Pain is wrong perspective. When pain is experienced in any form, it is proof of self-deception. Pain is not a fact at all. There is no form of pain that will not disappear if seen with correct perception. Pain ~ and anything that is not of God ~ witnesses to my apparent "separation from" God; it provides "proof" that the dream is "real." For in thinking that I can separate myself from my Father, I also imagine that the Father is angry and seeks revenge and death for my "sin." Pain is "God's retaliation" for a crime that could not be committed. I could no more separate myself from God, than a wave can separate itself from the ocean, or a ray separate itself from the sun. It is possible only in fantasy. I am indulging in a dream of separation. God's Reality is all around and within me, yet I do not see It because I value thoughts of dreams over Thoughts of Reality. ACIM is all about changing my thoughts. Anything "outside" me is only a symbol of a thought within me. "Outside me" does not exist.
Pain is a sign that I have placed illusions above Truth, denied God, and confused Love with fear. Think about this: if pain is Real, there is no God. Vengeance has no place in Love. Fear denies Love and uses pain to prove that the dream is "real," and God is "dead;" that death has victory over Life, and a "body" ~ corruptible and subject to decay ~ is who I am. I have "overcome" the Father in "separating" myself from Him. He is now weak and powerless, and seeks revenge upon me.
Peace to such foolishness! The time has come to laugh at such insane ideas. There is no need to think of a dream as a savage crime or secret sin with weighty consequence. Make no mistake about it, this is what I truly believe when I value dreams above all else. I am lost in a circle of insanity, in which insanity witnesses to the "reality" of insanity. Who but a madman could believe this?
It is my thoughts alone that cause me pain. Nothing external to my mind exists. Nothing external to my mind can hurt or injure me in any way. There is no cause beyond my own mind that can oppress me. Nothing but my own thoughts affect me. There is nothing in the "world" that has the power to make me ill or sad, weak or frail. I have the Power to dominate all I see by merely recognizing Who I Am. As I perceive the harmlessness of the "world," the "world" will accept my Holy Will as its own. What was seen as fearful and threatening now becomes a source of Innocence and Holiness.
The world I see does nothing. It has no effects at all. It merely represents my thoughts. And it will change entirely as I choose to change my mind, choosing the Joy of God as what I really desire. My True Self is Radiant in Holy Joy, Unchanged, Unchanging, and Unchangeable, Eternally. Would I deny a little corner of my mind its own Inheritance? Will I continue to keep my mind a hospital for pain; a sickly place where living things must come at last to die?
The world may seem to cause me pain, yet the "world" is an effect of my insane thinking. My thoughts are the cause, a world of dreams is the effect. My idle desire to see a world "apart from" God causes all my pain. Pain is the thought of "evil" taking form and wreaking havoc in my Holy mind. Pain is the ransom I gladly pay to be slave to the prison of "separation." In pain I deny the Father Who Is my Source, and He seems to deny me. In pain does fear appear to triumph over Love, and "time" replace Eternity and Heaven. The "world" becomes a cruel and bitter place where sorrow rules, and Joy gives way to the savage pain that waits to end my existence in misery and death.
It is time to lay down my sword and shield, and come without defense into the Quiet Place where Heaven's Peace holds all things Still at last. I will lay down all thoughts of danger and fear. I will let no thought of attack enter my mind. I will lay down the cruel sword of judgment that I hold against my own throat, and put aside the withering assaults which hide my Holiness. In the Still Place there is no pain. Here will I find that the Joy of God belongs to me.
Today is the day when it is given me to realize this: Pain is an illusion; Joy is my Reality. Pain is my mind asleep; Joy is my Awakening. Pain is deception; Joy alone is Truth. This Gift of Truth is given me today. And so I make the only single choice that can ever be made: I choose between illusion and Truth, pain and Joy, or hell and Heaven. Let gratitude fill my heart. I am free to choose what occupies my thoughts. I do not have to dwell on every thought that crosses my mind. In the dream world, my mind is frantic and undisciplined. If a thought comes to my mind, it seems there must be a reason, and so I dwell on it; I think about the past, worry about the future, ruminate about "failures," obsess about "love." I do not have to dwell on every thought that comes into my mind. It seems that thoughts are beyond my control until I learn that I put them there! I choose what I will think about, and I am free to choose Joy instead of pain, my Holiness in place of my "sin," the Peace of God instead of conflict and the Light of Heaven in place of the darkness of the "world."
"I choose the Joy of God instead of pain."
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