Notes on the Text of A Course in - Stephen Wingate

<strong>Notes</strong> on Chapter Twenty Three – The War Against Yourself
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Sin is the belief in separation from God. Being
separate from God we are in conflict with Him to
maintain our separate existence. We project our
belief in separation and sin onto the world, so the
world becomes our battleground where our war with
God is played out in the conflict of special
relationships with our brothers. The world is an
outward picture of an inward belief.
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By separating from God we took His life; now we
have life and He is dead. We projected our sin and
guilt onto our brothers and took their innocence; now
we have innocence and they have sin and guilt. The
sin and guilt of separation from God has been buried
and hidden from consciousness, but is experienced as
selfishness in relationships in our daily lives. If you
find it difficult to relate to the ideas of sin and guilt
over the separation from God, you will find it easier
to relate to the experience of selfishness; and when
you observe your thoughts and feelings you will
notice it is the fundamental emotion of your daily
experience, and is the effect of the belief in
separation from God and your brothers.
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The ego’s five “laws” of chaos are the laws by which
we live our miserable lives.
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When we observe the dynamics of the ego as
codified in its laws of chaos, it is obvious that we are
insane. So why do we continue to imprison ourselves
by living under such an insane thought system? The
reason is that we have not looked closely enough at
our own insanity, and we have accepted insanity as
our normal state. The insane thought system
represented by the ego's laws of chaos has become
deeply ingrained in our culture, religions, and
governments. We have accepted illusion as truth;
war as a means to peace; fear as love; insanity as
sanity. To be free of our insanity, we must first
become fully conscious of it; and that is the purpose
of the scathing revelations in the horrific and painful
passages of this chapter. As we become aware of our
insanity we are able to make an enlightened choice
for the Holy Spirit instead of the ego.
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The insanity of the ego's thought system rules our
lives because we do not go back into our minds and
look at it. We have become so completely distracted
and identified with the body and world of form, that
we ignore the source of our insanity which is the
content in our mind. We are so deluded by the effect
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(the body and world) that we have forgotten the
cause (the mind). The purpose of the Course is to
lead us back to the decision making part of our mind
so we can make another choice. In the mind either
we choose for the separation, conflict, fear and hate
of the ego; or for the oneness, peace, joy and love of
the Holy Spirit.
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Love is all inclusive; it excludes no one. If even one
person is excluded; past, present or future; it is not
love. If your love is special, it is not love but fear and
hate. Be not deceived by a special love that is in fact
veiled hate.
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The special love we offer is hate — boxed, wrapped
and tied with a bow.
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Love is absolute, unconditional, all inclusive, and
excludes no one; otherwise it is fear and hate masked
in special love.
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If you believe and experience yourself as being in a
body, living in a world of bodies, then you believe
all five of the laws of chaos and you have imprisoned
yourself by choosing to live under their rule.
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Life is Spirit. Life is formless and eternal. Life has
no opposite — there is neither birth nor death in life.
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When we have had enough suffering and conflict,
and are willing to ask for help, we rise above the
battleground we made, and consider another way.
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When we experience problems in our lives we are to
ask Jesus or the Holy Spirit to help us rise above the
conflict, and see it in the light of the Holy Spirit
instead of the darkness of the ego.
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The body by itself has no purpose. The Holy Spirit
teaches us that our shared purpose in the world is to
forgive, and accept the Atonement for ourselves. Our
purpose in Heaven is to create and extend the love of
God. By rising above the ego's battleground in the
world we are able to ask the Holy Spirit for help in
fulfilling our shared purpose. The ego believes in
separation and separate interests. The ego's purpose
for the body is to kill or be killed, and maintain a
separate existence for ourselves. As Sons of God we
all share the ego thought system, and the Holy
Spirit's thought system, and we all have the power to
choose between the two.