I’ve been contemplating a single idea from a Course in Miracles that has the power to change everything.
There’s so much you can get out of a sentence or two of a Course in Miracles. You can contemplate one idea for hours – there’s so much wisdom packed into it.
Today I read this one idea, which, like many others in the course, is so inspirational. So I wanted to share it with you, and for context, I’ll share specific words from the course.
“Salvation is nothing more than “right-mindedness,” which is not the One-mindedness of the Holy Spirit, but which must be achieved before One-mindedness is restored. ²Right-mindedness leads to the next step automatically, because right perception is uniformly without attack, and therefore wrong-mindedness is obliterated. ³The ego cannot survive without judgment, and is laid aside accordingly. ⁴The mind then has only one direction in which it can move. ⁵Its direction is always automatic, because it cannot but be dictated by the thought system to which it adheres.” (ACIM, T-4.II.10:1-5)
In this post, we will unpack this paragraph, and the gift that it contains for you.
It’s so little that we have to do to wake up from this dream of pain and pleasure, which we call reality. Because it’s our creation, we believe in it totally, so it’s impossible for us to wake up on our own. But with the help of God, Who manifests as the Holy Spirit in this dream realm, which is the voice of God, we need do little, and It does most of the work for us.
What we are asked to do is to only correct our perceptions and not to judge. Correcting perception, which is seeing right, means looking beyond error, not allowing our sight to stop at it to judge it. Because that’s what maintains the dream.
Deep inside we think ourselves to be guilty of separation from God, and we project this unconscious guilt into the world in the form of various problems and accidents. We also project this guilt in the form of seemingly negative personalities that we encounter.
Again, because misfortunes of all sorts are our creations, we cannot not believe in them. But we can choose the God-given way to see everything in this reality, which will wake us up.
So even though by ourselves we cannot wake up from the dream we created – no matter how many times we affirm it’s a dream – we can use the aid of God which will wake us up.
And that aid of God is, through the way that we think and see, align ourselves as closely to the reality of God – the Kingdom of God – that finally God can reach us and transfer us to the Kingdom.
What does that actually mean? What should change in our thinking and seeing, to accomplish this?
And the answer is, not to focus on anything that’s not of God, which is anything that’s negative, evil, difficult, of the nature of sacrifice. God is love and joy and freedom. Everything in opposition to this doesn’t exist. So when we encounter anything that’s of such nature, we shouldn’t allow our sight to stop at the error, but to go beyond it, knowing that beyond this thin veil of images that we see is the reality of God. And that to get to that reality we cannot react to the images that we made. We cannot react to the distortions, as that keeps us trapped here.
What we created looks so real to us that it’s hard to realize that indeed this could be true – that what we see is a veil hiding the face of God.
But if you start thinking and looking in the described way, the effects will start proving this to be the case – that what you perceive is not real, and that beyond what you perceive, is the reality of God. And these effects will motivate you to continue thinking and looking in such a way.
In our Spiritual Support Group sessions, we practice these ideas weekly so that they really sink in, and you are welcome to join it at simonarich.com/ssg.
As you stop judging and start allowing the Holy Spirit to interpret things for you, some of the problems will vanish before your very eyes, proving the illusory nature of this reality. You can watch my video titled “Why your problems aren’t what they seem” (https://youtu.be/mxuTlVVMcc8?si=pflJCQWDiIJg1anz) for many personal examples of how this works – I will leave the link to it in the description of this video.
As you live in this new way, you will start feeling lighter, you will likely start getting spiritual experiences and dream spiritual dreams. You will start taking things happening to you less seriously and the veil will start getting thinner between you and God, which will give you access to much more guidance.
So all this will start indirectly proving to you that indeed this seemingly real life is not real at all.
And why wouldn’t you choose this new way of living, if all it does is bring peace, lightness, freedom and happiness? As you stop judging others but look beyond the appearance into Christ within and address people with love, you will receive love and care in response. The world will start looking so much happier, brighter, and more welcoming. This happier and happier reality forms a bridge back to the Kingdom of God.
And how wonderful it is to receive divine insights as you start living in accordance with the laws of God. For example, you may get the understanding that all your actions should be infused with love. Love should not only be expressed towards other people, but towards all the beings, and also all the circumstances, seeming problems, anything that you do. All should be infused with love.
This reality can feel devoid of love; the Course even refers to it as a desert. It is our function to bring love to these dry places—to transform the desert into a garden.
Many people and beings feel unloved and rejected. Even one positive word can make such a huge difference in their lives, and they will touch the lives of many others. That’s how we allow God to reach His estranged children and to remind them that they are not lost and that they are loved.
It’s through us that God can do this. There’s no other way for God to reach His lost children. So let’s be that bright light for others, that source of love, like Jesus was, who was that living water that never runs dry.
But the best thing is that approaching remembrance of what you have forgotten after the separation – that total innocence and lightness and benevolence. So the more in harmony you live with the laws of God – by not engaging with evil in any way but seeing through it – the more you start remembering your true nature.
Once nothing is left in you that’s not of God, you return to the Kingdom, like Jesus did.
In the Kingdom of God, there’s no perception but only knowledge. We are creators there, but here we are perceivers. We believe we create here in this realm, but we are just watching images.
The separation dream was over a long ago, but we are stuck here, rewatching what was in the past. It’s quite a sad state of affairs to put it lightly, but we don’t have to be stuck in this loop of a snake swallowing its own tail.
We leave this dream if we make our mind as similar as possible to the mind of God, in which only love resides. We are quite inaccessible to guidance and help if we keep judging and attacking others mentally, verbally or physically. Because we are all one, and we are extensions of God, if we attack or judge others, we are attacking or judging God. And this keeps us asleep.
So no matter how insanely someone may act, we can understand that this is our guilt that created this image beyond which is the unchanged innocent reality of God. What you see is not real, and this insane image hides the face of God. So you overlook it and extend love and healing, so that you wake up.
There’s a powerful statement in the paragraph I shared at the beginning of the video: the ego cannot survive if you refuse to judge. Think about how much energy we spend every day categorizing things. On the homestead, I might judge a weed that takes over a garden and grows tall as bad, and a slowly growing grass as good. And, of course, this naturally makes me feel differently about these types of plants. This is perception—seeing a world of differences, degrees, and opposites.
But the Course suggests that this constant ‘sorting’ is actually what keeps us asleep. When we stop labeling things as better or worse, rich or poor, or right or wrong, the ego loses its grip. Instead of trying to figure it all out ourselves, we hand the judgment over to the Holy Spirit.
Slowly, we start to see that everything in this dream is actually the same. It’s all just a veil. When we stop needing to judge the differences, the ‘need’ to perceive this world starts to fade away. In its place, we are given Knowledge—a direct, quiet certainty of God that doesn’t need to compare one thing to another. It just is.”
The Course anticipates a question many of us have: how is it possible to stop perceiving while we are still living in this world? Here is how it answers that:
“It cannot be emphasized too often that correcting perception is merely a temporary expedient. ²It is necessary only because misperception is a block to knowledge, while accurate perception is a stepping stone towards it. ³The whole value of right perception lies in the inevitable realization that all perception is unnecessary. ⁴This removes the block entirely. ⁵You may ask how this is possible as long as you appear to be living in this world. ⁶That is a reasonable question. ⁷You must be careful, however, that you really understand it. ⁸Who is the “you” who are living in this world? ⁹Spirit is immortal, and immortality is a constant state. ¹⁰It is as true now as it ever was or ever will be, because it implies no change at all. ¹¹It is not a continuum, nor is it understood by being compared to an opposite. ¹²Knowledge never involves comparisons. ¹³That is its main difference from everything else the mind can grasp.” (ACIM, T-4.II.11:1-13)
Once we awaken, we no longer perceive ourselves as these personalities living as bodies. ACIM doesn’t explain what exactly happens after awakening because it’s beyond words, it’s beyond what we, operating as personalities, can grasp. Its task is to wake us up, to lead us away from the dream into Reality.
As long as we appear to be in the world of perception, we can’t grasp the knowledge of the Spirit. So there’s no need to spend time wondering about something that can’t be grasped while we are still asleep. We should spend all the effort in correcting our perceptions and making sure we don’t judge, so that we awaken. That’s within our power to do now, and then the next step will become clear.
So when you encounter a challenging person or situation, don’t get into the ego mode of fighting back and building barriers. See that as an opportunity to dissolve the illusion and reach through the seemingly hostile veil into the reality of love. Wish for only love and healing. That should be your intention. We should become totally harmless and totally dependent on God and not on our own resources. That’s what wakes us up.
And if you’re not strong enough to be totally harmless, at least distance yourself, avoid the situation, but never attack. If you’re afraid, you might be even more frightened to find yourself defenseless. But at least aim for it.
Know that Jesus has overcome the world and now he’s helping all of us who strive to return to God. So we should not be afraid of anything here, because none of this is real, and Jesus has overcome all the illusions and is available to help you do the same. So if your strength fails, know that you can rely on his.
So all that we need to do to end this dream is to be harmless. We should aim at our perception becoming innocent. When we continue overlooking that which is not of God, it stops existing for us. And this opens the way to the knowledge of the Spirit and us realizing that we have never left the Kingdom of God, but we’re only dreaming that we did.