Here in ACIM Chapter 2, the section on "Separation and the Atonement", Jesus spells out CLEARLY just how powerful the mind is to produce miracles.
He speaks of the combination of belief and thought with a power so great that it...
Fear has the potential to paralyze you. It stops people from living. It keeps people imprisoned in their own homes.
People affected by fear can avoid doing certain things many, many times over, missing out on countless experiences, interactions and relationships.
Afraid...
If you're afraid, it's because you yourself believe that you deserve punishment.
It doesn't even matter if anyone else is going to come along and do something to you, or if events are going to transpire against you, or if something...
When you are afraid, you might think your primary problem is fear - or the causes of it, and that you need to get rid of the fear.
But the fear isn't the real problem.
The real problem is that under the...
If someone is afraid, reassuring them won't help remove the fear at all unless you can remove their belief that they are guilty. Trying to tell them that the punishment isn't going to happen will be hard to believe if...
If you are afraid about something, stop for a moment and realize that you are actually scaring yourself.
In between you and the person or situation, there is a mental image in YOUR mind which YOU have shown to yourself.
Initially you...
The only reason you can feel afraid is because, being guilty, the guilt implies that you must be punished. You're afraid that the punishment is going to come.
Punishment is perceived as anything that happens to you, like someone saying something,...
I'm having a really hard time trying to put a simple truth into words. So... for now, an analogy...
If it's dark and there seems to be a scary shape behind the door, you might think there is a monster lurking.
You...
If I'm afraid or anxious, and I want to do something about it, I will probably start asking myself "why am I afraid?"
My ego believes that asking this question will help me to find the cause of it, and that...
Going into a questioning mode, in which you ask yourself, should I do this or shouldn't I.... is actually a movement into fear.
As soon as you're in this mode of perception, there is no way you're going to settle on...
There's no such thing as "guilt-inducing" or "fear-inducing".
If something is capable of causing fear or guilt, that means it must induce fear or guilt in everyone regardless of whether they want guilt or fear to be induced or not, even...
There are people who live in fear all the time. They are so afraid and see themselves as such vulnerable victims, that they are very unaware of the fact that they are doing this to themselves.
In "victim consciousness", part of...
We need to learn to stop treating fear like it's just some kind of natural phenomenon, or a normal response, or some aspect of a biological flight-or-fight mechanism, or something that protects us from danger, or any of the other...
Fear is always based on an 'if' .... if such and such were true, there would be reason to be afraid.
But that's a pretty big 'if'.
The entire separation from God started with an 'if' .... "what would it be like...
It makes sense that if you keep seeing people as being able to affect you, as being the cause of your problems, as being to blame, as being an enemy, or having power over you, you will simply have to...
It sounds counter-intuitive, but the more you try to rely on your own separate self, the more afraid you will become.
This means you are trusting the ego, and since the ego is completely unfounded and uncertain, it can only lead...
When you perceive yourself as being at the effect of an external power, that it has the power to do something to you or cause you, you will experience fear and weakness.
You may not realize that it is the way...
Even though you are perfectly safe in God and are surrounded and infused with impenetrable love, you still believe that there are lots of reasons to be afraid and concerned.
Even though you are immortal spirit and you can never die...
The funny thing with fear is, that while you are feeling it, it actually changes how reality looks to you .... so the world goes from appearing to be a place of safety and beauty, to a place of darkness...
Fear is always produced when you perceive anyone as your enemy.
You cannot have enemies without fear. Fear turns innocent people into enemies.
There has to be a perception within your own self, for whatever reason, which has 'framed' the other person...