Sunday Pep Talk: What it says

 Only Love is Real

The material from today's pep talk is taken from The short section in the front of the blue FIP copy of the book.

A summation of the entirety of the work of ACIM, in a form so short that you could put it on a sticky note:

Nothing real can be threatened,

Nothing unreal exists, that’s the peace of God

Major themes of the work include the real vs the unreal and knowledge vs. perception.

Knowledge                                                         Perception

truth                       interpretation not facts

Eternal                               beginnings and endings

Unchangable                       change, unstable

Applies to all of God’s creatures               selective

The law of God/Love                                     world of time

Two distinct thought systems come from these two points of view which are completely opposite.

From Knowledge: No thoughts exist apart from God. God and his creations share one will.

From Perception: We have separate wills in conflict with each other and God. Illusions need constant defense because they are not real.

When you are in the world of perception you are caught in a dream. You can’t escape without help because you believe in what you’ve made. God has provided the answer, The Holy Spirit. 

Holy Spirit: His voice mediates between the worlds. He knows the truth and sees the illusion without believing in it. The Holy Spirit wants to help us escape the dream world. He teaches us how to unlearn our mistakes. You must unlearn what you have learned!

Forgiveness: is the Holy Spirit’s great learning aid. The Course has it’s own meaning of forgiveness and the reversal of thought. The Course defines the world in it’s own way. 

  Projection makes perception: The world we see reflects our own point of reference. We look inside, decide the world we want to perceive and project it- making it true as we see it. If we use projection to justify our own mistakes, we see a world of evil. We must forgive everything not because we are good or charitable but because what we are seeing is not there. We see our perceptual errors and look past them or forgive. At the same time we forgive ourselves and our distorted self concepts, we see the shelf that God created. 

           Sin is a lack of love. Love is all there is. This is a mistake to be corrected, not punished. The scarcity principle governs the illusion and leads to our sense of lack or incompletion. We seek in others what we see as lacking in ourselves. We love in order to get something. This is an error- love is incapable of asking for anything. Only minds join. Only at the level of the Christ mind is true union possible. “What God has joined, no man can put asunder". The little I seeks to enhance itself by external approval, external possessions and external love. The self that God created is complete, safe, loved and loving. It seeks to share rather than get, extend rather than project.

          Special Relationships are selfish, destructive and egocentric. If you give your relationships to the Holy Spirit, they can become some of the holiest things on Earth. The world uses special relationships as a weapon of exclusion and separateness. The Holy Spirit transforms them into lessons in forgiveness. We forgive ourselves by forgiving the other. Let each relationship become an invitation to the Holy Spirit and the remembrance of God. 

          Perception is of the body’s eyes. The body appears self motivated and independent but it responds to the intentions of the mind. If the mind wants to attack in any form, the body becomes prey to sickness, age and decay. If the mind accepts the Holy Spirit’s purpose for it, the  body becomes a way of communicating with others, invulnerable while needed and then gently laid aside. The body is neutral as is everything in the world of perception. It can be used for the goals of the ego or Holy Spirit, whatever the mind wants. The vision of Christ is the opposite of seeing with the body’s eyes. It sees strength not weakness, love not fear, unity rather than separation. The voice of God, the Holy Spirit is in each of us. It seems distant and hard to hear because of the ego which speaks for the little separated self much louder. It’s actually reversed the Holy Sprit speaks with clarity and appeal. Even if you identify as a body you can hear the message of hope and release. We would all joyfully accept the vision of Christ in exchange for the miserable picture we’ve painted of ourselves. 

       Christ Vision is the Holy Spirit’s gift. It corrects all errors in perception and reflects the thought system that comes from God. Defenses are laid down because with no attack, there is no need for them. Our brother's needs become our own. We need each other to go home. Forgiveness is unknown in Heaven but here it’s a necessary correction. To be forgiven, forgive all. This is Heaven’s Law- to give and to receive are one in truth. Heaven is our natural state. Forgiveness is the means by which we remember. Remember God, this implies that you knew Him before.