ACIM Chapter 2. VII. Cause and Effect, P 6, 7

ACIM VII. Cause and Effect, P 6, 7. Readiness is only the prerequisite for accomplishment. The two should not be confused.

VII. Cause and Effect, P 6

6 It should especially be noted that God has only one Son. If all His creations are His Sons, every one must be an integral part of the whole Sonship. The Sonship in its Oneness transcends the sum of its parts. However this is obscured as long as any of its parts is missing. That is why the conflict cannot ultimately be resolved until all the parts of the Sonship have returned. Only then can the meaning of wholeness in the true sense be understood. Any part of the Sonship can believe in error or incompleteness if he so chooses. However, if he does so, he is believing in the existence of nothingness. The correction of this error is the Atonement.

This is the place in the Text where I discovered that I, too, am a Son of God. The mystery deepens as I am told that God has only one Son. I am a part of a whole, it seems, and this does seem mysterious to me because I don’t know what this means. All I know, really, is separation, so it is hard to get a feeling for wholeness. And yet, the memory of what I am must be in my mind. This memory, though I cannot access it on a conscious level, is the reason I didn’t toss the whole thing at this point.

A Cell in the Body of Christ

Though buried very deeply, the memory of my Self is in my mind, and this memory drew me to the Course and kept me reading it even though nothing in the world validates what I am reading. I try to imagine something that symbolizes this idea of being part of a whole. I think of cells in the body. Am I a cell in the body of Christ dreaming I have a life separate from the body?

It’s not a perfect metaphor, but maybe the best I can do. Jesus says that I will not understand this until I return to wholeness, so there is little sense in trying. I will just continue to do my part in the correction of the error by accepting the Atonement. As I have been doing this practice for years now, my experience of it has expanded.

Accepting the Atonement

Quite honestly, the idea of accepting the Atonement had little real meaning for me for a long time. I understood the words and intellectually grasped the meaning, but until I was ready, I did not accept the meaning into my heart. As it turns out, “accept” is the keyword. In the past, I asked for the Atonement but did not fully accept it. I kept it at bay with my defenses and so did not really know what it was.

Quite suddenly really, as I was doing the study and practice of this section of the Text, I accepted what was being offered. In the acceptance of it, I realized that Love came into my mind and healed me. That, evidently, is the Atonement. It is the plan for our salvation. We just keep looking at our thoughts and beliefs, learning to question their validity. And then, when we are ready, we open ourselves to Love, and all is corrected and the mind healed of its confusion.

Oh, dear Jesus, could it be that simple? Evidently, it is. Of course, I still have to accept the Atonement. I still defend against it at times. But now I see what is happening more clearly than before, and with startling clarity I see how the ego is undone. I have said before that it is not my job to heal my mind only to want it healed, but now I see it. I see the simplicity and perfection of the plan of atonement. It makes me cry in relief and gratitude as I write this.

The Ego Is Not Giving Up

Of course, my mind is still split so the part that wants to think of itself as a solitary cell with its own little universe is not giving up the fight. In fact, it keeps mounting these surprise attacks, some of them very subtle and some quite vicious. I remember something shameful from my past, or I become obsessed with a worry thought about possible futures. Soon the ego is putting forth very reasonable presumptions, and I start to doubt reality (which now seems far-fetched) and to believe the ego story.

But Jesus has given me the solution, and even in my pain and doubt, I remember that this solution works. And now, after practicing it, I know I want the solution. I tell the Holy Spirit that I accept the Atonement in this situation. At first, it is tentative, and the ego kicks into high gear as it points out that these are just words, and what do they mean anyway? But I know I don’t want to live in fear and guilt anymore, and I open more fully to the solution.

Accepting the Atonement

I tell the Holy Spirit that I really want the Atonement. I stand there in the middle of the room with my arms outstretched. “Here I am, God. I stand naked and defenseless against Your love, and I accept Your offer. I invite Love into my mind and ask Love to heal me.” Oh my, I feel a little foolish but also giddy with relief. Thank God, I have discovered the way out of this insanity.

I accept the Atonement in this situation where I believe I was guilty because I want it more than I want to hide from my guilt. I accept Atonement in this situation where I believe I am endangered because I want it more than I want to protect myself. And I accept even in the face of fear, doubt, and uncertainty. I trust, and so I accept.

Do you see where this is leading? I dream of my little cell floating nearer and nearer the body of which it is an integral part. “God, swallow me up. Take me in. Return me to my Home. Wake me from my dream of separation. I accept.” I trust that my prayer is answered. And I look forward to discovering how much I am willing to accept today.

VII. Cause and Effect, P 7

7 I have already briefly spoken about readiness, but some additional points might be helpful here. Readiness is only the prerequisite for accomplishment. The two should not be confused. As soon as a state of readiness occurs, there is usually some degree of desire to accomplish, but it is by no means necessarily undivided. The state does not imply more than a potential for a change of mind. Confidence cannot develop fully until mastery has been accomplished. We have already attempted to correct the fundamental error that fear can be mastered, and have emphasized that the only real mastery is through love. Readiness is only the beginning of confidence. You may think this implies that an enormous amount of time is necessary between readiness and mastery, but let me remind you that time and space are under my control.

The steps:

Readiness

Mastery through love

Confidence

How I do This

So far, this study of the Text has been exciting for me. I began it by setting aside all I thought I knew about everything. I have been studying the Course for 40 years. Over all those years, I have formed many different opinions. I have also read and studied the writings of various course teachers, which has influenced my opinions. I have also read other writings which have colored my beliefs. It has all melded together, and without realizing it, I have decided on certain things and taken them as truth when maybe they are not.

So, the way I do this study is to sit down in front of my computer every morning and read the next paragraph. I notice my thoughts, and then I ask Jesus what he wants me to know about this and what he wants me to write about it. The more I do this, the better I get at it, which is a side benefit of this practice. It’s not as easy to empty the mind of what I think I know as I thought it would be. I am sure I don’t do a perfect job, but it has really made a difference. Learning to listen to Holy Spirit is more important than understanding the words, so I am grateful for this practice.

Becoming Ready

This morning, Jesus is reminding us that it is important that we be ready for this study. I understand this. When I first started doing the Course, I would often feel regretful that I did not do it sooner. I would think how different my life would have been if I had known some of this stuff sooner. I still felt a lot of guilt for my life then and desperately wanted to be forgiven.

Wanting so desperately to have never done some of the things I had done, I couldn’t help but wish that I had been a Course student all along. Then maybe I wouldn’t have made those mistakes. But soon, I realized that I could not have done the Course any sooner than I did. I simply wasn’t ready for it. Eventually, I understood that those “mistakes” were an integral part of my learning process. And later still, I saw the perfection of each step in my life.

There was nothing in my life that did not belong there. Each moment was the foundation of the next. This continues to be true. I still hear the voice of regret sometimes, but I recognize it as an ego attempt to draw me back into the story. I sometimes hear about someone else’s journey and wish for that in my life. Sometimes I read something from A Thousand Names for Joy, and I long to be where Byron Katie is in her life. I could almost taste it, and I knew it was possible, and yet it was tantalizingly just out of reach.

The Experience of Others Is Not Mine

I understand now that each shift occurs only when I am ready for it. The ego desire to experience Byron Katie’s life won’t bring me to that state of readiness. What she says sometimes opens my mind to a possibility I had never considered before, which will sometimes bring me to a new state of readiness. I have experienced that before with other people. Sometimes Regina would write about a learning experience in her life, and suddenly, I was right there with her. It is as if reading about her experience awakened the same experience in me. Love it!

I would love to have the sudden awaking that Jan Frazier experienced, but that is not my path either. I used to try to mimic what I saw others do successfully. My thought was that if I did what they did, I could have what they had. This was not true. The ego is always trying to be part of my spiritual journey and tries to direct it, but it never works. I finally realized that my journey is unique to me, just as everyone else’s is unique to them. This is why it is so helpful to practice listening to Holy Spirit. He is the Guide for each of us and knows exactly what is perfect for our next step.

Readiness Is Just the First Step

I am told in this paragraph that while readiness is essential, it is not enough. I must then accomplish, which means there is work to do. It is true that I need do nothing to be the Son of God. But I need to work diligently and remain vigilant if I want to awaken to the memory of who I am. Jesus gave me the Workbook to help me with this. When I started the Course, I fell in love with the Text immediately, but I really didn’t want to do the Workbook.

I put this down to laziness, and really, I did have very lazy work habits. But it was not laziness. I simply did not feel worthy of awakening. I could not even imagine it. Oh, certainly, if the Course said I could, then I would… in some lifetime. It took a very long time, and a lot of starts and stops, for me to reach a state of readiness that allowed me to finish the Lessons. But once I was ready, the lessons flowed easily, and I enjoyed each one. I did them again, and this time I asked the Holy Spirit to help me with them, and that is how I began to journal with my daily study.

So, while readiness is essential for each step, following through on that readiness is also essential. This is how we reach the stage of accomplishment. Our work isn’t to make something. What we are is already established and needs nothing from us. Our work is undoing. It is not even undoing, really. It is simpler than that. Our work is wanting to undo. It is the acceptance of the undoing.

It Seems to Take a Long Time

Jesus says that it might seem that it would take a long time between readiness and mastery, but he reminds us that time and space are in his hands. I have learned to relax around this process and to accept that I am where I could only be. More will open to me in perfect timing. I am not a slow learner, and I am not failing just because someone else seems to be ahead of me. I can relax and stop judging my progress, something I failed to do for a long time.

In fact, I am doing my part perfectly, no matter how it might seem. I have a strong spiritual aspiration, and I act on it. I heard David Hoffmeister say once that he did every lesson as if he fully expected this to be the one that woke him up. What an excellent attitude! Every morning now, I wonder if today will be the day I reach mastery. I don’t long for it anymore, but I do expect it. I am not concerned when this is not the day; I simply expect it the next day.

To review this section, read Pathways of Light’s insights HERE.