ACIM Chapter 6. I. The Message of the Crucifixion, P 18, 19

ACIM I. The Message of the Crucifixion, P 18, 19. The power of the Sons of God is present all the time, because they were created as creators.

I. The Message of the Crucifixion, P 18

18 The power of the Sons of God is present all the time, because they were created as creators. Their influence on each other is without limit, and must be used for their joint salvation. Each one must learn to teach that all forms of rejection are meaningless. The separation is the notion of rejection. As long as you teach this you will believe it. This is not as God thinks, and you must think as He thinks if you are to know Him again.

A key sentence for me is that the separation is the notion of rejection. Because I am one with All That Is, to experience separation, I must reject all but this little dab of self. I must push away all else and see this little self as alone and apart. Now that the idea of rejection is in place and is in my mind, it is projected outward and seen in the world as if it is real. This is how we made the illusion.

To undo the illusion, I start with what I can see and allow that aspect to be undone. For instance, I texted my daughter one night, and she had a late class, so she said she would call me when she got home. She never called, and the thought of being rejected was in my mind. I saw the belief in rejection, and this is no surprise.

Of course, the belief in rejection is in the mind.

It is not personal and nothing to be ashamed of or guilty about. However, it is something to heal, so I asked for the Atonement and accepted it to the degree I could. This is my part in awakening the sleeping Mind of God’s Son. The next time I see a rejection thought in my mind, I will do the same thing.

There will be many opportunities. I reject the clerk at the store when she seems to be unfriendly. I reject a client when he seems to be obstinately refusing to listen to my advice even though he asked for it. In fact, I used to reject and feel rejected often during the day, and it was all meaningless. Sometimes I still do. I used to get upset when I noticed these things.

First, I judged, which set up the feeling of rejection, and then I judged myself for having that thought and holding onto that belief. Then, I let go of the self-judgment that made the whole process more painful and slowed it down. Here is a prayer I was given that is helping me to do this with more conviction.

My Mind is healed and Whole Now! Everything else is an illusion, just let it go. No need to fix illusion!

At first, this was a little disappointing.

I thought this was just another affirmation and not all that impressive. But as I have used this thought, I felt the tension and anxiety around the healing process loosen. I only need to remember the truth; nothing else needs my attention. If it is not the truth, it is just an illusion, and I don’t have to do anything with an illusion except let it go. Whew!

I am through with separation so I don’t want to teach it anymore. Every time I see a reflection of that belief in my mind or my life, I let it go. Those are meaningless thoughts and not the thoughts I think with God. As I let those thoughts go, I become aware of my real thoughts, the thoughts I think with God. I do this because I long to know God again.

I. The Message of the Crucifixion, P 19

19 Remember that the Holy Spirit is the communication link between God the Father and His separated Sons. If you will listen to His Voice you will know that you cannot either hurt or be hurt, and that many need your blessing to help them hear this for themselves. When you perceive only this need in them, and do not respond to any other, you will have learned of me and will be as eager to share your learning as I am.

When I read these paragraphs, I immediately look for an example of what he is telling me. Finding real-life examples helps me to understand. Here is the one that came to mind. Several years ago, I was invited to join a closed group to share my thoughts. Immediately, my writing was attacked by one person in particular. This happened both times I shared.

My first reaction was a thrill of fear.

What if I am all wrong and this person found me out? I had always suspected that, and it brought up guilt that I was a bad Course student and was misquoting the Voice for God. This happened at a time when I was just beginning to gain confidence in my ability to hear that Voice.

After the fear passed, I thought about it and decided that it would not be helpful for me to stay in the group. I had no desire to cause upset, and since I was the only person who wrote from my own experience and from the Voice I heard, maybe this was not the place to do so. But when I politely bowed out, I was asked to stay.

Two things happened because I stayed.

First, I learned to look at my self-doubt with the Holy Spirit and allow it to be healed. The second thing is that I learned to see that the person who attacked me did so out of their own self-doubt and fear. If I defended myself against this person, I would be teaching us both that the attack was real and had real effects and that sometimes attack is justified. This is a lesson I wanted neither to teach nor to learn.

I continued to write what I was given and to allow comments to be made without reaction on my part. My gift to this person was to teach defenselessness. The gift to myself was to learn that I was not in need of defense. Life is more peaceful since I realized that nothing is personal. It is rare for me these days to feel even an urge to defend my writing or teaching. When someone challenges it, I recognize it as an opportunity to teach defenselessness.

Now, here is an example that happened when I was still working.

Because it was not connected to my spiritual work, I was temporarily thrown off guard and didn’t see it as clearly as I did the new group incident. There was someone at work who challenged my work skills. I had been doing this job for over 20 years, and he has been doing it for one, so at first glance, the challenge is ridiculous. But, never the less, I found myself reacting both in my mind and occasionally out loud.

Each time it happened, I talked to the Holy Spirit about how I felt and showed Him my thoughts about the situation and this man. I saw that I was feeling like I was the old one being rejected and discarded so this young, energetic man could take my place. There was no proof of this, and highly unlikely, but there it was, the fearful thought that was driving my behavior.

I asked that my mind be healed, and I accepted that healing. I was vigilant for thoughts that indicated I had not accepted the Atonement for this. And I remembered that this is all an illusion and does not need to be fixed. I remembered my purpose, which has nothing to do with securing my position at work and everything to do with teaching defenselessness.  I accepted the Atonement.

Finally, I saw his fear of not succeeding, and I understand this fear.

I saw that he considered me an obstacle to overcome and a barrier to his happiness. What was I to do about this? My guidance was to be gentle and defenseless. Here is what it looked like. I read his report and saw that there was important information about his customer he didn’t have. I told him what he needed to know. He responded with sarcasm.

I asked the Holy Spirit how I should respond. I then assured him I wasn’t criticizing him and was sharing this information only because I value his work and have confidence in him. That was not my first thought, by the way, and I am glad I chose to ask Spirit before I responded. I can’t say that this attempt to heal the relationship was successful. It would take time and determination to let go of the desire to reject, but I was persistent.

My mind began to clear some of the desire to defend against this young man. I recognized that my defenses resulted from my fear and not anything to do with him. I let my mind be healed; that is all I needed to do. As I accepted that healing, I taught with the Holy Spirit instead of the ego. With a commitment to awakening, eventually, the relationship was healed as my mind accepted healing.

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