Notes on the Text of A Course in - Stephen Wingate

CHAPTER NINE
THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE ATONEMENT
Main Themes: Forgiveness and the Atonement.
Introduction: Forgiveness is the correction for the
ego's projection of sin, guilt and fear. The Atonement
is the realization that the separation from God never
happened.
Learning the truth of who we are is remembering the
truth of who we are. We unlearn what we are not, a
separate ego-body, and remember what we are, the
Son of God. The ego is terrified that we will
remember who we are because it means the "death"
of the ego. The ego's fear of "death" is projected onto
the world of bodies, hence virtually everyone and
everything is a threat to the ego's existence, leaving it
in a constant state of panic. The ego's primary fear is
that the decision maker will decide against the ego
and for the Holy Spirit.
•
The Holy Spirit helps us go beyond the level of
identity with form to our true identity with spirit. To
ask Jesus or the Holy Spirit for help in the world on
the level of form and behavior is exactly what the
ego wants us to do because it keeps us identified
with the body; asleep and buried in the world of
illusion.
•
When we ask Jesus or the Holy Spirit for help with
specific things in the world on the level of form and
behavior, we are asking for "nothing." The help that
Jesus and the Holy Spirit provide is to help us
remember the truth of who we are beyond the world
of form. They do not help us fix problems or
accomplish goals in our dream world. When
accepted, their help takes us beyond the illusory
world to the real world. The help we ask them for is
help with forgiveness and help choosing the Holy
Spirit rather than the ego. By asking for help on the
level of form and behavior we are doing exactly what
the ego wants us to do. The ego wants to keep us
focused on the body and the world, asleep under the
veil of Self forgetfulness, mindless and unaware of
our power to choose to remember our true Identity as
Christ. The memory of our true Identity as Christ
means the dissolution of the ego. Therefore the ego
is ecstatically happy when we pray for help on the
level of form.
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•
There are two identities from which we can choose:
the ego or the Holy Spirit. When we choose the
"littleness" of the ego we choose for "grandiosity."
When we choose the "magnitude" of the Holy Spirit
we choose for our "grandeur." The littleness of the
ego's grandiosity, and the magnitude of the Holy
Spirit's grandeur are referred to as the "two
evaluations" of ourselves in this chapter and are
further developed later in the Course.
•
The ego does not love us because it does not know
us. The ego only knows we have the power to choose
to identify with it, thereby sustaining its existence; or
to choose against identifying with it, thereby
dissolving it. That is why the ego is always
suspicious and vicious (paranoid, neurotic and
psychotic) — it fears its own dissolution.
•
The two evaluations of yourself are in your mind, not
in the body or world. Your problem is one of identity
which is in your mind, not in the body or world. You
have one problem, your mistaken identity with the
ego and body; and one solution, your true identity as
spirit. When you begin to choose to identify with the
grandeur of spirit, the ego can become extremely
suspicious and vicious. It is important to be vigilant
of the ego's fear, suspiciousness and viciousness, and
understand its motives. The ego is spoken of here
and in the whole Course in anthropomorphic terms
as if it is a person. It is not a person. The ego is a
thought system that is based on the belief in
separation from God. When I identify with the
thought system of separation it becomes "me." It is
this "me" that is fearful, suspicious and vicious when
its existence is threatened. And because you have
identified with the ego's thought system of separation
it is "you." Identified with the ego thought system,
you are suspicious, vicious, paranoid, neurotic and
psychotic. Identified with the thought system of the
Holy Spirit, you are the Son of God. When you are
beyond all thought, you are God Himself.
•
The Holy Spirit never looks at the past; it is always
in the present. The ego never looks at the present; it
is always in the past. To get beyond our identity with
the ego we must get guidance from beyond the ego.
The Holy Spirit is beyond the ego and can help us
choose to go beyond to spirit. If we turn to the ego