Notes on the Text of A Course in - Stephen Wingate

enemy. The first three questions address the world
we projected. The fourth question addresses what we
denied in our mind — the Atonement principle. We
denied our oneness with God which led to guilt and
the projection of the world.
•
This Course facilitates a change in the mind (the
cause), not in the body or world (the effect).
•
In this chapter we are asked if we are willing to
accept the Atonement in our mind (the cause) for
ourselves. Answering yes to the Atonement resolves
the previous questions that refer to the world (the
effect). It is not enough to say that I do not want to
be a victim of the world anymore, which the first
three questions address. The final question takes us
back to our mind which is the cause of the world.
When we choose to accept the Atonement for
ourselves through the forgiveness of sin and guilt, we
no longer need to make a world of sin, guilt, conflict,
fear and attack.
•
My only responsibility is to accept the Atonement
for myself. Period. Not to change anyone or anything
in the world in any way. My only function is to
accept the love of God as my Self; this is the
Atonement.
•
The way I perceive the world tells me how I perceive
myself. That is the value of the world; it serves as a
mirror that reflects the identity my mind has chosen
— the separation of the ego, or the wholeness of the
Holy Spirit.
•
We are free to believe whatever we choose, but
belief does not make it real except in our experience.
We can believe we are separate egos imprisoned in a
body and world, and we will experience it as so. But
our wholeness with God is unaffected, merely
outside of our experience, until we choose again.
•
The source of sin is the belief in separation. When
the mind sets its goal of special independent
existence, it protects it and strives for it unceasingly.
When we place the power of our faith in sin
(separation) we have given away our power — we
take the sin and guilt in our mind, project it out onto
others and give them power over us.
•
Faith refers to the power of our mind to believe in
the ego or the Holy Spirit. What we put our faith in is
what we believe, and what we believe is what we
<strong>Notes</strong> on the Text of A Course in Miracles
74
project onto the world. When we put our faith in the
ego, we put our faith in nothing, which is
faithlessness. True faith is in the Holy Spirit. The ego
and the Holy Spirit are mutually exclusive thought
systems. We can have faith in one or the other with
no compromise. The miracle is when we shift our
faith from the ego to the Holy Spirit. The purpose of
A Course in Miracles is to facilitate this shift.
•
We made the body and the world because we desired
to project our sin and guilt onto it, thereby
reinforcing our special separate existence and
maintaining our face of innocence in the eyes of God
and the world we made.
•
By making a world of bodies and projecting my sin
and guilt onto you, you are sacrificed so I can
maintain my innocence and my special separate
existence.
•
The ego's purpose for special relationships (love and
hate) is to fulfill its need to sacrifice. I am innocent
because you are guilty.
•
The mind and body cannot be integrated. The body
does not exist apart from the mind's belief in
separation. Reality and illusion are mutually
exclusive and cannot be integrated. The Holy Spirit
uses the body and special relationships as a teaching
device to help us learn of our true power and identity
which are in the mind, not in the body or world. The
miracle is a shift in focus from the illusory identity
with the body to the reality of our true identity with
spirit.
•
Your special love relationships are not based in love
at all. Those special ones you claim to love are
special relationships based on sacrifice, fear, guilt
and hate. There is no love in your special love
relationships — to be free you must wake up to this
fact. Love is in your Identity with God, and no where
else. Face it. When you are willing to let Him, the
Holy Spirit will change the purpose you have given
to your special relationships, those you claim to love,
to help you find the true source of love. The Holy
Spirit does not interfere with your relationships, but
helps you change the purpose they serve — to
forgiveness, peace and love; from guilt, conflict, and
hate.
•
All the Sons of God who live in the darkness of the
ego are the "dark ones" who form a sorry army.