and again.
It Is Different with Clarity
When my mind is clear, I know I am the Son of God, the Son of Love. I know that only Love exists, and so I must be Love as well. I know that I am whole, complete, and lacking nothing. And I know that I have never left this state and that there is nowhere for me to go. Nothing I need do, and no effort is needed to be me. Does an apple try to be an apple? God help me to obtain the clarity of an apple.
In spite of the clarity that I have gained, periodically, my mind clouds, and for a bit, I think Reality has been set on its head by my imaginings. And momentarily, I become confused and frightened again. The lovely thing is, once the awakening begins, the forays into darkness are shorter and less frightening. The light I have uncovered never completely dims, and I see my way back so much more quickly.
Praying for Clarity
Holy Spirit, I know I am the one wandering off the path, but I am also the one calling for salvation. When I become confused, please give me clarity. When I become afraid, please help me to see there could never be anything to fear. And if I feel anger or disappointment at someone or something, point me inward. When I forget that eternal life is the only truth and I feel loss, comfort me and help me regain my vision.
Now that I have opened my eyes and see the words you gave me, Jesus, I can never again be entirely blind. I see, if only dimly, and the joy of that vision will not be denied. God created me, and creation moves in one continuous line. I am like my creator and my creations. When my mind is healed, my creations are like my Father’s creations.
There does not in all of creation exist anything that is not Love. Whatever I see or think I see can be easily categorized as real or not real. No other description need concern me. No other action needs my attention. “Here it is, Holy Spirit, this belief, this seeming thing, or person or situation. Is it true? If not, please heal my vision.” How free I am! Thank you, God. I love you, God.
I. The Origins of Separation, P 3
3 The Garden of Eden, or the pre-separation condition, was a state of mind in which nothing was needed. When Adam listened to the “lies of the serpent,” all he heard was untruth. You do not have to continue to believe what is not true unless you choose to do so. All that can literally disappear in the twinkling of an eye because it is merely a misperception. What is seen in dreams seems to be very real. Yet the Bible says that a deep sleep fell upon Adam, and nowhere is there reference to his waking up. The world has not yet experienced any comprehensive reawakening or rebirth. Such a rebirth is impossible as long as you continue to project or miscreate. It still remains within you, however, to extend as God extended His Spirit to you. In reality this is your only choice, because your free will was given you for your joy in creating the perfect.
Every time I listen to the thoughts of the ego mind and believe what I hear, I am Adam listening to the lies of the serpent. What the ego says to me over and over again is that I should be worried. I should be afraid. I am guilty. Then it says that it’s not my fault. It is his fault or her fault. The ego says that the world is real, my body is real, and it is separate from every other body and every other thing. It says that not only am I separate from God but that God is a threat and something to be avoided.
The Ego’s Lies
The ego says these things over and over in a thousand different ways every waking moment, and then it dreams of them all night. If I continue to believe these lies, I will live in fear and regret. I will never let go of separation because I will believe I need my brother and the world to be separate. This is so I can have someplace to project my guilt. I will never move toward God because I will be afraid of God. I will never create because I am so busy miscreating so that I can cover my tracks.
Do you wonder how to stop believing the lies when they seem so real when you seem to have so much proof that they are real? The question is, are you waiting for a sign? Are you looking for confirmation that the truth is true and nothing else is true? Are you asking the ego to show you this? Of course, the ego will not, and if you are looking at the world for proof, you are looking to the ego. The world is your proof against God. Do not look there for proof of God.
Stepping Out on Faith
There was an Indiana Jones movie in which he desperately needed to cross a chasm. There seemed to be no way, and the bad guys were fast approaching. His mind showed him that he was on one side, and there was nothing but air and a long deadly fall between him and the other side. But he also had reason to believe that there was a path in spite of the emptiness his eyes were showing him. The only way to find out was to step out into the apparent emptiness.
It was a delicious moment of spine-tingling suspense when he closed his eyes and disregarded appearances. He stepped out into nothingness and put his foot down on a column rising from the floor of the cavern. It had not been visible to him until his foot touched it. He hesitated again and then stepped out on faith, and as he put his foot down, the next one appeared.
Again he hesitated, but as he was rewarded with another column to support him, his faith took him swiftly across. Each time his foot left the column, it disappeared, and when the bad guys caught up, they were dumbfounded to see him on the other side with no apparent way to reach it.
Moving Forward in Trust
This is it! This is the way it is done! When I look at the world, I am so convinced that it is true, but the Course and the lessons in it have opened my mind to something else. I have allowed myself to believe in the “other side,” and now I am putting my trust in what I cannot see to take me there. I am putting my foot forward and trusting that there is something to put it on. This is the only way to awaken. The proof that the truth is true comes from believing it, not from staring at the lie and waiting for it to reveal something else.
When the ego is desperate to regain my attention, the body becomes its fallback plan. Pain and sickness are good ways to make the world seem very real. But putting my foot out into apparent emptiness, I remember that Lesson 190 says there is no pain. And if there is no pain, there is no sickness. I turn to that simple statement even as pain and sickness dog my heels. I turn to it even in the face of apparent proof.
The Healing of My Mind
The thought given to me is that what is happening in the body cannot be real because the body is not real. I am reminded that there is nothing outside my mind. If nothing is outside my mind, then neither is this body outside my mind. It is only a thought I am having. I must be thinking of illness or pain for the thought of the body being sick or in pain. And further, I must think there is some value in pain and sickness, or I would not be doing this to myself. The column appears under my foot as I set it down. I ask the Holy Spirit to heal my mind of this obvious error in thinking.
The ego does not easily give up the belief in pain and sickness. This has always been its ace in the hole, the way it convinces me that the body is real. The ego mind warns me that if I stop believing in the body as real, I am giving up my hiding place and will soon find myself face to face with God, and this will be deadly.
A Course in Miracles says that God loves me and that it is safe to return to Him. I decide to put my faith in these words instead of the ego story, and I put my foot down again and find I am still being supported. Crossing this chasm has been slow and tedious as I question and doubt each step, but there is nowhere to go but forward, and my perseverance has paid off. I move forward more certainly and more quickly now.
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