our error at its source which is in our mind.
Therefore we begin the correction of our error by forgiving others, not for their sin, but for the sin we have projected onto them.
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And now we turn to the first obstacle to peace — the desire to get rid of it. We do not want peace because without conflict and separation we have no special separate existence. Conflict proves we are real and separate.
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The little wall of hatred is the sin and guilt (selfishness) we project onto our brothers. The projection of sin and guilt is referred to as an attack.
Believing we are separate from and in conflict with God and our brothers, we feel justified in defending ourselves and attacking them back. This is the first obstacle to peace we must overcome: the desire to get rid of peace.
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The "messengers of fear" is an anthropomorphic symbol that refers to the process of projecting our sin, guilt and fear onto the world of bodies. "Our lord and master" refers to sin, guilt, fear or the ego throughout the Text. We actively seek and love to find fault with people in the world; we love to condemn and judge because by finding guilt in others we believe we can maintain our innocence.
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Many passages in the Text are disturbing because they represent all of us as separate egos. However, the reality of who we are is Christ Who does not attack and cannot be preyed upon. To realize the truth of who we are we must be willing to bring the obstacles of darkness to the light of the Holy Spirit Who reminds us of the light of Christ in all of us.
The ego made the body and world so it could project its sin, guilt and fear out of the mind, and maintain its face of innocence. Once we find sin and guilt in others we feel justified in attacking them.
Next we look at the second obstacle to peace: the belief that the body is valuable, and the attraction of pain.
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We love to be treated unfairly, attacked and mistreated because it proves we are innocent victims, and that sin and guilt are outside of us in our victimizers. Pain means I am real. Identifying with the body provides the ego a "home." Pain and pleasure of the body seem to witness to the reality of the ego's special separate existence. This is the
attraction of the body and pain that we must overcome to realize the truth of our eternal Identity with Christ in Spirit.
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I am attracted to finding guilt in you because that is how I believe I can avoid guilt and pain in myself.
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The third obstacle to peace, the attraction of death, and the fourth obstacle to peace, the fear of God, are closely related.
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By bringing the obstacles to peace to the light of awareness we are able to make a conscious choice for the Holy Spirit rather than the ego. The ego makes the body as a distraction so the Son of God will not choose the Holy Spirit.
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The Universal Purpose is the Atonement. The body has no purpose apart from the purpose the mind assigns to it. The Holy Spirit in our right mind uses the body as a communication device to extend forgiveness and the Atonement. The ego uses the body as a weapon to prove and maintain the ego's special separate existence. We, the Son of God as the decision maker, determine the purpose the body is to serve by choosing the ego or the Holy Spirit as our guide and teacher.
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The "tiny mad idea" is the idea that the separation from God is real. This "tiny mad idea" of separation is embodied by the body in the world. The body is the tiny mad idea in the mind of the Son.
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Sickness and healing are in the mind, not the body.
Dissociation is the attempt to split off two irreconcilable thought systems in the mind by ignoring or dissociating one of them. This is referred to as the split mind in the Chart, and is represented by the Holy Spirit in the right mind, and the ego in the wrong mind. Dissociation, the split mind, is healed by bringing the darkness of the ego to the light of the Holy Spirit.
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Ideas leave not their source. Sickness is the decision for guilt in the mind. The ego's goal is to maintain its separate existence. By having us identify our self with the body, it maintains itself, and keeps us from questioning our true identity in the mind. By believing sickness is of the body, not the mind, the ego keeps us focused on the body and maintains its separate existence — until we choose again.
Notes on the Text of A Course in Miracles
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Seeking physical pleasure or avoiding pain will not bring the peace of God to you. Pleasure, pain and the body are irrelevant to Self Knowledge. Self Knowledge is of the mind.
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The original belief in the thought of separation from God was our "death." Identifying with the ego and the body is the expression of the original thought of separation, and is the "murder" of our true Self as Christ. The ego confuses life and death, birth and murder; the insane idea that Atonement is attained through sacrifice, suffering and death.
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This Course is not asking us to give up or sacrifice the body or the world. With the help of the Holy Spirit we are asked to question our identity with the ego, the body and world because identifying with the ego is the cause of our pain.
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We have chosen the body, a little mound of clay, to be our home. Until we choose again.
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Peace is the home of love. Guilt is the home of fear.
As we study the teachings in this Course over time, we will notice a change in the way we perceive ourselves and the world. We will notice we are experiencing peace, love and forgiveness more and more; and experiencing conflict, fear and guilt less and less.
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Faith in the ego is faithlessness because it is faith in nothing. Faith in the Holy Spirit is faithfulness because it is faith in God Who is All.
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The decision to identify with the body instead of God is the source of pain.
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Being aware of the obstacles to peace serves to unveil the dark, hidden motives of the ego, and bring them to the light where they can be healed and released.
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The third obstacle to peace is the attraction of death.
To the ego, death of the body is the ultimate proof that separation from God was real.
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The ego lives through the "murder" of Christ; the original error.
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The purpose of death (the whole thought system of the ego) is to silence the Voice for God. The "retreat
to death" is the choice to identify with the ego rather than the Holy Spirit — God's Answer.
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The separate existence of the body and world with all the pain, suffering, conflict and death, proves that God is dead, and the ego lives! That is why we are attracted to guilt, pain, and death; and why we fear God's eternal life and unconditional love.
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Our fear of anything in the world is a projection of the original sin, guilt and fear in our mind that arises from the belief in our separation from God's love and wholeness. The world we experience is a reflection of our own mind. The world is your mind. Ideas leave not their source. Your world leaves not your mind.
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By looking at the ego through the eyes of Jesus or the Holy Spirit we are able to realize there must be a better way to live our lives. This little willingness leads us to consider choosing the Holy Spirit as our teacher, and letting go of the misery of the ego. After we have faced the first three obstacles to peace that involve our identity with the body, next we look at the fourth obstacle to peace which is our fear of God in our mind. The reason we made the body and world was to avoid facing the fear of God. The ego tells us that if we look within our mind, God will destroy us.
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By raising his eyes and looking squarely upon his sin and guilt based on the ego's lies, the Son has the opportunity to take back the power he gave away by choosing again. You are the Son of God. And the Father and Son are one.
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The obstacles to peace, which are in our mind, are reflected in our special relationships in the world. By looking at our special relationships with Jesus or the Holy Spirit, they are transformed into the holy relationship, which is with Christ through the Holy Spirit in our mind.
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Our Redeemer is the Holy Spirit. We are to look upon all our brothers as sinless through the eyes of the Holy Spirit's forgiveness.
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The purpose we share with all of our brothers is that of awakening from the dream of separation. We do this by accepting the Atonement for ourselves and through forgiveness of our brothers with the help of the Holy Spirit. Our special relationships are transformed into the holy relationship in the miracle
Notes on Chapter Nineteen – The Attainment of Peace
of the holy instant as we choose to see with the bright vision of Christ rather than through the dark clouds of the ego.
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The holy relationship is in your mind, not between two people or two bodies. In the holy relationship, fear's messengers, the hungry dogs of fear, are called off; and love's messengers are sent out in their place.
The hungry dogs of fear were sent out to find sin and guilt in your brothers. Love's messengers are sent out to find love, peace and innocence in your brothers.
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Instead of choosing the ugliness of the ego's hatred, we choose the beauty of the Holy Spirit's love. And because projection makes perception, we find in our brothers what we projected onto them.
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The fear of death is a mask over our attraction to death. The ego wants us to believe in death, because it proves we have our own life separate from God.
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Death is the belief in our separation from God. The resurrection is the awakening from the belief in death.
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Forgiveness is the means by which we are able to undo the projection of guilt, and go back inside our mind to resolve the true source of guilt which is our decision to believe in the sin of separation from God.
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Our one and only purpose is to forgive all as a means for reaching the end of the journey which is the awakening to the real world. Now we look upon all of our relationships as an opportunity to look within.
Looking at our special relationships, love and hate, serves as an opportunity to see the sin and guilt we have projected onto them from within ourselves.
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The first three obstacles to peace refer to the body as a hiding place for our sin and guilt. To overcome the fourth obstacle, the fear of God, we must go within our mind to the source of fear which is our belief in the original separation. Forgiveness helps us realize
the sin is not in our brothers or in the world, but is in our mind. We must face this final obstacle, the fear of God, within our own mind before we can move on to the real world.
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We are healed together or not at all. All are forgiven or no one is forgiven. There are absolutely no exceptions to God's unconditional love. His love is all inclusive. The Holy Spirit's forgiveness is offered to all. The Sonship is one. You cannot realize the truth of your Identity with Christ if you withhold forgiveness from even one of your brothers. We go to Heaven together or not at all.
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We are to turn to the Holy Spirit to help us forgive everyone against whom we have ever held a grievance — past, present or future; dead or alive.
Not one stain of sin can be held against a brother if we are to reach the real world. Our relationships are the perfect mirror for us to look back into our mind to find any remnants of sin and guilt that need to be released through forgiveness.
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Crucifixion is a symbol for the ego's thought system of sin, guilt and fear. As we project our sin and guilt onto our brothers we crucify them hoping to maintain our own innocence.
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Resurrection is the awakening from the dream of separation, death and separate interests.
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The purpose of our life, the purpose of our relationships, and our only goal is salvation from the hell of egoic existence; through forgiveness and Atonement, we realize the real world where God lifts us back into Heaven.
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Our choice of goals in the world is either to maintain our special separate egoic existence, or to realize the truth of our Identity with Christ in Spirit.
End Chapter Nineteen