ACIM Chapter 9. VII. The Two Evaluations. P 1, 2

ACIM Chapter 9. VII. The Two Evaluations. P 1, 2

VII. The Two Evaluations

1 God’s Will is your salvation. Would He not have given you the means to find it? If He wills you to have it, He must have made it possible and easy to obtain it. Your brothers are everywhere. You do not have to seek far for salvation. Every minute and every second gives you a chance to save yourself. Do not lose these chances, not because they will not return, but because delay of joy is needless. God wills you perfect happiness now. Is it possible that this is not also your will? And is it possible that this is not also the will of your brothers?

God’s Will is my salvation so of course it is both possible and easy to obtain. The problem is separation so the answer is union.  Not that we have to achieve union, but that we must stop resisting union and accept it as a fact. We are joined. We are one. Denying union is the way we reject salvation. Pretending we are separate is the way we delay our happiness.

I have been doing the grievance lessons, and they have made me very conscious of the grievances I hold. In these lessons, Jesus says that grievances keep me from knowing God. He says that those who hold grievances will suffer guilt and forget who they are. He says I am the light of the world, but my grievances hide that light. He also says that the ego’s plan for salvation centers around holding grievances.

Here is what Jesus says in Lesson 71.

“Holding grievances is the opposite of God’s plan for salvation. And only His plan will work.” I want salvation. I want to awaken and remember my Self. I want to remember my creations. I want to feel my union with God, and to do that, I must first accept my union with my brothers. I can do that only by releasing all grievances.

Noticing that I still have grievances was discouraging. I really didn’t realize that was true. But as I think of it, I realize that if I believe in guilt, I will project that guilt onto someone else. That is how grievances are born. The encouraging part of this is that I don’t actually have to undo every individual grievance. I can use the grievances I am aware of to remind me that there is healing that needs to be done. I can use them to practice releasing grievances and to experience the relief and joy that comes as I release them, and so motivate myself to accept salvation.

It doesn’t need to be this way.

From these lessons, I understand that the shortcut to salvation is to understand that my grievances not only stand between me and salvation but are completely unnecessary. I am not guilty. I have nothing to project. It is all a ridiculous misunderstanding. Separation is not a sin because it is not real. I did nothing, and therefore, I did nothing wrong. I am merely pretending to do the impossible.

Since I am not guilty, there is no need to project, and without projection, there is no grievance. Without guilt, projection, and grievances, there is no need to prolong the dream of separation. I am innocent, and God welcomes me Home. I have nothing to fear and so I gladly return Home. Each time I notice a grievance, big or small, I open my heart to my brother. I invite him in and envelope him in our holiness. Maybe I still have grievances, and maybe it is more than I realized, but each one is a chance to save myself and my brother with me.

VII. The Two Evaluations, P 2

2 Consider, then, that in this joint will you are all united, and in this only. There may be disagreement on anything else, but not on this. This, then, is where peace abides. And you abide in peace when you so decide. Yet you cannot abide in peace unless you accept the Atonement, because the Atonement is the way to peace. The reason is very simple, and so obvious that it is often overlooked. The ego is afraid of the obvious, since obviousness is the essential characteristic of reality. Yet you cannot overlook it unless you are not looking.

I want to be happy, and you want to be happy. On this, we can agree. We may feel unworthy of happiness at times, but we still want it. In our agreement, peace abides, and we abide there, too. All it takes is a decision to do so. In that decision, we choose to accept the Atonement. We choose to allow the ego to be undone for us because there is no other way to be at peace and no other way to be happy.

This section will help us examine what should be obvious but has been overlooked since we created the world we see and all that is part of it. We will examine the two evaluations: the Holy Spirit’s evaluation of us and the ego’s evaluation. What we want to remember is that we always agree with one or the other.

There is no third choice, no neutral ground.

Which we agree with is a matter of decision. Our decision changes nothing in reality because what God created cannot be changed. But our choice is important because choosing to agree with the ego prolongs our suffering. We have closed our eyes to the truth long enough. We have suffered long enough.

Let us look with eyes wide open at the two evaluations that Jesus is presenting to us. Today, I make a commitment to see what is obvious. As I read this section, I open my mind to what Jesus is telling us. I commit to staying aware during the day so that I will see how this applies in my life and how I have been accepting the ego’s evaluation. I commit to opening my heart so that I can fully receive the Holy Spirit’s evaluation instead.

To read Pathways of Light insights of this section, CLICK HERE.