ACIM V. Beyond Perception, P 8, 9. Forgiveness is the healing of the perception of separation.
ACIM V. Beyond Perception, P 8, 9
V. Beyond Perception, P 9
9 Forgiveness is the healing of the perception of separation. Correct perception of your brother is necessary, because minds have chosen to see themselves as separate. Spirit knows God completely. That is its miraculous power. The fact that each one has this power completely is a condition entirely alien to the world’s thinking. The world believes that if anyone has everything, there is nothing left. But God’s miracles are as total as His Thoughts because they are His Thoughts.
I need to underline this first sentence and commit it to memory. “Forgiveness is the healing of the perception of separation.” I have said before myself and have heard many people say, “I don’t really understand forgiveness.” That is why when I hear the word forgiveness, I automatically translate it to “undo.” I chose the perception of separation, and now I need to undo this choice or choose again. Thus, I forgive my perception of what is happening to me or what someone is doing.
In order to undo the perception of separation, I must forgive it everywhere I see it. I cannot pick and choose the perceptions I want to undo and those I want to keep. If I keep any perception of separation, I have not forgiven the perception of separation. Because we see each perception as something different from another, there is the temptation to believe that one is more meaningful and, thus, more valuable than another. But if it is a perception of separation, it has no meaning and, therefore no value.
Separation Perceptions
Guilt is a separation perception. We are all innocent, and this has no exceptions, but it can be hard to believe this sometimes. If someone breaks my heart, steals something I treasure, or hurts someone I love, the temptation is to believe that person is guilty. If I don’t forgive that perception, then I have kept the whole separation perception in place.
Suffering is a separation perception. Many times, I have felt like my suffering was justified. When my son was very sick, I suffered. Yesterday when I felt guilty for something I did to my mother, I suffered. When I have been sick or in pain, I have suffered. When I am suffering and tell myself that I am a victim of the circumstances and there is nothing I can do about it, I am keeping the whole separation perception in place.
Separation perception seems to take many forms. It might appear as fear, anger, jealousy, depression, shame, grief, or envy, suffering, pain, or death. It might appear as a behavior, such as an addiction. It might appear as distracting behaviors like eating, shopping, reading, and watching TV when these things are done in order to avoid the work of forgiveness.
Separation Perceptions All the Same
No matter the form they take or how different they seem, our separation perceptions are really all the same. This is hard to hear and even harder to believe, but the death of a loved one is no different than the fear of losing a job. It is part of our separation strategy to put everything into categories and give them levels of “truth” and levels of importance. But just as zero times one equals zero and zero times a million also equals zero, separation perceptions are meaningless no matter what importance we give them.
Spirit knows God completely, and Spirit is in our minds, so each of us has this power in exactly the same way and to the same degree. No one is holier than another, and no one is condemned or less than another. The world doesn’t understand this because the world is based on separation perception.
There are obvious examples of this as you listen to people talk about mass shootings, politicians they really despise, or even whole groups of people they hate. But terrorists and murderers and rapists, and even the politicians people love to hate all have the same power of knowledge in their minds. The Spirit is in them as He is in all of us, so how can they be separate? If I see them as separate or different, if I see them as outside Love, then I am holding the separation perception in place.
We Are Each Miracles
How about the ones I see as holier, more advanced, and more special than me? I know that some people are more advanced in time, but that is just temporary and not a real difference. But if I place anyone, even Jesus, above myself and make him special, then I am keeping the separation perception in place.
Who we really are is not the story of our bodies, which is just another separation perception, but our true Self is exactly the same and is One. There is not one of us that is better or higher placed or more beloved or holier than another. We are each a miracle of God in exactly the same way. Give devotion where devotion is due, but reserve awe only for God.
V. Beyond Perception, P 10
10 As long as perception lasts prayer has a place. Since perception rests on lack, those who perceive have not totally accepted the Atonement and given themselves over to truth. Perception is based on a separated state, so that anyone who perceives at all needs healing. Communion, not prayer, is the natural state of those who know. God and His miracle are inseparable. How beautiful indeed are the Thoughts of God who live in His Light! Your worth is beyond perception because it is beyond doubt. Do not perceive yourself in different lights. Know yourself in the One Light where the miracle that is you is perfectly clear.
I think I am separated from God, and so I think I lack. I will continue to feel a sense of lack no matter how I fill my life with things, friends, lovers, money, accomplishments, or beauty. Nothing will relieve the emptiness because it is the inevitable result of the perception of separation. I was whole, and now I perceive myself as less than that, so I naturally seek a remedy. The only remedy is a return to Wholeness.
I perceive myself as fractured and so now need healing. As long as I continue to perceive rather than to know, this will be true. Forgiveness is the only healing that will bring me back to my natural state. Forgiveness will allow the Holy Spirit to heal my mind and undo what I have done through my decision to perceive separation.
Praying
So now I am learning to pray differently. I don’t pray to be a better person, to have more money, for help to meet an obligation, or to meet someone who will relieve my sense of loneliness. I don’t pray for a healthier body or a longer life, or that my friends and loved ones will not leave me. The only meaningful prayer is forgiveness, which is the only remedy for what ails me. Forgiveness accepts the healing of the mind that believes it lacks any of these things.
Only through separation perception could I imagine that I could be alone, afraid, sad, angry, or in need of anything at all. I am whole and perfect, beautiful beyond anything the body’s eyes could show me. I am what I seek. I am a miracle of God. I am His beloved Son. What could I pray for if I were in my right mind? While I am in this confused state where I perceive rather than know, the only prayer I am interested in is the prayer of forgiveness. When I pray for myself or anyone, I forgive what the body’s eyes show me, and I pray for true vision. I pray to see what we are in truth, and I hold that vision to the best of my ability.
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