Principle 36: Miracles are examples of right thinking, aligning your perceptions with truth as God created it. (T-1.I.36)

COURSE REFERENCES

Read “The Ego and False Autonomy.” (T-4.II.all)

It is reasonable to ask how the mind could ever have made the ego. In fact, it is the best question you could ask. There is no point in giving an answer in terms of the past because the past does not matter, and history would not exist if the same errors were not repeated in the present. (T-4.II.1:1-3)

Everyone makes an ego or a self for himself, which is subject to enormous variation because of its instability. He also makes an ego for everyone else he perceives, which is equally variable. Their interaction is a process that alters both, because they were not made by or with the Unalterable. It is important to realize that this alteration can and does occur as readily when the interaction takes place in the mind as when it involves physical proximity. Thinking about another ego is as effective in changing relative perception as is physical interaction. There could be no better example that the ego is only an idea and not a fact. (T-4.II.2:1-6)

Your own state of mind is a good example of how the ego was made. When you threw knowledge away it is as if you never had it. This is so apparent that one need only recognize it to see that it does happen. If this occurs in the present, why is it surprising that it occurred in the past? Surprise is a reasonable response to the unfamiliar, though hardly to something that occurs with such persistence. But remember that the mind need not work that way, even though it does appear to work that way now. (T-4.II.3:1-6)

Think of the love of animals for their offspring, and the need they feel to protect them. That is because they regard them as part of themselves. No one dismisses something he considers part of himself. You react to your ego much as God does to His creations, with love, protection and charity. Your reactions to the self you made are not surprising. In fact, they resemble in many ways how you will one day react to your real creations, which are as timeless as you are. (T-4.II.4:1-6)

The question, however, is not how you respond to the ego, but what you believe you are. Belief is an ego function, and as long as your origin is open to belief you are regarding it from an ego viewpoint. When teaching is no longer necessary you will merely know God. Belief that there is another way (even A Better Way) of perceiving is the loftiest idea of which ego thinking is capable. That is because it contains a hint of recognition that the ego is not the Self. (T-4.II.4:7-11)

Undermining the ego’s thought system must be perceived as painful, even though this is anything but true. Babies scream in rage if you take away a knife or scissors, although they may well harm themselves if you do not. In this sense you are still a baby. You have no sense of real self-preservation and are likely to decide that you need precisely what would hurt you most. Yet whether or not you recognize it now, you have agreed to cooperate in the effort to become both harmless and helpful, attributes that must go together. Your attitudes even toward this are necessarily conflicted, because all attitudes are ego-based. This will not last. Be patient a while and remember that the outcome is as certain as God. (T-4.II.5:1-8)

The ego believes it is completely on its own, which is merely another way of describing how it thinks it originated. This is such a fearful state that it can only turn to other egos and try to unite with them in a feeble attempt at identification or attack them in an equally feeble show of strength. It is not free, however, to open the premise (that it is on its own) to question, because the premise is its foundation. The ego is the mind’s belief that it is completely on its own. (T-4.II.8:1-4)

The ego’s ceaseless attempts to gain the spirit’s acknowledgment and thus establish its own existence are useless. Spirit in its knowledge is unaware of the ego. It does not attack it; it merely cannot conceive of it at all. While the ego is equally unaware of spirit, it does perceive itself as being rejected by something greater than itself. (T-4.II.8:5-8)

The so-called “battle for survival” is only the ego’s struggle to preserve itself, and its interpretation of its own beginning. This beginning is usually associated with physical birth, because it is hard to maintain that the ego existed before that point in time. The more “religiously” ego-oriented may believe that the soul existed before and will continue to exist after a temporary lapse into ego life. Some even erroneously believe that the soul will be punished for this lapse. However, salvation does not apply to spirit, which is not in danger and does not need to be salvaged. (T-4.II.9:3-7)

Salvation is nothing more than “right-mindedness,” -- not the One-mindedness of the Holy Spirit -- but which must be achieved before One-mindedness is restored. Right-mindedness leads to the next step automatically, because right perception is uniformly without attack, and thus wrong-mindedness is obliterated. The ego (darkness) cannot survive without judgment and is laid aside accordingly. The mind then has only one direction (toward the light) in which it can move. The mind’s direction is always automatic, because it cannot but be dictated by the thought system to which it adheres. (T-4.II.10:1-5)

It cannot be emphasized too often that correcting perception is merely a temporary expedient. It is necessary only because misperception is a block to knowledge, while accurate perception is a stepping-stone toward it. The whole value of right perception lies in the inevitable realization that all perception is unnecessary. This removes the block entirely. You may ask how this is possible as long as you appear to be living in this world. That is a reasonable question. You must be careful, however, that you really understand it. Who is the “you” who are living in this world? You are spirit. Spirit is immortal, and immortality is a constant state. It is as true now as it ever was or will be, because it implies no change at all. (T-4.II.11:1-10) Knowledge never involves comparisons. (T-4.II.11:12)

What does “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you” really mean? It is not understandable to the ego, which sees it as if something outside is inside, and this means nothing. The word “within” is unnecessary. The Kingdom of Heaven IS you. What else but YOU is His Kingdom? This is the whole message of the Atonement; a message which in totality transcends the sum of its parts. (T-4.III.1:1-6) Therefore, upon completion of the process of Atonement, you will KNOW: What and Who and Whose you are. ☺

You, too, have a Kingdom that your spirit created. It has not ceased to create because of the ego’s illusions. Your creations are no more fatherless than you are. Your ego and your spirit will never co-create, but your spirit and your Creator will always be co-creators. Be confident that your creations are as safe as you are. Know, too, that Jesus will come in response to a single unequivocal call.

The Kingdom is perfectly united and perfectly protected, and the ego will not prevail against it.

These words are useful in moments of temptation. They are a declaration of independence. You will find it very helpful if you understand them fully. The reason you need Jesus’s help is because you have denied your own Guide and therefore need guidance. His role is to separate the true from the false, so truth can break through the barriers the ego set up and can shine into your mind (like sun rays shining through the clouds). The ego cannot prevail against your strength, united with the strength of Jesus. (T-4.III.1:7-13,2:1-6) Remembrance of your Father will dawn upon you, as only GOD IS. (T-14.X.2:3)

Truth will correct all errors in my mind, and I will rest in Him Who is my Self.

(W-107.9:5)