Notes on the Text of A Course in - Stephen Wingate

us out of the world, back to the mind, and on to the
truth of spirit.
•
As the Son of God Who knows His Identity with
Christ, we are truly blessed. Having forgotten our
true Identity, we need to remember it by unlearning
our false identity with the ego. The conditions for
learning are first the realization of our ignorance,
then the willingness to consider a new way and a
new teacher.
•
Indirect proof of truth is needed initially because
direct statements of truth like "the body and world
are illusions" are too radical and fearful to accept for
one who is completely identified as a body in a
world. Direct statements of truth made to the deluded
mind are rejected or attacked.
•
The Holy Spirit serves as a gentle and loving guide
out of the insane dream world you made and still
hold sacred.
•
The memory of the truth of who we are as spirit is in
our mind eternally, but we have denied it by
identifying with the body. The Holy Spirit reminds
us of the truth of our identity as spirit by leading us
back to the point in the mind where we can choose to
remember. The memory of who we are is in the
mind, not in the body or world. Healing is of the
mind only, not of the body or world. Any teaching or
teacher that shifts our attention to the body or world
leads us deeper into illusion and sickness. The ego's
teaching is focused on the body and world; the Holy
Spirit's teaching is focused on God.
•
The phrase "What we can never learn" refers to the
separation. We cannot learn it because it never
happened. The Holy Spirit's message is direct: the
separation from God never happened. The
complexity of the ego's thought system is reflected in
our relationships in the world — special love and
special hate. The body and world are nothing to the
Holy Spirit, but to the ego, the body and world are
everything. To deny the reality of the body and
world evokes attack by the ego. This Course uses
both direct and indirect approaches to truth.
•
The realization that "I do not know" is the first sign
of wisdom.
•
When you believe you are a separate ego with a body
living in a world, everything you try to learn will be
<strong>Notes</strong> on the Text of A Course in Miracles
50
distorted through the delusions of ego. The first step
toward wisdom is the realization of your own
ignorance. And the next step is to turn to the infinite
wisdom of the Holy Spirit and take Him as your
teacher. To the ego you say, "You're fired!"
•
Proof that you have learned and understood this
Course is in your experience of perfect peace.
•
We become happy learners when we have realized
our own ignorance, and become disillusioned of our
identity with the ego and are open to a new Teacher.
•
Everything in the world you made is equally illusory.
A hang nail, a cold, or cancer; a mild annoyance, a
conflict, or the Third World War; there is no
hierarchy of illusions. The love of God is true; all
else is false. There is no order of difficulty in
miracles.
•
The key that unlocks the "dark door" is the
Atonement that shines the light on the darkness of
our belief in separation, dispelling the sin, guilt and
fear that were based on the illusion of separation
from God. The ego teaches separation. The Holy
Spirit teaches Atonement.
•
And now we address the important theme of
choosing teachers. Our experience of peace rests on
the power of our mind to choose.
•
Opposites cannot be reconciled. Only truth is true.
When you are clear on your Identity as Christ you
are absolutely guiltless, absolutely free, and
absolutely happy. These statements reflect the nondual
thought system at the foundation of the Course's
philosophy.
•
We decided to believe in our separate existence as an
ego in a body, apparently crucifying our true Self. By
choosing to identify with the Holy Spirit we learn
how to restore ourselves to our true Identity as
Christ.
•
It is of crucial importance to observe the activities of
the ego in our daily lives, and bring the darkness of
the ego to the light of the Holy Spirit. Watching the
ego is one of the most powerful ways to benefit from
this Course. Ignorance dissolves as we bring it to the
light of awareness.