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Your purpose on Earth goes far beyond satisfying critics or proving yourself according to standards others set for you. Your purpose is to recognize the greatness within you and deliver it.
Show the world what is real by establishing yourself in vision, not division.
A Course in Miracles tells us that, like the movie in the story about the cowboys, the world we see is a projection of our thoughts.
We are all speaking only to our own self.
we use projection as a psychological defense mechanism to divest ourselves of guilt.
The relief the ego promises via projection results only in tragedy. No one can draw a cloak of darkness over the outer world and retain awareness of inner light. Projection promises to protect the self, but it only disempowers.
Any savior you project to be outside yourself denies the God within you. This is the meaning of the Buddhist maxim “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.” The Buddha is not a person. Like the Christ, Buddha is a state of consciousness, the awareness of divinity within you and all around you. If you limit holiness to one body or personality and you define all other beings as less than divine, you are fabricating a god that is less than God.
Release your partner from your projections and you will recognize both of you as divine beings so brilliant in light that you could hardly look upon one another. Then you will have the relationship your heart desires.
Our partner becomes our savior when we choose to see the light in him and love him for who he is, not who we want to change him to be.
Authority figures are really authority figurines, animated by the power you have attributed to them.
Take back the power you have given to authority figurines, and claim the authority of your creations. Then your projections of evil and salvation will wither, and you will not need saving because you already stand on holy ground.
The antidote to projection, ACIM explains, is extension. Extension means that we recognize godly attributes within ourselves, and we extend them to enfold the world we perceive outside of us.
Projection splits and disowns. Extension includes and embraces.
Projection tells us that words of divinity come from outside of us, trying to find their way in. Extension tells us that spiritually powerful ideas arise from inside of us, finding their way out.
Atonement is the undoing of the world of fear and the return to love.
the pre-separation condition, was a state of mind in which nothing was needed.
You do not have to continue to believe what is not true unless you choose to do so.
When you are tired of seeing a pained and tormented world, you will see a healed world. Then the atonement will be accomplished.
practice extending thoughts that create the world you would choose rather than the one handed you by default.
There is no world apart from what you wish, and herein lies your ultimate release. Change but your mind on what you want to see, and all the world must change accordingly.
ACIM’s formula for healing: Show others that their perceived sins have had no effect on you. “Your mission is very simple. You are asked to live so as to demonstrate that you are not an ego
Just as you chose an interpretation that hurts, you can choose one that heals. “I can elect to change all thoughts that hurt” (W, Lesson 284).
God has no memory of our sins because He was never aware of them in the first place. “God does not forgive because He never has condemned” (W-46.1:1).
A Course in Miracles assures us that we will not be punished for our sins because we don’t have any. It tells us plainly, “. . . all that you believe must come from sin will never happen” (W-101.5:2).
it is the ego’s preoccupation with control that keeps something wonderful from happening. More accurately, the ego’s preoccupation with control keeps you unaware that something wonderful is already happening.
Your job is to establish your consciousness in the wonder, beauty, and value of the present moment, which will make you happy now and keep you happy then.
Well-being is your natural state and all you deserve.
“The ego believes that by punishing itself it will mitigate the punishment of God” (T-5.V.5:6). But there is no worse dose to come. You did it all to yourself.
ACIM tells us that every act is either an expression of love or a call for love.
No one connected to his true Self would think of hurting someone else.
connection with our spiritual Source bears life-changing practical effects.
ACIM tells us that the place to begin all correction is within our own consciousness.
When you demonstrate to others that the sins they believe they have committed have no effect, you release them from prison along with yourself.
The Course tells us that any illness and any pain, physical or emotional, is our way of holding someone else guilty for hurting us. If we did not blame others, the Course explains, we would never be sick.
The first step to undoing pain or illness is to identify the perceived source of your suffering or loss.
A Course in Miracles would say that all of these “causes” are not causes at all. Mind is the only cause, and body is the effect. “I am affected only by my thoughts” (W, Lesson 338).
we use our bodily experience to play out the guilt and blame we project onto others and ourselves.
your body is your thoughts in a form you can see. A healthy body mirrors thoughts of wellness. A sick body “outpictures” thoughts of illness. If you believe others can hurt you, or you perceive value in touting your wounds, your broken body will tell that story. By contrast, if you understand that your happiness is independent of the actions of others, your body will express vitality.
recognize that no person, group, situation, or condition has the power to take away your happiness. No one. No thing. Never. The experience of joy is your God-given right, a sovereign domain you alone command.
Everyone helps us. Some help us by being kind, and some help us by acting unkind, so that we may choose kindness no matter what they do. You have a soul contract with your adversary to help you advance spiritually. He is your dear friend who has agreed to wear the costume of enemy to motivate you to reclaim your power.
You will never gain by blaming others for your loss. You will always gain by honoring others for their contribution. This reversal of perspective is the most helpful shift in perception you will ever achieve.
You are successful because you choose to be.
“All things you seek to make your value greater in your sight limit you further, hide your worth from you, and add another bar across the door that leads to true awareness of your Self” (W-128.3:3).
The special someone you have been looking for is you. “My salvation comes from me” (W, Lesson 70).
The painful quest for specialness affects not just individuals, but nations and cultures.
In the holy relationship, you seek to potentiate each other’s joy rather than wrest well-being from your one and only supplier.
A holy relationship starts from a different premise. Each one has looked within and seen no lack. Accepting his completion, he would extend it by joining with another, whole as himself. He sees no difference between these selves, for differences are only of the body.
Plato said, “True friendship can occur only among equals.”
ACIM calls the present moment “the holy instant.”
ACIM tells us that holy relationships, like all miracles, reverse the laws of the world (T-1.I.9:2).
