A Course in Miracles

by Helen Schucman

The Holy Spirit, like the ego, is a decision.

The Holy Spirit and the ego are the only choices open to you.

If the sole responsibility of the miracle worker is to accept the Atonement for himself, and I assure you that it is, then the responsibility for what is atoned for cannot be yours.

The continuing decision to remain separated is the only possible reason for continuing guilt feelings.

Guilt feelings are the preservers of time.

They induce fears of retaliation or abandonment, and thus ensure that the future will be like the past.

This is the ego’s co...

It gives the ego a false sense of security by believing that you c...

Your ego cannot accept this freedom, and will oppose it at every possible moment and in every possible way.

let me teach you how to share it with your brothers.

the ego always speaks first.

The ego speaks in judgment,

The ego’s decisions are always wrong, because they are based on the error they were made to uphold. Nothing the ego perceives is interpreted correctly.

You need not fear the Higher Court will condemn you. It will merely dismiss the case against you.

Appeal everything you believe gladly to God’s Own Higher Court, because it speaks for Him and therefore speaks truly.

It will dismiss the case against you, however carefully you have built it up.

The case may be fool-proof, but it is ...

Your patience with your brother is your patience with yourself.

Is not a child of God worth patience?

you must learn that only infinite patience produces immediate effects.

Do you really believe you can make a voice that can drown out God’s?

you really believe you can devise a thought system that can separate you from Him?

Do you really believe you can plan for your safety and joy ...

you can choose to accept His care and use the infinite power of His care for all those He created by it.

every mind God created is equally worthy of being healed because God created it whole.

Excluding yourself from the Atonement is the ego’s last-ditch defense of its own existence.

It reflects both the ego’s need to separate, and your willingness to side with its separateness.

This willingness means that you do not wan...

You have not been asked to work out the plan of salvation yourself because, as I told you before, the remedy could not be of your making.

Whenever you are not wholly joyous, it is because you have reacted with a lack of love to one of God’s creations.

Perceiving this as “sin” you become defensive because you expect attack.

The decision to react in this way is yours, and can th...

It cannot be undone by repentance in the usual sense, because...

If you allow yourself to feel gui...

reinforce the error rather than allow it to be...

you must already have decided not to be wholly joyous if that is how you feel.

Therefore, the first step in the undoing is to recognize that you actively decided wrongly, but can as actively decide otherwise.

Be very firm with yourself in this, and keep yourself fully aware that the undoing process, which does not come from you, is nevertheless ...

Your part is merely to return your thinking to the point at which the error was made, and give it ov...

Say this to yourself as sincerely as you can, remembering that the Holy Spirit will respond fully ...

I must have decided wrongly, because I am not at peace. I made the decision myself, but I can also decide otherwise. I want to decide oth...

I do not feel guilty, because the Holy Spirit will undo all the consequences of my wrong ...

I choose to let Him, by allowing Him to decide...

Anger always involves projection of separation, which must ultimately be accepted as one’s own responsibility, rather than being blamed on others.

Anger cannot occur unless you believe that you have been attacked, that your attack is justified in return, and that you are in no way responsible for it.

Given these three wholly irrational premises, the equally irrational conclusion that a brother is worthy of attack...

You cannot be attacked, attack has no justification, and you are responsible for what you believe.

You have probably reacted for years as if you were being crucified. This is a marked tendency of the separated, who always refuse to consider what they have done to themselves.

Projection means anger, anger fosters assault, and assault promotes fear.

Assault can ultimately be made only on the body.