Chapter 3 ~ Innocence

I exist in Reality with my Father, but I experience a dream of separation because that is what I have chosen to experience. 

There are no problems in Reality, because if there were, God would always and immediately provide the solution.  Even in the world of dreams I can see examples of this.  There is the story of a man named John List who, suffering from financial difficulties and seeing no other way out, killed his entire family, including his elderly mother who was in his care. It turns out that the answer to his problems was right in his grasp; the skylight window in his house was an original Tiffany's worth $100,000.  The answer to my problems, even in the world of dreams, is always at my fingertips.   Often I despair, failing to see this.

Chapter 3 is one of my favorite chapters. There are several biblical references explained, and there is so much hope, it is obvious the hand of God is at work in the words.

The Innocent.  According to Christian teachings, it appeared that God permitted one of His Sons to suffer and die - a sacrificial lamb - to atone for the sins of mankind.  I can look at this another way.  First of all, ACIM has made it clear that there is so "sin."  This world that I seemingly created, shows me "a world without God." God's Son had a passing thought, "what would a world separated from God be like?"  And because God's Son has the Creative Power of His Father, I seemingly indulged this thought, creating a fantasy-existence "apart from" Reality.  Presently guilt and fear guide my every move.  Unconsciously, I now believe I am capable of deeds so heinous that I have to live "apart from" God.  My fantasy-world is not Real but I imagine that it is, and "ego" is the part of me who thinks it exists "apart from" God.  Then, I imagine a God who asks for sacrifice to atone for my behavior.   Preferably an innocent.  Ego needs blood, wounds, entrails, suffering, and brokers bones.  The more horrific, the better.  The innocent shall suffer.  Hence the story of Jesus Christ dying for my sins.  No wonder I fear God.  I have assigned Him the role of avenger.

Yet, I say to myself,  'there is Love in this world' - I loved my baby the minute she was born; I have been married 55 years to the same woman and I love her more today than ever.   But most of my decisions in the dream-world are based on fear, and my Reality has seemingly been divided into many bodies.  It is a lonesome, fearful existence.  If I do not marry that woman, someone else will get her.  I am constantly in fear of losing my loved ones to separation or death.  The love I have is merely a shadow of Love in God's world.  True Love never dies, never goes away and it never changes or abandons me. 

God does not believe in retribution.  He does not know of sacrifice.  He does not hold my "evil deeds" against me.  He knows evil exists only in fantasy, and that fantasy does not exist.

The lion and the lamb lying down together symbolize that Strength and Innocence naturally live in Peace.  Reality does not confuse Innocence with weakness and destruction, because it rightly associates Innocence with Strength.  The Innocent have Everything, there is no need for sacrifice.  Innocence strives only to protect Its Wholeness.  It honors all Creation because honor is the natural greeting of Love.  The Atonement (the process of forgiveness) radiates nothing but Truth and gives only Blessing.  Innocence is Wisdom and is unaware of evil because evil does not exist.

The Innocence of God is my True State of Mind.

Love or fear.  Until I decide whether to commit to Love or commit to fear, my thinking will be erratic.   I see everything in opposites in the dream-world, but some concepts cannot be understood that way.  Can Light and darkness exist together?  How about Everything and nothing?  Innocence is not a partial attribute; Innocence is not Real until it is Total.  The partially Innocent are apt to be quite foolish at times. Innocence (or True Perception in my world) means that I never misperceive and always see Truly.  In other words, I never see what does not exist (illusions), and always see what does (Reality).

Think of what it is to back a wild animal into a corner.  They viciously lunge in fear.  Frightened people, too, can be vicious.  And that is what I am.  If I do not have Love, I have fear.  I seemingly created "a world without God (Love)"  therefore, in my apparent world, only fear remains.

Truth.   Nothing but Truth exists.  Only what God Creates, or what I create with God has any Real existence.  Until I understand this, my perception will be distorted.

When the Will of the Son (me) is joined with the Father, the State of Mind called Heaven, or Truth,  is experienced.  Nothing can prevail against the Son of God who commends his Spirit into the Hands of the Father.  By doing this, the mind Awakens from its sleep and all sense of separation disappears.

The way to correct distortions is to withdraw my faith in them and invest in only what is True.  No matter how hard I try, I cannot make what is untrue (illusions), True.  Today I am willing to accept only Truth in everything I perceive.  Just as Light overcomes darkness, Truth overcomes all error.  Those who live in error and emptiness can never find lasting Peace.  Always seek Truth.  Truth heals.  And when my mind heals, the "world" heals, because the "world" is a thought in my mind.  Mind is the only Reality.

Perception.  Perception is the means of understanding in the world of dreams.  Knowledge is of Heaven.  My perception must be corrected before I can Know anything. Perception did not exist until the "separation."  Perception is how the illusory world understands itself.  It always involves misuse of the mind. Perception is temporary. Perception involves interpretation, which can never be consistent.  Perception can be expressed only by fear or the world's idea of "love." Misperceptions produce fear, True perceptions foster Love; yet perception never brings Certainty because perception is inconsistent and variable. Knowledge is Timeless and always of God. I Know Truly when I have ceased to ask questions.

True perception is the basis for Knowledge, but Knowing affirms Truth and is beyond all perception.  Knowledge provides Strength and results from Revelation.  Knowledge is Timeless.  To perceive the Truth is not the same as Knowing it.  Yet Right perception is necessary before I can communicate again with God.   Knowledge came before perception and time, in the end It will replace them.

Perception can (and ultimately will) be stabilized, but Knowledge is stable.  "Fear God and keep His commandments"  becomes "Know God and accept His Certainty."

Questioning illusions is the first step in undoing them.  Forgiving illusions results in miracles (or Right perception).

I do not perceive my Self correctly.  The word "image" is perception-related.  Images are symbolic and stand for something else.  In the world of dreams, the idea of "changing my image" recognizes the power of perception, but also implies that there is nothing stable to know.  Knowing is not open to interpretation.

I have lost the Knowledge that I, myself, am God's Son.  Creation is my Source and my only Real function.

Perception is impossible without a belief in "more" and "less."  At every level it involves selectivity.  It is a continual process of accepting and rejecting, organizing and reorganizing, shifting and changing.  Evaluation is essential because judgments are necessary in order to perceive.  Perception becomes impossible if there are no judgments and only Perfect Equality.  Then only Truth can be Known.  To Know any part of Truth is to Know It all (Truth is holographic) and all of it is equally True.  Truth can only be Known, not perceived.  Partial Knowledge is impossible.  Either I Know or I do not know.

Forgiveness heals the perception of "separation."  Perceiving  "others" correctly is necessary, because my mind has chosen to see itself as "individual, separate" bodies.  My Spirit Knows God Completely - that is its miraculous Power.  The fact that I have this Power is a condition completely alien to the world's thinking.  The world believes that if someone has everything, there is nothing left for the rest.  But God's World is total.

Perception rests on lack, and as long as the world of lack seems real to me, prayer has a place.  Perception is based on the idea of  "separation," so it needs healing.  Communion is the Natural State of Reality.  I am a Thought of God.  How Beautiful indeed are the Thoughts of God who live in His Light.

Knowledge can never deceive, but perception can.  The mind can make the belief in the separation very real and very fearful. 

Judgement.  I have no idea of the tremendous release and deep Peace that comes from seeing myself and "others" totally without judgment.  When I recognize Truth, I will realize that judging anything or anyone is without meaning.  How can I judge the Son of God who is Perfect?  In fact, Reality's meaning is lost to me precisely because I judge. While I judge, I will never recognize Reality. Judgment disappears in the presence of Knowledge.

When I feel tired, it is because I have judged myself as capable of being tired.  When I ridicule someone, it is because I have judged him as unworthy.  When I hate myself, I must hate others, if only because I cannot tolerate the idea of being more unworthy.  This is exhausting and disheartening.  I am not really capable of being tired, but I can weary myself.  The strain of constant judgment is virtually intolerable.  It is strange that an ability so debilitating would be so deeply cherished by me.  Yet if I continue to want to be perceive a world "apart from" God, I will insist on holding on to judgment.  Unconsciously this is very fearful to me because I realize that someday that same judgment will be used against me.

Judgment is symbolic and only lasts while I believe in the separation.  Beyond the "separation,"  there is no judgment.  "Judge not, that ye be not judged" means that while I judge others, I will be unable to avoid judging myself. The choice to judge (rather than to forgive) is the choice to live without Peace.  Judgment always involves rejection and it always emphasizes the negative aspects of what is judged.  What has been perceived and rejected (or judged and found wanting) remains in my mind.  I cannot continue to believe that my judgment of anything or anyone has no effect.  In the end, it does not matter whether my judgment is right or wrong, either way I am putting my belief in the unreal.

All my difficulties stem from the fact that I do not recognize my Self....or God.  To recognize means to "know again," implying that I knew before.  If I attack or judge anyone or anything, I will only hurt myself.  It is impossible to Know God's Creation and attack It at the same time.  Attack is always made upon what seems to be "outside" me. Yet there is nothing "outside" God's Creation.  God knows His Son with Perfect Certainty.  He Created me and He recognizes me Perfectly.

God offers only mercy.  In my quest to return Home, I should reflect only mercy; my words should speak only of mercy.

Who is the Author?   I believe I am the author of my destiny in the world of separation.   When I have an authority problem, it is always because I think I am the author (creator) of myself (and I project this delusion onto "others").  Then when there is conflict, it is perceived as a situation in which "others" are literally fighting me for my authorship.  Here in a world without God, I believe I have usurped the power of God making a separate "life" for myself.  And the "power" I have is used at the whim of myself and "others."  This belief is frightening, but it hardly troubles God.  He is eager to undo it only because He knows it makes me unhappy.  God is my Author.  He Created me.  When I deny this in my fantasy of "separation," allowing myself to doubt Reality, there is such uncertainty in my mind that I may even doubt whether I really exist at all.  It s a mistake to believe that a thought system based on lies (illusions) is weak.  Nothing made by a Child of God is without Power, even his fantasies.

I will return to my Beginning which is Truth.  My True Self remains in Peace, it is only my ego in conflict.  As I approach the Beginning, I will feel the fear of the destruction of my "separation" thought system like the fear of death.  Yet, I must remember, there is no death.

Biblical References.  "God created man in His own image and likeness" can be better understood as "God created His Son of like quality."

"Many are called by few are chosen" should be "many are called but few chose to listen."  God Knows me only in Peace, and Peace is my Reality. When I deny my Sonship, I deny Everything and embrace nothing.

Even the Christian legend of mankind can be helpful in understanding Truth.  Atonement is not accomplished by crucifixion, but by resurrection.  The resurrection demonstrated that nothing can destroy Truth.  "The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world," is not the blood-stained lamb, it is the Pure and Innocent Lamb who shows me that, like Him, I am Pure and Innocent.  He takes away the "sin of the world" by showing me that there is no sin.

"Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven," should be "Will the Kingdom of Heaven" ~ Know who I am and accept my Inheritance.  Peace is my Heritage.

"The branch that bears no fruit (the world of illusions) will be cut off and will wither away (it will disappear)."  Be glad!  God's Kingdom is not of the dream-world.  This world is not left by death, but by Truth. 

The fruit of a tree was "forbidden" in the symbolic Garden of Eden.  But if God had forbidden it (God forbids nothing, He wills that His children have Everything), it could not have been eaten.  If God Knows His children (and He absolutely does), would He have put them in a position where their own destruction was possible?  Ironically, the "forbidden tree" was called the "tree of knowledge."  Yet God Created Knowledge and what God Creates is given freely to all His Creation.