Notes on the Text of A Course in - Stephen Wingate

CHAPTER TWO
THE SEPARATION AND THE ATONEMENT
Main Theme: This chapter provides an overview
of the entire thought system of the Course. It is the
only chapter that does so. This chapter also
illustrates the importance of recognizing and
appreciating the power of the mind.
Introduction: Refer to the Chart to understand the
key terms in the context of the overall thought
system.
Above the solid horizontal line is Heaven-
Knowledge, God, Christ, Self, Oneness: the only
Reality. Everything below the line is illusion. This
clear, uncompromising distinction between truth
and illusion is what distinguishes a non-dual
thought system from a dual thought system. The
Course is based on a radical, uncompromising,
non-dual thought system. Without exception:
Truth is absolute and non-dual; Illusion is relative
and dual.
In Heaven, cause and effect are one. God is the
first and only Cause, and Christ is the Effect. God
is love, and love extends itself; this is creation.
God's creation is Christ, and yet they are one.
There is no separation between God and His
creation, Christ; this is non-duality.
God creates and extends; the ego makes and
projects.
The mythology of the Course begins with "the tiny
mad idea." The tiny mad idea is the idea that
Christ, the Son of God, separated from His Father.
Separation from the love and oneness of God leads
to a sense of lack and incompleteness in the Son,
who then turns to the ego in search of love,
abundance and wholeness.
With exuberance, the ego presents its case for
separation from God to the Son; the Holy Spirit
remains calm and silent. The ego advises the Son
that he can maintain his separate, individual
existence and glorify his specialness independent
of God. Still, the Holy Spirit remains serene and
quiet. The Son weighs the evidence and decides in
favor of the ego for individuality, specialness and
separation from God.
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Having made his decision for independence,
specialness and separation from God, the Son
begins to feel a sense of sin, guilt and fear: Sin of
his separation from God, guilt over his selfish
desire for specialness, and fear of loss and
retribution from God for choosing against Him.
To relieve the pain of separation, the ego makes a
world of bodies onto which it projects the sense of
sin, guilt and fear so the Son can maintain his
specialness and be free of the pain of separation.
By making a world and projecting the sin, guilt
and fear onto it, the true source of the Son's pain
(his decision to be separate) is forgotten and
hidden in the world behind the veil of Selfforgetfulness
and denial.
The miracle, forgiveness and the Atonement
remove the veil of Self-forgetfulness, undo the
separation and remind the Son of his true Identity
as the Son of God; not the son of the ego.
Behind the veil of Self-forgetfulness, problems
appear to be in the body and world; therefore,
solutions appear to be in the body and world.
"Magic" is the term the Course uses for solutions
sought in the body and world. Problems are in the
mind, and solutions are in the mind. The miracle
facilitates a shift from focusing on the body and
world to focusing on the mind at the point of the
decision maker where the Son can choose again
(for the ego or the Holy Spirit).
•
God's Son is one. The Course frequently uses the
term "Sons" of God, however there is one Son. All
life in the universe is God's One Son — not only
human beings; all beings, every grain of sand, the
earth, our solar system and every galaxy in the
universe are all included in the term "God's Son,"
or the "Sonship." This is not pantheism which we
will address in later chapters.
•
Creation is God's extension of love. Creation and
extension are of God. Only God creates.
Projection is of the ego. The ego makes, projects
or miscreates. Other than in the first few chapters
these terms (create vs. project) are used
consistently in the Course.