ACIM Chapter 3, I. Atonement Without Sacrifice, P 7, 8

ACIM I. Atonement Without Sacrifice, P 7, 8. The Atonement itself radiates nothing but truth.

7 I. The Atonement Without Sacrifice, P 7

7 The Atonement itself radiates nothing but truth. It therefore epitomizes harmlessness and sheds only blessing. It could not do this if it arose from anything but perfect innocence. Innocence is wisdom because it is unaware of evil, and evil does not exist. It is, however, perfectly aware of everything that is true. The resurrection demonstrated that nothing can destroy truth. Good can withstand any form of evil, as light abolishes forms of darkness. The Atonement is therefore the perfect lesson. It is the final demonstration that all the other lessons I taught are true. If you can accept this one generalization now, there will be no need to learn from many smaller lessons. You are released from all errors if you believe this.

A Deepening Experience

Something is happening as I practice accepting the Atonement. It began with the day I truly surrendered to the Atonement. I stood with arms outstretched, welcomed Love into my heart, and asked it to heal all it found there. Gently but steadily, the feeling I experienced at that moment deepened. Now when I invite that healing power, I cry, sometimes uncontrollably. I don’t know what that means exactly, but I suppose it will be revealed in perfect timing, as always.

The Atonement is truth and innocence. It is the only thing here that is real, and it is unaffected by our illusions. It doesn’t acknowledge anything that is not real, so it is like a light being switched on in a dark room. All that is not light simply is not there anymore. And this is exactly what it feels like when I accept the Atonement in a particular situation. A light goes on, and all my dark thoughts are gone.

Judgmental Thoughts

For a couple of days now, I have had judgmental thoughts about someone. I went through the usual nonsense of pushing the thoughts away, trying not to notice them. Then when this did not work, I asked for healing, but the problem didn’t seem that urgent as no one was being affected by my unexpressed thoughts. Well, no one but me, and I was pretending that wasn’t happening.

Finally, this morning when I sat down to do today’s study, I asked Jesus to be with me to tell me what he wanted me to know from this paragraph. He pointed me toward that judgmental thought I had been trying to ignore. Once again, I made a half-hearted attempt to let it go; that is, I tried to let it go through my own efforts. I saw that this was not working. (Big surprise, there.) So, I told Jesus that I could not do this myself and needed help.

I said, “Here I am, God. I think this person is guilty. So, I open my heart to you. Please send Your Love into my heart and heal the guilt that is there.” I noticed that as I envisioned the person I was projecting guilt onto, I felt a heavy sadness to see what I was doing to this dear brother. Once again, I cried as the light shown away the dark thoughts of guilt. It was instant and complete.

Total Acceptance of the Atonement

In the past, when I noticed a thought that was not true, I tried to trivialize it if possible, pretending that it was a small, unimportant matter. Then I tried to bat it away, to bury it more deeply in my mind where I wouldn’t notice it, or to throw it out of my mind onto someone else so it would seem as if it was no longer mine. But there is no violence in the Atonement. It does not fight back evil. It simply radiates truth and innocence and is mine for the asking. Well, actually, it is mine for the acceptance of it.

First, I notice the Atonement is needed. Then I ask for the Atonement. But then I must accept it. Sometimes I take the first two steps, call it a day, and walk away from it. Then I wonder why this problem keeps coming back. ~smile~ This practice of accepting the Atonement is leading me to total acceptance. Jesus says this:

If you can accept this one generalization now, there will be no need to learn from many smaller lessons.

So, the daily practice is helping me to generalize the lesson. I am learning that the Atonement is the solution activated by Jesus so that we can all join him in awakening. Through using the Atonement every chance I get, I am learning that it works and nothing else does. I am being awakened to the memory of peace and love, and joy. At some point, the lesson will be generalized, and when this happens, it is done. There will be no more small lessons because I will be released from all errors.

8 I. Atonement Without Sacrifice, P 8

8 The innocence of God is the true state of the mind of His Son. In this state your mind knows God, for God is not symbolic; He is Fact. Knowing His Son as he is, you realize that the Atonement, not sacrifice, is the only appropriate gift for God’s altar, where nothing except perfection belongs. The understanding of the innocent is truth. That is why their altars are truly radiant.

I am innocent because God is innocent. I know myself as innocent and my brothers as innocent… then I know God. Here is a sentence I am drawn to in this paragraph. “…God is not symbolic; He is Fact.” I will know this as I continue to accept the Atonement and thus see myself and everyone as innocent.

I am happy to know as I read this paragraph that I am innocent. That God does not want my sacrifice and that what He does want instead is that I accept the Atonement. This is so simple and so possible that I feel elated when I think about it. I am happy at the thought that all day today, I am going to watch for the opportunity to accept the Atonement in whatever situations arise.

The Ego Encourages the Belief in Guilt

I do realize that there is a part of my mind that simply does not believe in my innocence. This part of the mind (the ego) is convinced that I am very guilty and that my only chance of survival is to avoid God. When I focus on this part of the mind, I believe in my guilt, and it can be hard to let that belief go. In a weird circular way, it seems like my guilt is the only thing protecting me from an angry, vengeful God. If I don’t feel guilty, the ego says, I will foolishly turn to God, and He will destroy me.

If the ego would only use these words, I would easily turn from the guilt because it makes no sense. But that’s not the way it happens. I feel a surge of anger when someone offends me in some way. I feel guilty for the anger, and I feel guilty that I felt offense in the first place. The whole situation makes me feel guilty, so the ego confirms my guilt.

Guilt Is Not Real

As I continue to take these thoughts and situations to the Holy Spirit and become willing to accept the Atonement, my mind clears. I realize that guilt is in my mind and is then projected outward as a story of Myron being offended and feeling righteous anger. I feel all of the anger and guilt melt away, and I know that nothing really happened.

Guilt, which does not exist, was projected onto a world that does not exist. The person I accused is innocent. I am innocent. We are innocent because nothing happened. Nothing could happen because we are innocent. We are innocent because God is innocent, and He created us like Himself. This is where the Atonement brings me every time.

I have been writing about how I am learning that pain is not real and neither are suffering and death. This is still an idea that I am working with. I accept the Atonement each time I feel pain or suffer or believe in death. As I place these beliefs on the altar, I continue to ask for the Atonement. And I accept it to the degree I can do so now. I am chipping away at the belief and watching it crumble.

Another Stubborn Belief

One day, it occurred to me that I can apply this same process to another stubborn belief. I have spent most of my adult life trying to control my weight. Just reading that sentence tells me where the problem lies. I am trying to control the body as if I were its victim and as if the body had a mind of its own that was in opposition to mine. Well, that’s pretty funny, but obviously, I still believe it.

I told the Holy Spirit that I was willing to accept the Atonement in this situation. I am willing to let go of the belief that I am a victim of this problem, and I am willing to let go of the idea there is a problem, to begin with. It is time to end this war with the body. I want to be healed. I approached this in the same way I do any false idea. First, I accept that I do not know what any of this means. I don’t know how it will unfold and what it should look like.

Then I pay close attention to my thoughts about it. I notice which thoughts are not true. Most of them, as it turns out, and I ask for the Atonement. I ask that Love come into my mind and heal every error there. I give all the willingness I have to accept that healing. And so, I chip away at a belief that has hardened in my mind over a lifetime. It is giving way.

Surprise!

The surprise: I have so much guilt around the idea of body weight and seem to be willing to believe this guilt is real. I believe that God will ask for a sacrifice for this healing, that he will ask me to give up my hope for a slim body. I bargain with him as I agree to a bigger but not the biggest body. Jeez. I have to be honest. I am not only surprised but somewhat discouraged to find these thoughts in my mind. This is all just so silly, but there you have it.

Another very stubborn false belief is that food, which doesn’t really exist, can affect the body, which doesn’t really exist. It seems to do so in ways that the mind does not want and that the mind has little control over the choices being made. Really? Is the mind victim to the body’s appetites? Can I not control the mind’s decisions about food choices? Who is this “I,” and how could it be that “I” have no control over my choices? This is so crazy I can hardly believe that I fall for this. And yet, as I watch my mind, I see that it is true.

Don’t Listen to the Ego

The ego says that this is just too confusing and too hard. It counsels me just to let it all go and return to dieting. I have a really good handle on dieting after all these years, and I should stick with what works. But I am not listening to the ego. This is not confusing, and it is not hard. The only thing that is happening is that I am believing a bunch of untrue thoughts. The solution is the Atonement. I have accepted the Atonement before, know how to do this, and am convinced it works. I feel so happy and so free when I accept the Atonement that I am highly motivated. In fact, I am excited for another opportunity to remember my innocence.

(I wrote this some time ago. I re-read it before using it, and when I got to the part where I discovered all of those untrue thoughts about food and body and weight, I just cracked myself up. They are hilarious!)

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