L e s s o n 325 “All things I think I see reflect ideas.”

So, as a teacher all I am ever dealing with is the process of the conversion, you can call it forgiveness if you want, of the thoughts I judge valuable about myself and the world. I am inevitably lead, by Jesus to the Mind Training of A Course In Miracles. Because in the end this IS a personal, individual transformation. There is no world!

When I first started to write this article on the “current" situation with 9/11, the war with Iraq and forgiveness, I really thought I could somehow tie it all in with a nice neat happy ending. Ha! Was I wrong. When I see the President on T.V. scrambling in the face of questions, questions he NEVER really answers, about "what did he know prior to 9/11?","Does he owe the American people an apology?”, “when will the troops come home?”, “is he sending in more troops?". There is no solution! And therein lies Salvation.

Lets have a look at just one idea from one lesson "...Such is the form of madness you believe, if you accept the fearful thought you can attack another and be free yourself. Until this form is changed, there is no hope. Until you see that this, at least, must be entirely impossible, how could there be escape? The fear of God is real to anyone who thinks this thought is true. And he will not perceive its foolishness, or even see that it is there so that it would be possible to question it. To question it at all, its form must first be changed at least as much as will permit fear of retaliation to abate, and the responsibility returned to some extent to you. From there you can at least consider if you want to go along this painful path. Until this shift has been accomplished, you can not perceive that it is but your thoughts that bring you fear, and your deliverance depends on you..."

L e s s o n 196 “It can be but myself I crucify.”

Somewhere in your mind you are going to have to Ask for Help. How do I know...? Because I couldn't solve the problem. And in that moment of NOT being able solve it, something happened, a miracle. You might say I found a here-to-fore unrecognized need for my complete dependence on God. What a relief!

And now as I "randomly" open the Course what else would I open to but Lesson 198“Only my condemnation injures me.” I have added it as a link so you can read it for yourself; after all, it is doing the exercises that will make the goal of the Course possible. An untrained mind can accomplish nothing.

Lets take a look at just one paragraph, Jesus really means what He says:

"This world has many seeming separate haunts where mercy has no meaning, and attack appears as justified. Yet all are one; a place where death is offered to God’s Son and to his Father. You may think They have accepted, but if you will look again upon the place where you beheld Their blood, you will perceive a miracle instead."

WOW! Do you want to see what forgiveness really has to offer?

Forgiveness will work wonders when you see that;
(A) I am doing this to myself.
(B) It never happened.


Now, I don't want to take away your need to make amends, why would I want to do that? The truth is, you will really believe someone can attack you until you experience that not only are you doing this unto yourself but that the guy that seems to be attacking you, isn't even there! And the story I made up to justify my rage about "person, situation or events" are completely false. You know where that will lead us to...

"Anger must come from Judgment. Judgment is the weapon I would use against myself, to keep the miracle away from me.” A Course In Miracles, Lesson 347

Here's more from Jesus.. "Do you not see the opposite of frailty and weakness is sinlessness? Innocence is strength, and nothing else is strong. The sinless cannot fear, sin of any kind is weakness. The show of strength attack would use to cover frailty conceals it not, for how can the unreal be hidden? No one is strong who has an enemy, and no one can attack unless he thinks he has. Belief in enemies is therefore the belief in weakness, and what is weak is not the Will of God. Being opposed to it, it is God's "enemy." And God is feared as an opposing will. “A Course In Miracles, Chapter 23 introduction. The very next line, Jesus says, "How strange indeed becomes this war against yourself!"

What is really going to make you laugh ...sooner or later, is that the guy you are pissed off with is completely oblivious to your suffering. And all the things you think he should apologize for ...aren't even in his mind. I love it! Are you beginning to see just how personal the Idea of forgiveness is? This apparent transformation is so sweet to me. And that brings us to the Idea of a correction that can only ever really occur in the separate mind. "Justice is the divine correction for injustice. Injustice is the basis for all the judgments of the world. Justice corrects the interpretations to which injustice gives rise, and cancels them out. Neither justice nor injustice exist in Heaven, for error is impossible and correction meaningless. In this world, however, forgiveness depends on justice, since attack can only be unjust.” A Course In Miracles, Manual for Teachers

What fun! I'll let Jesus have the last word on this…

"Forgiveness recognizes what you thought your brother did to you has not occurred. It does not pardon sins and make them real. It sees there was no sin. And in this view are all your sins forgiven. What is sin except a false idea about God’s Son? Forgiveness merely sees its falsity, and therefore lets it go. What then is free to take its place is now the Will of God.”

A Course In Miracles, Workbook