ACIM Chapter 7.VIII. The Unbelievable Belief, P 5-7

ACIM Chapter 7.VIII. The Unbelievable Belief, P 5-7. Do not be afraid of the ego.

VIII. The Unbelievable Belief, P 5

⁵ Do not be afraid of the ego. It depends on your mind, and as you made it by believing in it, so you can dispel it by withdrawing belief from it. Do not project the responsibility for your belief in it onto anyone else, or you will preserve the belief. When you are willing to accept sole responsibility for the ego’s existence you will have laid aside all anger and all attack, because they come from an attempt to project responsibility for your own errors. But having accepted the errors as yours, do not keep them. Give them over quickly to the Holy Spirit to be undone completely, so that all their effects will vanish from your mind and from the Sonship as a whole.

The first sentence is in italics. I take the hint that this is important. I have no reason to fear the ego because I made it and it derives its power from my mind. It cannot exist unless I choose that it exists. The moment belief is withdrawn from the ego, it ceases to exist. How can I fear something that is powerless against me?

The second very important point that Jesus is making in this paragraph is that I am responsible for the ego. I am responsible for the world and everything I see in the world. I am responsible, though not guilty, for all that I see, hear, and feel. This tells me that if it is in my awareness it is there for me to heal it.

I am reminded of Dr. Hew Lin.

He healed an entire institution for the criminally insane through an ancient Hawaiian practice of Ho’oponopono. His use of this practice is a little different than the traditional method, but he proved that it worked. He healed these people without even seeing them. He read their files and healed within himself what he saw there.

This is what Wikipedia says about it:  It is based on Len’s idea of 100% responsibility,^[41] taking responsibility for everyone’s actions, not only for one’s own. If one would take complete responsibility for one’s life, then everything one sees, hears, tastes, touches, or in any way experiences would be one’s responsibility because it is in one’s life.^[42] The problem would not be with our external reality, it would be with ourselves. To change our reality, we would have to change ourselves.

Total Responsibility, according to Hew Len, advocates that everything exists as a projection from inside the human being.^[43] As such, it is similar to the philosophy of solipsism, but differs in that it does not deny the reality of the consciousness of others. Instead, it views all consciousness as part of the whole, so using parts of the idea of holism: any error that a person clears in their own consciousness should be cleared for everyone.

This is the prayer that Dr Lin used to clear this.

“I love you. I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you.”

You can read about this in Zero Limits, co-authored with Joe Vitale. There is a lot about it on the web.

I agree with Dr. Hew Lin. I am solely responsible for my life and everything in it. So, I gladly take the next step. As I notice what needs healing anywhere in my world, I quickly give it over to Spirit to be healed so that it will vanish from our mind.

VIII. The Unbelievable Belief, P 6

⁶ The Holy Spirit will teach you to perceive beyond your belief, because truth is beyond belief and His perception is true. The ego can be completely forgotten at any time, because it is a totally incredible belief, and no one can keep a belief he has judged to be unbelievable. The more you learn about the ego, the more you realize that it cannot be believed. The incredible cannot be understood because it is unbelievable. The meaninglessness of perception based on the unbelievable is apparent, but it may not be recognized as being beyond belief, because it is made by belief.

It is really helpful for me to realize that the reason I believe the ego is because it was made by my belief. That is why it is so hard for me to let it go even though I see that I it makes no sense and even though I feel the truth of the Course. I feel the certainty that I am not the ego, that the ego is not real because it is not God. I am real because I am God, in that I am as He created me. And He created me as an extension of Himself.

I made the ego by believing in it and this makes it impossible for me to withdraw from the ego without help. I need something outside that belief to help me, and this is the function of the Holy Spirit. However, because of what I am, that is because I am the Son of God, nothing can take from me what I want. So, the Holy Spirit can heal the part of the mind that believes in the ego, but only if I do not obstruct Him.

This is my part, and it is very small.

I simply decide that I want to believe only the truth and it is done. Jesus is helping me to make that decision as he helps me to see how unbelievable the ego is. As the ego is seen more clearly through what I am learning as I read the Course, I see that it is meaningless and I don’t want it anymore.

This happened a little at a time. I saw one thing about the ego that didn’t make sense and I became willing to let go and so my mind was healed. But then I thought some other part of the ego thought system had value and I wanted to keep it. Eventually, as I saw the effects of this belief I realized it was not something I wanted and my mind is healed of this. This will continue until finally I have generalized the lesson and realized that the entire thought system is unbelievable and I let it go altogether.

At one time, this process seemed to go on forever, every day offering me many opportunities to heal my mind. Now, I know this is true, and most of the time I live this. But sometimes something happens and I am triggered. Of course, that I can be triggered, there must be a false belief that I still believe in. I feel the fear and anxiety that arises as this is going on. I feel small and vulnerable.

Then I remember the truth and I let it go.

I give permission for the Holy Spirit to undo this in my mind. It is like I am being questioned about my decisions. Do I really want to let this go? Am I really through with this belief? It feels awful while I am feeling it, but it also feels good because I keep choosing the truth over the ego. Whereas this happened often in the past, now it happens infrequently. Does this mean that I am ready to wake up from the ego-belief system? Of course, it does.

VIII. The Unbelievable Belief, P 7

⁷ The whole purpose of this course is to teach you that the ego is unbelievable and will forever be unbelievable. You who made the ego by believing the unbelievable cannot make this judgment alone. By accepting the Atonement for yourself, you are deciding against the belief that you can be alone, thus dispelling the idea of separation and affirming your true identification with the whole Kingdom as literally part of you. This identification is as beyond doubt as it is beyond belief. Your wholeness has no limits because being is infinity.

I began this little adventure I think of as my life with an unbelievable idea. I believed that I could be separate from All That Is. Thus, I believed I could be alone. Since I did this with belief, I need a solution that is outside the belief. The Solution I need and can have simply by choosing it is the Atonement.

The Atonement dispels the idea that I am separate, but that entails more than a realization I am not alone. Jesus says that the Atonement affirms that the whole Kingdom is literally part of me. Literally. I, in my wholeness, have no limits. I am infinite. My vision of my self is nothing like this. I am, however, becoming willing to step into my Self, or rather to allow my Self to rise in my consciousness. When I do this, when I allow my true Self into my awareness, I will not have any interest in the little ego I made to take its place.

For a long time, I played with the idea that my mind is powerful.

I am constantly choosing, deliberately choosing what I will believe. As I made these choices, I saw the effects. Jesus had been telling us this all along but even though I read what he said, I seemed determined to not really believe it. Now I have changed my mind about this. I have become a believer. This is how it worked for me.

At first, I just watched my mind and saw how my thoughts became my life. Mostly I noticed how my negative thoughts were projected onto the world. This was important and encouraged me to allow my mind to be healed. I was learning through contrast. I had thoughts of anger and I saw that this projection brought me stories of conflict and it felt really bad. So, I asked for healing and I saw how my stories became peaceful stories and it felt good.

Then I took this a step further. I became willing to recognize that everything in my life is a reflection of a thought in my mind and that each thought I have is a deliberate choice I have made. Here is an example of what I mean. I went to bed early last night and got up early this morning. This means that I have more time to sit with Spirit, to allow Him to guide my thoughts, and to write what I get.

I was thinking how much I enjoy it when there is no sense of hurry.

I had the thought that I wished I could do it like this every day. I’ve tried to arrange my day like this before and it only works occasionally. I felt the wish like it was something just out of my reach. Then another thought rose in my mind and it was that I could decide for this. I don’t have to wish for it, I can will it to be.

I will always give myself the gift of a leisurely morning with Spirit. If this is what I want, there is nothing that can keep it from me. My mind is part of God, part of the whole, and it is powerful. It is so powerful it could choose to believe what is not true and through this belief, I made an entire world. As I choose to stop believing in the unbelievable, I am remembering that I can join my will with the Will of God with far more favorable results than I achieved in joining with ego.

The Will of God is that I am whole and my wholeness is infinite. The Will of God has no opposite so this must be true of me. I choose to experience my limitless Self every morning, as I know that there is always enough time for what is needed. It may not seem like a big deal, but every time I choose for strength instead of weakness, I convince myself that this is what I want and what I am. I hear the ego in the background reminding me how small I am and suggesting I stay low. But it’s too late for that.

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