169 - Good for contemplation

You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of.
You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.
By Albert Camus

You can never get to peace and inner security without first acknowledging all of the good things in your life.
If you're forever wanting and longing for more without first appreciating things the way they are, you'll stay in discord.
By Doc Childre and Howard Martin

Maturity begins when we're content to feel we're right about something, without feeling the necessity to prove someone else is wrong.
By Sydney J. Harris (1917-1986)

168 - I Believe - A Poem of Lessons for Life

I believe-
That we don't have to change friends if we understand that friends change.

I believe-
That no matter how good a friend is, they're going to hurt you every once in a while and, you must forgive them for that.

I believe-
That true friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance.
Same goes for true love.

I believe-
That you can do something in an instant that will give you heartache for life.

I believe-
That it's taking me a long time to become the person I want to be.

I believe-
That you should always leave loved ones with loving words. It may be the last time you see them

I believe-
That you can keep going long after you can't.

I believe-
That we are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.

I believe-
That either you control your attitude or it controls you.

I believe-
That regardless of how hot and steamy a relationship is at first, the passion fades and there had better be something else to take its place.

I believe-
That heroes are the people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.

I believe-
That money is a lousy way of keeping score.

I believe-
That my best friend and I can do anything or nothing and have the best time!

I believe-
That sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you're down, will be the ones to help you get back up.

I believe-
That sometimes when I'm angry I have the right to be angry, but that doesn't give me the right to be cruel.

I believe-
That just because someone doesn't love you the way you want them to doesn't mean they don't love you with all they have.

I believe-
That maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you've had and what you've learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you've celebrated.

I believe-
That it isn't always enough to be forgiven by others. Sometimes you have to learn to forgive yourself.

I believe-
That no matter how bad your heart is broken the world doesn't stop for your grief.

I believe-
That our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become.

I believe-
That just because two people argue, it doesn't mean they don't love each other, And just because they don't argue, it doesn't mean they do.

I believe-
That you shouldn't be so eager to find out a secret. It could change your life forever.

I believe-
That two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally different.

I believe-
That your life can be changed in a matter of hours by people who don't even know you.

I believe-
That even when you think you have no more to give, when a friend cries out to you - you will find the strength to help.

I believe-
That credentials on the wall do not make you a decent human being.

I believe-
That the people you care about most in life are the essence of life. Tell them today how much you love them and what they mean to you.

167 - 分享 “告别娑婆”（小我 ego)

"。。。小我 (ego) 一直设法阻止您看清它的底细。。。最好的逃避之计，就是把它投射 (to project out) 到外面去。。。时候到了，现在是您主动向小我 (ego) 挑战的时候了。若要宽恕 (to forgive) 心里的一切，惟一的办法就是宽恕它投射于身外的一切。。。"

"。。。宽恕法则 - The Law of Forgiveness - 除非您学会宽恕眼前所见的每一事物，否则您永远不可能真正解脱 (true freedom)，證入自己纯洁无罪 (innocence/sinlessness) 的神圣本性。不宽恕，便无解脱之日。您们可能认为那些遁世避俗的人是些弱者，其实，他们大体的方向并没有错，只是还没抓到正确的出离办法而已。。。”

166 - ACIM summary

A Course in Miracles - ACIM (May 7, 2010)

PURPOSE
1. To remember who I am i.e. my true identity/Spirit Self
2. To reverse my thought system i.e. from fear, separation & weakness to Love, Unity & Strength

Two selves
1. Body/ego (form)
2. Spirit (formless)

Body/ego (Form)
• Fear
• Separation
• Weakness/frailty
• Limit (birth & death)
• Changing/changeable/mortal
• Time & space
• See yourself as fragment, come with fear

Spirit (Formless)
• Love
• Unity (join-up)
• Strength
• Unlimited/no beginning no end/all encompassing
• No time no space
• Unchanging, unchangeable, eternity (immortality)

Right-Mind (Whole Mind) Vs Sick-Mind (Deluded-Mind)
• Holy Spirit Vs Body/ego
• Love, Unity & Strength Vs Fear, separation & weakness
• Connected to God Vs Separated from God
• God’s Will Vs Opposing will
• Vision Vs Physical eye sight
• Seeing thro’ Love, Unity & Strength Vs Seeing thro’ fear, separation & weakness
• Seeing thro’ Spirit Eye Vs Seeing thro’ body’s eye
• Light Vs Darkness
• Peace Vs War, conflict
• Forgiveness Vs Unforgiving, sin, anger, grudge, judgment
• Reality Vs Unreal, illusion, dream
• Life Vs Death
• Happy dream (forgive the fearful world) Vs Nightmare (create the fearful world)

Atonement = Healing the sick-mind, awakening, salvation, undoing, forgiving, correction of errors

Spirit ------ Right-mind ------ Vision
Body ------ Sick–mind ------- Physical sight

“Forgive the world, and you will understand that everything that God created cannot have an end, and nothing He did not create is real”
– ACIM (Manual for Teachers pg 52)

God’s Will – everything has been given to You (Spirit), You Are whole, complete, abundant

Ego’s will – bodies, separation, lack, scarcity, self-condemnation

“In order to heal, it thus becomes essential for the teacher of God to let all his own mistakes be corrected. If he senses even the faintest hint of irritation in himself as he responds to anyone, let him instantly realize that he has made an interpretation that is not true.”
– ACIM (Manual for Teachers pg 48)

165 - 若水：《奇蹟課程》談論的純是心靈的滄桑史，並非針對我們的理性而說的

"...只要耐下性子讀下去的人，都會為它的「一語道破」而拍案叫絕；讀到會心處，不禁反覆吟哦，甚至背誦下來。一旦讀懂了，便明白，唯有這種曲折的說法才足以襯托出人性的幽冥複雜，也正是這種古典詩體，使得這部經典如此耐讀。

然而，對於初入門的讀者，這層文字障可讓他們吃盡苦頭。不少知識份子想以自己的邏輯思考來梳理全書的含意，不久便迷失於它的三重否定或正反論證的文字叢林裡。因為《奇蹟課程》談論的純是心靈的滄桑史，並非針對我們的理性而說的。因此，只有「心」才可能聽得懂自己這一段「失樂園」的故事，也只有「心」才需要學習寬恕自己而重歸完整。

這一套「唯心」的修持理念，在眼見為憑的現實社會裡，難免會遭人誤解，以為寬恕不過是「原諒別人所做的對不起自己的事情」而已。其實《奇蹟課程》的寬恕，指的是一種足以透視人生假象的慧見，而非某種倫理行為的規範。它要傳給世人的，是一種新的「眼光」；唯有培養出這種慧眼，人們才可能學會為自己的際遇負起責任來。

讀者若不了解「寬恕」背後的那一套思想體系，常會被書中驚世駭俗的言論震懾住，而連聲抗議：「哪有這種說法的！」「我的問題豈是這幾句話就能解決的？」「奇蹟課程中文網站」便在這番反問之下應運而生了。

這些年來，我透過網站逐步為讀者介紹了《奇蹟課程》的來龍去脈，另闢「導讀」專欄，解析「寬恕」的形上理念與心理治療的功能。至於具體應用於日常生活的問題，則留待「答客問」（Q＆A）中，藉著讀者生活裡的疑難雜症，探討問題的癥結。此外，我還針對以佛教徒居多的華文讀者，把寬恕與佛法的修持做了一番連結，因為若要修「定」，不可能沒有寬恕的「前行」基礎。「寬恕」才是最好的「安心法門」。

《奇蹟課程》當初得以流行於西方，還得歸功於心理學界的推波助瀾，因此，我也簡略地介紹了《奇蹟課程》與心理治療結合的一些理念，它如何打破了心理學的瓶頸，將心理治療帶入靈性的領域。

近三年來，每一個月都試著為奇蹟網站撰寫四、五篇文章，也不知道究竟有無聽眾，好似夢中囈語一般，自說自話了幾年。去年，終於收到一位讀者的反應：「我每次都把你的文章打印出來，與朋友分享，東一張，西一張，零零落落的，好不煩人！你什麼時候才肯匯集成書啊？」一語驚醒夢中人，這些年來累積的舊文，確實讓奇蹟網站有不勝負荷的沈重。是清倉的時候了。

這一系列導讀的前身《點亮生命的奇蹟》便如此誕生了，它可說是我最初三年與各地華文讀者在網站上切磋激盪出來的結晶，主題上自然顯得繁雜，有述史、有花絮、有導讀、談心理、論佛學，還有零星的小品，讓此書顯得沉重了些...。"

164 - ACIM workshop in Mandarin, May 29 & 30, 2010

人生中的自我否定、孤单、愤怒、恐惧、罪咎、失落、… 之苦，常令自己仰首问天：这是生命的本质吗？生命只能这样吗？

《奇迹课程》指出我们的这些遭遇都是自己错误的想法所带来的痛苦。它说：“首先，我们把自己是谁想错了，难怪找不到幸福。其次，我们生活的方向走错了，难怪愈活愈苦。”其实，许多人事物都是我们凭着过去的经验套上去的，然后认定它就是如此，才产生了种种情绪与烦恼。我们要快乐还是痛苦的关键就在于自己的想法与看法！

《奇迹课程》是普世性灵修课程之一，是部帮助我们从错误知见与恐惧中彻底解脱出来，然后回归到那和谐与圆满的自性境界。它宣扬生命的光明面，同时点出我们自我惩罚的阴暗念头；它强调生命是爱，同时也指出我们不了解爱也不懂去爱的实况；它推翻了我们视为天经地义的人生观，重新教我们以新的眼光去看世界，好让我们由人间苦难的梦魇中解脱出来。

《奇迹课程》虽是一部自修性的课程，只因它的理论架构博大精深，常让读者不得其门而入，故中文译者若水设计为三个阶段的‘奇迹课程研习’，来介绍这自成一家的思想体系：
第一阶段 理论基础班：介绍《奇迹课程》的理论基础，并与现实生活连结。
第二阶段 自我疗愈班：化解灵修道上的障碍，达到自我疗愈的功效。
第三阶段 静观冥想班：以冥想式引导，与内在的本有智慧连结。

此课程一向被视为近代最重要的灵修宝典之一，采取教育的形式，把生命的奥秘编成一套365课的课程，透过逐日的练习，教人如何转化人间恩怨，在状似宿命的人生中开创奇迹，领回上天早已恩赐的平安喜乐。
这整个课程的进行也不能缺少您的参与，因为我们彼此原是一体：因为彼此，我们找到回家的路。

日期： 2010年29/05-30/05 （兩天）
时间： 早上9:00~下午6:00
地点: Inner Peace Centre.
费用： RM 350 (會員)；RM 450（非會員）
带领人: 张春源
活动方式 : DVD授课，小组讨论分享、体验性活动
电话 : 03-79811884; 017- 2794793 (清团); 017-6805720（春源）

163 - vegetarian food 执着素菜

谢谢您志鸿，您们好。

这婚宴没另安排素菜。

以我的想法，只要您们不执着素菜，这是绝对方便的！您们可否考虑入乡随俗？

其实我们生命灵修过程的最大考验就是我们时时刻刻能否完全放下心中任何的执着与观念！若不能放下或越修越执着，那么我们必须问自己这种灵修的意义又何在呢？

伟大的灵修者（包括佛陀）是绝对不会执着任何生活习惯，食物，人物，事物，观念等等! 这就是开悟之道！

我也时常问自己，为何我还执着某些观念呢？这几年来我已放下很多很多生活与观念的包袱，感觉非常轻松。。

可能这婚宴事件是帮助大家提升智慧与悟性的良机呢！哈哈哈。。

祝福您们平安喜悦。
业成 George

--- On Thu, 6/5/10, Lee Chee Foong wrote:
From: Lee Chee Foong
Subject: RE: 谢谢您的分享:（放一座大海在心中）
To: mbblys@yahoo.com.sg
Date: Thursday, 6 May, 2010, 1:00 AM

我和内人先恭喜您大师兄，也谢谢您的盛意邀请，只是我们俩都是素食者，不知会方便吗？ ~志鸿

Date: Tue, 4 May 2010 03:59:32 +0800
From: mbblys@yahoo.com.sg
Subject: 谢谢您的分享： （放一座大海在心中）
To: foong74@hotmail.com

非常感谢您的分享志鸿。 愿您心灵平安。

诚恳邀请您与夫人于阳历July18, 2010（礼拜日）出席我儿子结婚晚宴。若能出席，请通知您的地址，以便寄上请帖。（我也邀请温善平与夫人）。谢谢您。业成。

162 - reply to Taiwanese teacher

非常感谢您云釩。

关于心灵成长，我修了几年“奇迹课程”， 感觉清醒，已时常记得自己的真正本质。也已了解生命各种课题，很感恩它大大帮助我认清我本来的面目。心中也获得非常大与宝贵的心灵治疗，更能放下很多执着的病态！

我心中很感恩身边的一切，包括您之前的指导与帮助。让我心灵得到平安喜悦。

祝福您平安。
业成敬上

業成

恭喜您
兒子結婚了
相信您在心靈工作上也有了很大的進展
一起加油了

　　祝您喜悅滿滿　　享受宇宙的愛與豐盛

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　云釩敬上

161 - great wisdom - great food for thought

The many teachers of Junnaid

No situation is without a lesson, no situation at all. All situations are pregnant, but you have to discover; it may not be available on the surface. You have to be watchful, you have to look at all the aspects of the situation.

One of the great Sufi Masters, Junnaid, was asked when he was dying... his chief disciple came close to him and asked, "Master, you are leaving us. One question has always been in our minds but we could never gather courage enough to ask you. Who was your Master? This has been a great curiosity among your disciples because we have never heard you talk about your Master."

Junnaid opened his eyes and said, "It will be very difficult for me to answer because I have learned from almost everybody. The whole existence has been my Master. I have learned from every event that has happened in my life. And I am grateful to all that has happened, because out of all that learning I have arrived."

Junnaid said, "Just to satisfy your curiosity I will give you three instances. One: I was very thirsty and I was going towards the river carrying my begging bowl, the only possession I had. When I reached the river a dog rushed, jumped into the river, started drinking.

"I watched for a moment and threw away my begging bowl--because it is useless. A dog can do without it. I also jumped into the river, drank as much water as I wanted. My whole body was cool because I had jumped into the river. I sat in the river for a few moments, thanked the dog, touched his feet with deep reverence because he had taught me a lesson.

"I had dropped everything, all possessions, but there was a certain clinging to my begging bowl. It was a beautiful bowl, very beautifully carved, and I was always aware that somebody might steal it. Even in the night I used to put it under my head as a pillow so nobody could snatch it away. That was my last clinging--the dog helped. It was so clear: if a dog can manage without a begging bowl... I am a man, why can't I manage? That dog was one of my Masters.

"Secondly," he said, "I lost my way in a forest and by the time I reached the nearest village that I could find, it was midnight. Everybody was fast asleep. I wandered all over the town to see if I could find somebody awake to give me shelter for the night, until finally I found one man. I asked him, 'It seems only two persons are awake in the town, you and I. Can you give me shelter for the night?'

"The man said, 'I can see from your gown that you are a Sufi monk....'"

The word Sufi comes from suf; suf means wool, a woolen garment. The Sufis have used the woolen garment for centuries; hence they are called Sufis because of their garment. The man said, "I can see you are a Sufi and I feel a little embarrassed to take you to my home. I am perfectly willing, but I must tell you who I am. I am a thief--would you like to be a guest of a thief?"

For a moment Junnaid hesitated. The thief said, "Look, it is better I told you. You seem hesitant. The thief is willing but the mystic seems to be hesitant to enter into the house of a thief, as if the mystic is weaker than the thief. In fact, I should be afraid of you--you may change me, you may transform my whole life! Inviting you means danger, but I am not afraid. You are welcome. Come to my home. Eat, drink, go to sleep, and stay as long as you want, because I live alone and my earning is enough. I can manage for two persons. And it will be really beautiful to chit-chat with you of great things. But you seem to be hesitant."

And Junnaid became aware that it was true. He asked to be forgiven. He touched the feet of the thief and he said, "Yes, my rootedness in my own being is yet very weak. You are really a strong man and I would like to come to your home. And I would like to stay a little longer, not only for this night. I want to be stronger myself!"

The thief said, "Come on!" He fed the Sufi, gave him something to drink, helped him to prepare for sleep and he said, "Now I will go. I have to do my own thing. I will come back early in the morning." Early in the morning the thief came back. Junnaid asked, "Have you been successful?"

The thief said, "No, not today, but I will see tomorrow."

And this happened continuously, for thirty days: every night the thief went out, and every morning he came back empty-handed. But he was never sad, never frustrated--no sign of failure on his face, always happy --and he would say, "It doesn't matter. I tried my best. I could not find anything today again, but tomorrow I will try. And, God willing, it can happen tomorrow if it has not happened today."

After one month Junnaid left, and for years he tried to realize the ultimate, and it was always a failure. But each time he decided to drop the whole project he remembered the thief, his smiling face and his saying "God willing, what has not happened today may happen tomorrow."

Junnaid said, "I remembered the thief as one of my greatest Masters. Without him I would not be what I am.

"And third," he said, "I entered into a small village. A little boy was carrying a lit candle, obviously going to the small temple of the town to put the candle there for the night."

And Junnaid asked, "Can you tell me from where the light comes? You have lighted the candle yourself so you must have seen. What is the source of light?"

The boy laughed and he said, "Wait!" And he blew out the candle in front of Junnaid. And he said, "You have seen the light go. Can you tell me where it has gone? If you can tell me where it has gone I will tell you from where it has come, because it has gone to the same place. It has returned to the source."

And Junnaid said, "I had met great philosophers but nobody had made such a beautiful statement: 'It has gone to its very source.' Everything returns to its source finally. Moreover, the child made me aware of my own ignorance. I was trying to joke with the child, but the joke was on me. He showed me that asking foolish questions--'From where has the light come?'--is not intelligent. It comes from nowhere, from nothingness--and it goes back to nowhere, to nothingness."

Junnaid said, "I touched the feet of the child. The child was puzzled. He said, 'Why you are touching my feet?' And I told him, 'You are my Master--you have shown me something. You have given me a great lesson, a great insight.'

"Since that time," Junnaid said, "I have been meditating on nothingness and slowly, slowly I have entered into nothingness. And now the final moment has come when the candle will go out, the light will go out. And I know where I am going--to the same source.

"I remember that child with gratefulness. I can still see him standing before me, blowing out the candle."

160 - ACIM by Mei Goh (Apr 2010)

My very dear friends,
From my heart, thank everyone for your love, light, joy, and sharing. Thank Kwong for your superb guidance and extra afford to make each part of ACIM into practical usage. Thank Katherine for your generosity for providing us a wonderful learning place. I would like to share what I have learned on 7/3/10, some extra readings and the insights I gained through practicing ACIM principles daily.
1. Creation and Communication (ACIM text, page 69))
- The ego is part of the mind that believes your existence is defined by separation.
- The communication system of the ego is based on its own thought system, as is everything else it dictates. Its communication is controlled by its need to protect itself, and it will disrupt communication when it experiences threat. This disruption is a reaction to a specific person or persons.
- In contrast, spirit reacts in the same way to everything it knows is true, and does not respond at all to anything else. Nor does it make any attempt to establish what is true. It knows that what is true is everything that God created. It is in complete and direct communication with every aspect of creation, because it is in complete and direct communication with its Creator.
- God created every mind by communicating His Mind to it, thus establishing it forever as a channel for the reception of His Mind and Will. His creations naturally communicate with Him and like Him. This communication is perfectly abstract, since its quality is universal in application and not subject to any judgment, any exception or any alteration.
- Existence as well as being rests on communication. Existence, however, is specific in how, what and with whom communication is judged to be worth undertaking. Being is completely without these distinctions. It is a state in which the mind is in communication with everything that is real.
Note:
a. The entire world of time and space arises from a tiny mad idea: an insane thought that we can be separated from God. We thought we came into this world when we were born. But we did not “come into” this world; the world is merely a projection from our minds.
b. The entire world is a dream of judgment. It is a dream because it is outside the reality of God’s Mind; and it is a judgment because anything outside God’s Mind must be perceived as different from It. What God created is perfect oneness, perfect love, it is abstract, formless, unalterable, eternal and unambiguous. Truth/God/reality/Knowledge is absolutely non-dualistic.
c. The ego thought system is not an easy one simply to deny or ignore. As long as we identify ourselves as a separate body that is separated from other bodies, then we buy into the whole ego thought system and adopt ego as our false self. Again, not only that we believe in a dream of judgment, we believe we are in this dream of judgment because we identify ourselves as one of the bodies/figures in this dream of judgment.
d. The world we see merely reflects our own internal frame of reference – “projection makes perception”. It is indeed impossible for us not to judge at all. So it is not that we should not judge. Instead we should learn how to be comfortable with all the judgments we do make or others make, because only then can we forgive and move beyond them.
e. ACIM is not a course in denial or in making believe that terrible things do not happen in the world or avoid those so called negative people/things/events. However, it is beneficial for us to develop a loving, honest, open and humorous attitude of being able to look with open eyes at what is within our minds and what the world is.
f. The judgments I make against you are really a projection of the judgment I have made against myself. And I persist in holding judgments against you because that protects me from really looking at the judgment I have made against myself. All that has happened because I have fallen asleep; dreamt a dream in which I am different from all my brothers and God, and judged that dream as sinful, terrible and real.
g. The goal of ACIM is to help us look at ego thoughts with the love of the Holy Spirit and realize there is nothing there. When that judgment is gone, when we can really look at all the hate and specialness in us (the need to be important, the need to be superior, the need to be special, and all the demands, expectations…) without judging ourselves or feeling guilty about these thoughts, without being afraid of any kind of punishment or rejection, then they will disappear. Because the basic ego thought is unreal.
h. The basic thought that underlies the whole ego thought system and that constitutes the entire physical universe is an unreal thought. It is an insane thought that says we can really separate from God and establish ourselves as God. As in Chapter 2 ACIM, page 17, paragraph 1, line 9-12:
First, you believe that what God created can be changed by your own mind.
Second, you believe that what is perfect can be rendered imperfect or lacking.
Third, you believe that you can distort the creations of God, including yourself.
Forth, you believe you can create yourself, and that direction of your own creation is up to you.
i. The purpose of ACIM is to have us reach the point where we can truly look at ego without fear/guilt/resistance. When we resist or fight ego, we have made it real. Step back and look at our ego and not judging it, not fighting it, not resisting it, not trying to change it – simply look at it and say. “This is my ego in action, and that is not sin, simply madness. It is silly. It is a joke.” We can look at that silly thought will gentle laughter. And when we do, it will disappear into the nothingness from which it came. At the point, the Holy Spirit judgment becomes a reality for us. The Holy Spirit knows that the separation has not occurred. We are as God created, not what we made. Our sinlessness and innocence are guaranteed by God.
j. Then we can look at the world with Christ’s vision; see the world with love, strength and unity. We then realize every attack is actually an expression of fear. Underneath the fear is the call for love that has been denied or misperceived. We can now look at the world and see everyone as either calling for love or expressing love. And so our response is always the same: extend love.
2. Lesson 128 The world I see holds nothing that I want.
- The world you see holds nothing that you need to offer you; nothing that you can use in any way, nor anything at all that serves to give you joy. Believe this thought, and you are saved from years of misery, from countless disappointments, and from hopes that turn to bitter ashes of despair.
- Each thing you value here is but a chain that binds you to the world, and it will serve no other end but this. For everything must serve the purpose you have given it, until you see a different purpose there. The only purpose worthy of your mind this world contains is that you pass it by, without delaying to perceive some hope where there is none. Be you deceived no more. The world you see holds nothing that you want.
- Escape today the chains you place upon your mind when you perceive salvation here. For what you value you make part of you as you perceive yourself. All things you seek to make your value greater in your sight limit you further, hide your worth from you, and add another bar across the door that leads to true awareness of your Self.
- Let nothing that relates to body thoughts delay your progress to salvation, nor permit temptation to believe the world holds anything you want to hold you back. Nothing is here to cherish. Nothing here is worth one instant of delay and pain; one moment of uncertainty and doubt. The worthless offer nothing. Certainty of worth can not be found in worthlessness.
- Protect your mind throughout the day as well. And when you think you see some value in an aspect or an image of the world, refuse to lay this chain upon your mind, but tell yourself with quiet certainty:
This will not tempt me to delay myself.
The world I see holds nothing that I want.
Note:
1. As in ACIM text, page 14, paragraph 2:
- A sense of separation from God is the only lack you really need correct. This sense of separation would never have arisen if you had not distorted your perception of truth, and had thus perceived yourself as lacking. The idea of order of needs arose because, having made this fundamental error, you had already fragmented yourself into levels with different needs.
- And also in ACIM text, page 15, paragraph 3:
Fantasy is an attempt to control reality according to false needs. Twist reality in any way and you perceive destructively. Fantasies are a means of making false associations and attempting to obtain pleasure from them.
- In ACIM text, page 11, paragraph 3:
Darkness is lack of light as sin is lack of love. It has no unique properties of its own. It is an example of “scarcity” belief, from which only error can proceed. Truth is always abundant. Those who perceive and acknowledge that they have everything have no needs of any kind. The purpose of atonement is to restore everything to you; or rather, to restore it to your awareness. You were given everything when you were created, just as everyone else.
2. God and His Son are perfectly one. The state of heaven is perfect oneness. There is no separated consciousness in God that can observe Himself in relationship to His creation and vice verse. Oneness is simply the idea God is. And in His Being, He encompasses all things. No minds hold anything but Him. There is no place where the Father ends and the Son begins. His Son has united with its Source. And like its Father. It merely is.
3. When the tiny, mad idea seemed to enter the mind of God’s Son, the impossible seemed to happen. It is actually a mad idea that the Son somehow now is separate from His Father. He has a mind, a will, a self that is separate and independent form his Creator. When the Son falls asleep and begins to experience himself as a separated being, he has a mind which now appears to coexist with the Mind of God/Christ. That mind has two parts, or what ACIM often refers to as two voices. One is the voice of the ego, and the other is the voice of the Holy Spirit. So, in the Son’s mind there are two thoughts/reactions to the tiny, mad idea. The ego thought is that separation actually occurred, sin, fear, guilt are real. The Holy Spirit is the thought that the separation never happened.
4. The “tiny, mad idea” is meant to be taken literally: the idea “tiny” because it had absolutely no effect on reality. It is “mad” because it is insane that a part of God/All/Whole could somehow split off. It is a mad idea that there is a power beyond omnipotence, a place beyond infinity.
5. In addition to these two thoughts in the Son’s mind, there is a third part of the split mind. This is the part of the mind that must choose between two thoughts/voices. To choose between the ego thought system and the Holy Spirit thought system, between death and life, between crucifixion and resurrection, between a grievance and a miracle.
6. There are 3 parts of the split mind:
i. The part of the mind that contains the thought that the separation is real (ego thought system).
ii. The part of the mind that contains the thought that the separation never occurred (Holy Spirit thought system).
iii. The part of the mind that must decide which thought system is true (the decision maker).
We have no other choice, we must choose between the ego and the Holy Spirit. And we must choose one of them. We cannot choose both of them simultaneously. And we cannot choose neither of them for no thought is neutral.
7. The ego is afraid that there is a power greater than itself. That power is the power of the Son’s mind to choose. The ego’s real fear is that the Son will change his mind, turning away from the ego and turning back to the Holy Spirit. The ego’s goal is to make us mindless so we cannot change our minds, because the mind really is the great threat. The Son’s mind can choose against the ego, and choose the Love of God, which means the end of the ego.
8. All the choices we think we need or we have are all within the illusion, and they are all made up choices. This is because we are really not choosing anything – we are merely choosing one illusion over another. We prefer this illusion rather than that illusion. There is this illusory problem over here, and so there is that illusory solution to it over there. In reality there is nothing.
9. What the miracle does is to take our attention from our problems or concerns in the world, in our own bodies or other bodies, and says to us, “This is not the problem. The problem is back within our mind, look within our mind.” We can look at what we chose, look at the price we paid for what we chose, and realize that it was stupid. And we can then make another choice and chose to listen to the voice of Holy Spirit, the voice of love, the voice of atonement, and the voice of forgiveness.
3. Lesson 41 God goes with me wherever I go.
- Depression is an inevitable consequence of separation. So are anxiety, worry, a deep sense of helplessness, misery, suffering and intense fear of loss.
- The separated ones have invented many "cures" for what they believe to be "the ills of the world." But the one thing they do not do is to question the reality of the problem. Yet its effects cannot be cured because the problem is not real. The idea for today has the power to end all this foolishness forever. And foolishness it is, despite the serious and tragic forms it may take.
- Deep within you is everything that is perfect, ready to radiate through you and out into the world. It will cure all sorrow and pain and fear and loss because it will heal the mind that thought these things were real, and suffered out of its allegiance to them.
- You can never be deprived of your perfect holiness because its Source goes with you wherever you go. You can never suffer because the Source of all joy goes with you wherever you go. You can never be alone because the Source of all life goes with you wherever you go. Nothing can destroy your peace of mind because God goes with you wherever you go.
- You can indeed afford to laugh at fear thoughts, remembering that God goes with you wherever you go.

Practical usage:
1. Ego is an illusion. The content of illusion does not matter.
2. The world is a projection from the sick mind. The world won’t give us love, joy or peace.
3. The only choice we have is to choose to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit. See the world with Christ’s vision: love, strength, unity.
4. Put a sticker with words “Love, Strength, Unity” at our watch’s strap. Remind ourselves the Sonship is one and love everyone equally.
5. Look at the pay off if I keep holding on to the past. For an instant, lay aside all thoughts, and commune with God. God resides in my mind. God goes with me wherever I go. God is my strength.
5. The Holy Instant and Special Relationships (ACIM text, page 312)
- The holy instant is the Holy Spirit’s most useful learning device for teaching you love’s meaning. For its purpose is to suspend judgment entirely.
- The past is the ego’s chief learning device, for it is in the past that you learned to define your own needs and acquired methods for meeting them on your own terms. We have said that to limit love to part of the Sonship is to bring guilt into your relationships, and thus make them unreal. If you seek to separate out certain aspects of the totality and look to them to meet your imagined needs, you are attempting to use separation to save you. How, then, could guilt not enter? For separation is the source of guilt, and to appeal to it for salvation is to believe you are alone. To be alone is to be guilty. For to experience yourself as alone is to deny the Oneness of the Father and His Son, and thus to attach reality.
- To believe that special relationships, with special love, can offer you salvation is the belief that separation is salvation. For it is the complete equality of the Atonement in which salvation lies.
- Because of guilt, all special relationships have elements of fear in them. This is why they shift and change so frequently. They are not based on changeless love alone. And love, where fear has entered, cannot be depended on because it is not perfect. In His function as Interpreter of what you made, the Holy Spirit uses special relationships, which you have chosen to support the ego, as learning experiences that point to truth. Under His teaching, every relationship becomes a lesson of love.
- The Holy Spirit knows no one is special Yet He also perceives that you have made special relationships, which He would purify and let you destroy. However unholy the reason you made them may be, He can translate them into holiness by removing as much fear as you will let Him. You can place any relationship under His care and be sure that it will not result in pain, if you offer Him your willingness to have it serve no need but His. All the guilt in it arises from your use of it. All the love from His. Do not, then, be afraid to let go your imagined needs, which would destroy the relationship. Your only need is His.
- Any relationship you would substitute for another has not been offered to the Holy Spirit for His use. There is no substitute for love. If you would attempt to substitute one aspect of love for another, you have placed less value on one and more on the other. You have not only separated them, but you have also judged against both. Yet you had judged against yourself first, or you would never have imagined that you needed your brothers as they were not. Unless you had seen yourself as without love, you could not have judged them so like you in lack.
-Everyone on earth has formed special relationships, and although this is not so in Heaven, the Holy Spirit knows how to bring a touch of Heaven to them here. In the holy instant no one is special, for your personal needs intrude on no one to make your brothers seem different. Without the values from the past, you would see them all the same and like yourself. Nor would you see any separation between yourself and them. In the holy instant, you see in each relationship what it will be when you perceive only the present.
- God knows you now. He remembers nothing, having always known you exactly as He knows you now. The holy instant reflects His knowing by bringing all perception out of the past, thus removing the frame of reference you have built by which you judge your brothers. Once this is gone, the Holy Spirit substitutes His frame of reference for it. His frame of reference is simply God. The Holy Spirit’s timelessness lies only here. For in the holy instant, free of the past, you see that love is in you, and you have no need to look without and snatch love guiltily from where you thought it was.
- All your relationships are blessed in the holy instant, because the blessing is not limited. In the holy instant the Sonship gains as one, and united in your blessing it becomes one to you. The meaning of love is the meaning God gave to it. Give to it any meaning apart from His, and it is impossible to understand it. God loves every brother as He loves you; neither less nor more. He needs them all equally, and so do you. In time, you have been told to offer miracles as I direst, and let the Holy Spirit bring to you those who are seeking you. Yet in the holy instant you unite directly with God, and all your brothers join in Christ. Those who are joined in Christ are in no way separate. For Christ is the Self the Sonship shares, as God shares His Self with Christ.
- Think you that you can judge the Self of God? God has created It beyond judgment, out of His need to extend His Love. With love in you, you have no need except to extend it. In the holy instant there is no conflict of needs, for there is only one. For the holy instant reaches to eternity, and to the Mind of God. And it is only there love has meaning, and only there can it be understood.
Note: (some of the content below I copied/referred from Take me to truth, Chapter 4, by Nouk Sanchez and Tomas Vieira)
1. Most of our relationships are based on our seeking to support our own separate identity through an exclusive interaction with a significant person. This means our ego’s only focus is to feel its own image through this interaction. Its plan is to use a select few with which to have a special relationship so it can inflate, embellish, and reinforce its grandiose image. Essentially what this does is fragment the psyche, teach that hate and love can coexist, and attract an abundance of guilt in the process. Put briefly, the type of love the ego seeks is not love, but the recognition and reinforcement of its separated state.
2. The ego offers us a solution looks like this;
It promises to help us find love, but it makes sure that it is special love. Special love is saturated with specialness, judgment, blame and guilt. In involves sacrifice, projection, withholding, conditions, and obligation. The ultimate goal is to get our needs met, and it uses whatever means it takes to fulfill this.
Example: If our partner lets us down, our ego projects anger, blame, disappointment, and withholding love as punishment. Our partner’s ego then perceives this as attack and responds with a counterattack, either aggressively or passively. So the ego’s offer of love let us experience some fragments of so called love while making sure we suffer a great sense of loss, guilt, pain, blame and shame.
3. In special relationships, each person seeks a personal goal of specialness. We have a partnership that has at its foundation two independent self seeking goals. Added to this is the complication of justifying our relationship by our seemingly mutual purpose which is to be happy, start a family or business, or be successful. At the root of all this busy-ness is an unquenchable thirst for individual specialness or pseudo-worthiness. Each incomplete person joins in an attempt to make themselves complete through the special attention they demand from the other. While it may appear that most relationships emanate a sense of togetherness, they will invariably conceal their hidden agendas behind the acceptable joint endeavor. Under this entire pretense are two people who are dedicated to their very own special ego needs, and if by chance one person’s ego needs draw them away from meeting the special needs of their partner, then that partner will withdraw their love. Hence the common dilemma we experience with love appearing to be mixed with hate.
4. The reason most of our special relationships collapse is because we unconsciously bargain. In order to gain the special love we seek, we need to engage in some sort of transaction or trade with the other person. This usually entails the giving of our time, energy, attention, love, or gifts, in exchange for what we desire. We are often not aware of the bargaining that takes place. It will always instill a sense of guilt in us, although it is most often hidden. At the core of this trading is the desire to trade each other’s specialness. This causes resentment and eventually mutual disempowerment, blame and guilt. This idea of giving and specialness is purely an ego trick to disguise hate as love. Special relationships will eventually fail because it is based on “giving to get”.
5. Specialness has been an unquestioned and destructive concept that we have lived with, since early childhood. Every person, since our birth, who made a stain on the concept of specialness will remain as ghostly “shadow figures” that we unconsciously superimpose on our present loved ones. When we meet someone we don’t see them as they really are, what we see is a jumbled sum of the past that is superimposed over this person’s reality. We literally perceive the past when we are with people.
6. The most powerful tool we have to initiate the immediate healing of specialness is the holy instant. In this holy instant there are no thoughts of the past, of grievances and limitations. There is no superimposing of projection on another, in this holy instant, we are free from judgment. Because the ego is silent, our minds are free to open to new perspective. Nothing we look upon is tarnished with the past or the future; all is fresh, innocence and alive.
7. Another method we could use to heal special relationship:
If this person triggers some emotions in me, then
i. I acknowledge my emotions, feel my emotions without judgment until it is complete. Tell myself, this is not real, it is merely a projection from my ego mind. Forgive myself (the dreamer) and forgive all those in my dreams. The truth is you are not really out there. If I think you are guilty or the cause of the problem, and if I made you up, then the imagined guilt and fear must be in me. Since separation from God never occurred. I forgive both of us for what we haven’t really done.
ii. Pray to Holy Spirit:
I must have decided wrongly, because I am not in peace.
I made the decision myself, but I can also decide otherwise.
I want to decide otherwise, because I want to be at peace.
I do not feel guilty, because the Holy Spirit will undo all the consequences of my wrong decision if I will let Him.
I choose to let Him, by allowing Him to decide for God for me.
iii. Be grateful to this person, for without this person, I would not find my way home.
iv. Now there is only innocence, and I join with the Holy Spirit in peace

6. The Holy Instant and the Laws of God (ACIM text, page 315)
- It is impossible to use one relationship at the expense of another and not to suffer guilt. And it is equally impossible to condemn part of a relationship and find peace with it. Under the Holy Spirit’s teaching all relationships are seen as total commitment, yet they do not conflict with one another in any way. Perfect faith in each one, for its ability to satisfy you completely arises only from perfect faith in yourself. And this you cannot have while guilt remains. And there will be guilt as long as accept the possibility and cherish it, that you can make a brother into what he is not, because you would have him so.
- You have so little faith in yourself because you are unwilling to accept the fact that perfect love is in you. And so you seek without for what you cannot find without. I offer you my perfect faith in you, in place of all your doubts. But forget not that my faith must be as perfect in all your brothers as it is in you, or it would be a limited gift to you. In the holy instant we share our faith in God;” Son because we recognize, together, that hi is wholly worthy of it, and in our appreciation of his worth we cannot doubt his holiness. And so love him.
- All separation vanishes as holiness is shared. For holiness is power, and by sharing it, it gains in strength. If you seek for satisfaction in gratifying your needs as you perceive them you must believe that strength comes form another, and what you gain he loses. Someone must always lose if you perceive yourself as weak. Yet there is another interpretation of relationships that transcends the concept of loss of power completely.
- You do not find it difficult to believe that when another calls on God for love, your call remains as strong. Nor do you think that when God answers him, your hope of answer is diminished. On the contrary, you are more inclined to regard his success as witness to the possibility of yours. That is because you recognize however dimly, that God is an idea, and so your faith in Him is strengthened by sharing. What you find difficult to accept is the fact that, like your Father, you are an idea. And like Him, you can give yourself completely, wholly without loss and only with gain. Herein lies peace, for here there is no conflict.
- In the world of scarcity, love has no meaning and peace is impossible. For gain and loss are both accepted, and so no one is aware that perfect love is in him. In the holy instant you recognize the idea of love in you, and unite this idea with the Mind that thought it, and could not relinquish it. By holding it within itself, there is no loss. The holy instant thus becomes a lesson in how to hold all of your brothers in your mind, experiencing not loss but completion. Form this it follow you can only give. And this is love, for this alone is natural under the laws of God. In the holy instant the laws of God prevail, and only they have meaning. The laws of this world cease to hold any meaning at all. When the Son of God accepts the laws of God as what he gladly wills, it is impossible that he be bound, or limited in any way. In that instant hi is as free as God would have him be. For the instant he refuses to be bound, he is not bound.
- In the holy instant God is remembered, and the language of communication with all your brothers is remembered with Him. For communication is remembered together, as is truth. There is no exclusion in the holy instant because the past is gone.


Practical usage:
1. Dramas are not real. If we stuck in our dramas, we need to look at the pay off of holding on to our stories. Holding on to the past only cause more guilt. Seeing our brother as a body, we made him different from the Sonship and hold him responsible for us being upset.
2. Our dramas are merely our miscreations. We can then:
i. Take complete responsibility, recognizing that we project our own reality.
ii. Seeing any conflict as an opportunity for us to heal our perception.
3. For a holy instant, lay aside all, a moment of total freedom, stop what seemed to chain us.
4. When we merge with whole Sonship, we merge with God.
5. The more you share your idea, you strengthen it. Minds are joined through ideas.
7. The Light you bring (ACIM text, page 526)
- Minds that are joined and recognize they are, can feel no guilt. For they cannot attack, and they rejoice that this is so, seeing their safety in this happy fact. Their joy is in the innocence they see. And thus they seek for it, because it is their purpose to behold it and rejoice. Everyone seeks for what will bring him joy as he defines it. It is not the aim, as such, that varies. Yet it is the way in which the aim is seen that makes the choice of means inevitable and beyond the hope of change unless the aim is changed. And then the means are chosen once again, as what will bring rejoicing is defined another way and sought for differently.
- In you is all of Heaven. What aim can supersede the Will of God and of His Son, that Heaven be restored to him for whom it was created as his only home? Nothing before and nothing after it. No other place; no other state nor time. Nothing beyond nor nearer. Nothing else. In any form.
7. The last message given by Holy Spirit to our group was “I am as God created me.”
- For this one thought would be enough to save you and the world, if you believed that it is true. Its truth would mean that you have made no changes in yourself that have reality, nor changed the universe so that what God created was replaced by fear and evil, misery and death. If you remain as God created you fear has no meaning, evil is not real, and misery and death do not exist.
- We will remember Him throughout the day with thankful hearts and loving thoughts for all who meet with us today. For it is thus that we remember Him. And we will say, that we may be reminded of His Son, our holy Self, the Christ in each of us:

I am as God created me.
Let us declare this truth as often as we can. This is the Word of God that sets you free. This is the key that opens up the gate of Heaven, and that lets you enter in the peace of God and His eternity.
Thank you, I love you.
Mei
Other references:
Ken Wapnick, The Meaning of Judgment.
Ken Wapnick, The Metaphysics of Separation and Forgiveness