God did create me. The truth about me is that I am still in the condition He originally created me, having not really changed at all.

God is everywhere in Heaven/Reality. Having created me as His Son in His Image, I am also everywhere. For this to be possible we must SHARE existence, we must overlap. You can think of this like sharing one space, where two beings permeate and occupy the entire space, together.

Since God created many beings, many beings who are everywhere, many beings thus overlap and share existence with God and with each other. Everyone shares in and has full access to everyone's being. Everyone exists WHERE everyone else exists.

The separation idea was nothing other than an attempt to stop sharing existence with others. And since the state of sharing was one of overlap and communion (common-union), this meant the attempt to "withdraw" from or to "isolate" away from the existence that others were sharing in.

In the separation, you took a small fragment of your everywhere-self, and tried to draw a fence around it. The aim was to keep everyone else including God outside of the circle, and to maintain a place inside the circle where they could not share existence with you. The result of this was the sensation that, within the circle, you are "alone", there is ONLY YOU there, and you are now "separated off" from where the others are existing.

This is the idea of the separated self. It is a portion of self which has attempted to not share, which wants special selfish rights, which wants ownership of a small segment of existence, and wants to be different and unlike the rest. To have something that is only for itself, rather than to share with others. And so finds itself having an illusory experience of existing in a place, in a space, where the space it occupies is not occupied by others (spacetime). Where it is alone and distinct within its own walls, where no-one else exists. "Only me" seems to exist there.

And this has resulted in being isolated and confined, imprisoned, inside a wall of flesh, which is the idea of sin, which is the body. The body symbolizes the separation and is a separation device, keeping the rest of you and creation out, and isolating you within.

From "inside" your body, you then have an experience that you are "the only one" who is inhabiting it. That you are in there alone. That your brothers do not share the insides with you, and that God is not in you either. And so now you are alone and lonely, as if exiled from Heaven, and as if you are now "a separate self" who no longer is communing with the rest. The body defends against the entire universe, so that you can pretend to exist in a "space" where God is not. Spacetime's entire purpose is to facilitate this illusion of separation.

The walls around the mind, which take on the form of a body, are nothing but thoughts and ideas of separation and sin. They are attempts to make manifest "blocks" which separate you from the whole and keep the whole out of your inner self. It is also an attempt to split you off from the rest of your Christ Self, which is everywhere "except" inside your body. Everything outside of you is the rest of your self, which you have separated from, using the body walls. The body itself, as the symbol of separation, "comes between", you and the rest of you, and between you and brothers/God.

These walls, the separation itself, the gap, and the body, which is a symbol of the ego, forms an alternative illusion of an identity. This identity, the body-identity, seems to substitute for, and block, and split, your real identity. The more you try to prove you are not sharing with the universe, the more you will "foster separation and induce illness." The body will then become sick in an attempt to strengthen the idea of separation and imprisonment even further. The final protest is the killing of the body in death, where the mind is attempting to completely sever the small portion of mind, in the body, from the rest of existence entirely. Death is the attempt to destroy the Son of God.

Now, when you are being yourself as God created you, you are unlimited. You are being yourself. When you go into the ego separation idea, you start to deny and reject yourself, and so are no longer being yourself. You instead are now trying to be something you are not. And this "something you are not" takes the form of the body. "The body is the idea of what you THINK you are". The ego illusion, which now seems to be "a self you made" when you came into the dream, is a secondary self that pretends to stand-in for your real self. The more the ego is emphasized, the more this artificial "not myself" self-image body-image is focused on. And so now you have "made up a self", an ego, which you think is all of you, is your identity, and causes you to be unaware of your REAL SELF.

The result then is that the more you try NOT to be yourself as God created you, the more you become ego, body identified, and sick. And the result of this is twofold. 1) The ego seems to increase thus "strengthening" the ILLUSION that you "have a separate self", and 2) you become LESS of yourself and thus reduce down and limit yourself more and more until there is death. Therefore, death is not really the idea that you are "being a separate self". Death is the idea that you are trying NOT TO EXIST AT ALL. To not HAVE a self of any kind. It is the total denial of yourself and the attempt to destroy God's son.

Therefore, when you awaken, you are not awakening to the loss of yourself. You are returning to HAVING a self, BEING your self, KNOWING THYSELF, and returning to an awareness that you are STILL as God created you in Heaven. You expand your sense of self/identity, you be authentically true to your God-given nature, you heal the separation of the split mind, and you stop trying to be something you are not. The separation ITSELF is undone, and thus the body which was IN THE GAP is closed up and removed, and thus the false self disappears REVEALING who you really are.

It is only the artificial body walls and images that disappear. It is only the ILLUSION of becoming "something you are not" or "who you think you are" that disappears. It is only the denial, self attack, blocks to awareness, and artificial senses of identity that are removed and undone and let go. NOT YOUR SELF. Your identification shifts to spirit identification. You remember your soul.

You lift these things away so that you can see who and what YOU really are, as a child of God, a soul. Awakening is the return to the awareness of God's presence, AND YOUR PRESENCE, as a spiritual being. The true self. Your real self. The self that DOES EXIST. The self that GOD GAVE YOU. Your God-given eternally living soul, which no illusion can ever take from you. And which does not die NOR disappear when you wake up - totally the opposite in fact. Fear not that awakening means the death of you, it means the LIFE OF YOU.

You do not awaken to "no self". No self is the idea of DEATH. You awaken to HAVING a FULL SELF. As your FULL self, you are everywhere, sharing everything with God and with all your brothers in Heaven forever. ONLY the ego "dies". ONLY the ego disappears. The WALLS that fenced you in and made you alone, are lifted away. You are reunited with the Sonship. You return to oneness and sharing. And you allow yourself to SHARE YOUR SELF with other selves again. You expose yourself, you become visible, and you commune with God. You let God in, you share space with Him and His creations, and return to communing with the creations of light.

"The ego is the idea of selfishness. The soul is the idea of self fullness."

"The Kingdom of God includes all his children, and their creations."

Nothing real can be hurt.

Nothing real can be attacked.

Nothing real can be damaged.

Nothing real can be made sick.

Nothing real can ever die.

Nothing real can suffer.

Nothing real can be afraid.

Nothing real can commit a crime.

Nothing real can be sinful.

Nothing real can be guilty.

Nothing real can be punished.

Nothing real can be unhappy.

Nothing real can lack love.

Nothing real can lose anything.

Nothing real can be incomplete.

Nothing real can have an end.

Nothing real can decay.

Nothing real can be unaware.

Nothing real can be lost.

Nothing real can be diseased.

Nothing real can be changed.

Nothing real can be uncertain.

Nothing real can doubt or worry.

Nothing real can hurt anything real.

Nothing real can be unreal.

Nothing real can be separate.

Nothing real can be isolated.

Nothing real can be exclusive.

Nothing real can be private.

Nothing real can cease to exist.

Nothing real is temporary.

Nothing real can be sad or grieve.

Nothing real can be victimized.

Nothing real can be powerless.

Nothing real can fail.

Nothing real can be threatened.

Everything unreal can be hurt.

Everything unreal can be attacked.

Everything unreal can be damaged.

Everything unreal can be made sick.

Everything unreal can ever die.

Everything unreal can suffer.

Everything unreal can be afraid.

Everything unreal can commit a crime.

Everything unreal can be sinful.

Everything unreal can be guilty.

Everything unreal can be punished.

Everything unreal can be unhappy.

Everything unreal can lack love.

Everything unreal can lose anything.

Everything unreal can be incomplete.

Everything unreal can have an end.

Everything unreal can decay.

Everything unreal can be unaware.

Everything unreal can be lost.

Everything unreal can be diseased.

Everything unreal can be changed.

Everything unreal can be uncertain.

Everything unreal can doubt or worry.

Everything unreal can hurt anything real.

Everything unreal can be unreal.

Everything unreal can be separate.

Everything unreal can be isolated.

Everything unreal can be exclusive.

Everything unreal can be private.

Everything unreal can cease to exist.

Everything unreal is temporary.

Everything unreal can be sad or grieve.

Everything unreal can be victimized.

Everything unreal can be powerless.

Everything unreal can fail.

Everything unreal can be threatened.

I am real so I cannot be hurt.

I am real so I cannot be attacked.

I am real so I cannot be damaged.

I am real so I cannot be made sick.

I am real so I cannot ever die.

I am real so I cannot suffer.

I am real so I cannot be afraid.

I am real so I cannot commit a crime.

I am real so I cannot be sinful.

I am real so I cannot be guilty.

I am real so I cannot be punished.

I am real so I cannot be unhappy.

I am real so I cannot lack love.

I am real so I cannot lose anything.

I am real so I cannot be incomplete.

I am real so I cannot have an end.

I am real so I cannot decay.

I am real so I cannot be unaware.

I am real so I cannot be lost.

I am real so I cannot be diseased.

I am real so I cannot be changed.

I am real so I cannot be uncertain.

I am real so I cannot doubt or worry.

I am real so I cannot hurt anything real.

I am real so I cannot be unreal.

I am real so I cannot be separate.

I am real so I cannot be isolated.

I am real so I cannot be exclusive.

I am real so I cannot be private.

I am real so I cannot cease to exist.

I am real so I cannot be temporary.

I am real so I cannot be sad or grieve.

I am real so I cannot be victimized.

I am real so I cannot be powerless.

I am real so I cannot fail.

I am real so I cannot be threatened.

My brother is real so he cannot be hurt.

My brother is real so he cannot be attacked.

My brother is real so he cannot be damaged.

My brother is real so he cannot be made sick.

My brother is real so he cannot ever die.

My brother is real so he cannot suffer.

My brother is real so he cannot be afraid.

My brother is real so he cannot commit a crime.

My brother is real so he cannot be sinful.

My brother is real so he cannot be guilty.

My brother is real so he cannot be punished.

My brother is real so he cannot be unhappy.

My brother is real so he cannot lack love.

My brother is real so he cannot lose anything.

My brother is real so he cannot be incomplete.

My brother is real so he cannot have an end.

My brother is real so he cannot decay.

My brother is real so he cannot be unaware.

My brother is real so he cannot be lost.

My brother is real so he cannot be diseased.

My brother is real so he cannot be changed.

My brother is real so he cannot be uncertain.

My brother is real so he cannot doubt or worry.

My brother is real so he cannot hurt anything real.

My brother is real so he cannot be unreal.

My brother is real so he cannot be separate.

My brother is real so he cannot be isolated.

My brother is real so he cannot be exclusive.

My brother is real so he cannot be private.

My brother is real so he cannot cease to exist.

My brother is real so he cannot be temporary.

My brother is real so he cannot be sad or grieve.

My brother is real so he cannot be victimized.

My brother is real so he cannot be powerless.

My brother is real so he cannot fail.

My brother is real so he cannot be threatened.

Something that I am really connecting with strongly at the moment, is the very ultra-simple truth that I am GOD’S CREATION. This is reflected in ideas such as:

"I am forever an effect of God,"

"I am still as God created me."

I focus simply on the fact that whatever I am, I MUST BE what God has determined me to be. I come from Him, and from nothing else. I am the extension of Him, per His Will. And everything I have He has given me.

It bypasses all lower level ideas and concepts and simply focuses on WHAT I AM, in relationship to God. The primary relationship of cause and effect between Father and Son.

This entails acceptance and acknowledgement of having been created BY God, and that therefore I am His child, and must be EXACTLY as He created me to be.

I am still as God created me.

God designed me to be perfect so I must be perfect.

God created me therefore I am exactly what He wanted to create.

I must be innocent because God created me innocent.

I must be sinless and guiltless because God did not design me with sin or guilt in me.

I cannot die because God did not Will that I be dead.

As you play with this idea and elaborate on it, you can come up with some very powerful yet simple, holy ideas about your real self.

God is the cause, you are His effect. I acknowledge that since God caused me, I must be whatever HE wants me to be. I must be as he designed me. I must be loved and holy. I must be perfect and divine. I must FOREVER be immortal and flawless and deathless and ageless and free from all corruption.

Acknowledging that I am God’s effect or creation, means admitting to being Christ. Jesus said to me, putting words in my mouth, "I need to restore my identity as Christ." This line of thinking does exactly that.

I will to simply remember my true nature. To remember who I am and what I am like. To recall why I must be free from anything God did not put into me. To recognize why I must be still as he designed and in perfect accord with His will and blueprint.

I can ONLY be what God has chosen to create me as. I cannot change this. I cannot redefine myself. I have no say in or power to alter myself. I have never changed since God created me. I’m incapable of being or doing anything God did not build into me to be capable of.

Therefore I have a "function", which God has set in place, a role if you will a machinery, a way of operating, a potential and capability, a talent, which God has given and is irrevocable. Nor can I add the slightest anything to His design. Nor can I take anything away.

I can ONLY BE what God wills me to be. I come from God. I am His holy extension. I am like Him. I am in His likeness and of His nature. I have INHERITED Him. I am HOST to Him. I am what He would have me be, and nothing more or less.

I am God’s Son, God’s child. I am from Him alone. Everything about me is HIS choice. I can only accept and celebrate that He has given me blessings and freedom and joy and beauty and power and everything of Himself. He has shared Himself with me. He has GIVEN Himself to me. I am HIS property.

The relationship of communion with God is the fundamental primary relationship of the soul to its creator. It is the recognition of what you ARE and MUST be, because of WHO created you. And it is the acceptance that you CANNOT BE anything else, nothing else is true of you, and only His truth about you is true.

You are anchored to your true identity as Christ because this is what God has willed. He created you Christ. You ARE Christ. And nothing beyond God has any power over you to define, change, attack, distinguish, affect or alter you in any way.

You are God’s creation. Holy, innocent, and free.

"There is nothing about me that you cannot attain. I have nothing that does not come from God. The main difference between us as yet is that I have NOTHING ELSE. This leaves me in a state of true holiness, which is only a POTENTIAL in you."

(If you are willing).

You [insert fucker’s name], are not the cause of me. You are not causing me. You are my equal brother and God is the cause of both of us.

You have not done anything to me against my will. I am not the victim of you that I’ve come to believe you are. I have been using you to be my victimizer so that I can be upset as a victim and use you to project my sin. I wanted to make out you are the cause of me so that I can asuage my guilt and pretend to be innocent. I am the one who needs healing.

You have never done anything to me. You have never hurt me. You have never upset me. You are not the cause of anything I am feeling or experiencing. You have not put reactions in me. You have not changed me or made me upset in any way.

Everything I am experiencing, I have chosen for myself. All of my feelings are my own. Nothing has happened that I did not want. I have done this to myself.

You did not do anything to me, you cannot do anything to me, and you never will. All we can do is share love. Because you have not done anything to me, you did not cause anything that I am experiencing, which means you must be innocent. My upset isn’t even about you. You have nothing to do with what I am experiencing whatsoever.

I have not done anything to you. I am not the cause of you. I have not attacked you, hurt you, made you upset, changed you, caused reactions in you, damaged you or affected you in any way. I have not victimized you. You are not the victim of me.

Everything you are experiencing and feeling is your own stuff that you chose for yourself. I am not the source of any of your upset, confusion, hurt or problems. I have never caused you because God is your only cause. Therefore I must be innocent because I have not done anything to you.

We are both equally innocent. Neither of us has done anything to each other. There is no causality between brothers. You are not the cause of me. I am not the cause of you. Anything I am experiencing I must have chosen myself and done to myself.

No-one else has the power to do anything to either of us against our will. The power that I thought you had over me is my own power. The power that you thought I had over you is your own power. Neither of us has power over each other. I take back my power from you and give you back your own power to choose your own experience.

I am fully responsible for everything I am experiencing. You are fully responsible for everything you are experiencing. I can choose to experience something else and there is nothing you or anyone can do to stop this. You have not willed against me and I have not willed against you. We are both in accord with God’s will that we be forever equals in love and innocence.

I am not vulnerable to your attacks. Your attacks are your attempt to attack yourself. You are not vulnerable to my attacks. My attacks are my own attempt to attack myself. I can stop attacking myself and be happy. You can stop attacking yourself and be happy. We cannot and have not attacked each other.

I am completely free from your choice and you are free from mine. I am free from your wishes and intentions. I do not grant you the power to upset me. I do not displace my own power onto you. Nothing happens to me that I do not choose. Nothing happens to you that you do not choose. Neither of us is a victim. There are no victims. We have not victimized each other. I am not a victim of you. You are not a victim of me.

We are both innocent because neither of us has done anything to each other. We are both innocent because we are both still as God created us. Neither of us has sinned. I have not sinned against you. You have not sinned against me. We have not sinned against God. There is no sin. Nothing has happened.

We are both perfectly equal in God. We are both God’s children. We are both holy and innocent and forgiven. You are my equal brother and I am your equal brother. We are identical in God. We are one in love. There is no separation between us. I share everything with you as you share everything with me. We can both be at peace together and join in love as equals.

God loves us equally. I forgive you and love you. You forgive me and love me. We love everyone as ourselves. Love is all there is.

It's very simple. God is the ONLY cause of you. God is the ONLY cause of anyone. Everyone who exists is solely caused by God and NOTHING else. Whatever God wills that we all be, we are that, and even we have no say in this.

We are all totally EQUAL and next to each other, and God is above. God creates me fully and creates you fully. I do not create you, and you do not create me. It is nonsense to suggest that I am your creator or that you have caused me to exist.

This means that your brothers are NOT the cause of you. Nor is the world. Nor is the body. NOTHING ELSE can EVER cause you. Not one single person in the world is causing you right now, nor who has ever caused you, nor have you ever caused anyone.

When you believe someone is at fault or doing something to you, you MUST be confused about who your creator is. Whoever creates you causes you. No-one else has any input to this or any power over you. To believe someone is causing you is to believe you are NOT caused by God. To blame someone is to reject God as your creator.

Forgiveness then can very simply entail deprogramming yourself from ANY belief that ANYTHING other than God has power over you. This is the same as saying you should use the power of denial to deny anything NOT of God ANY POWER over you. That includes denying that your brother has any power over you, or that you have power over anyone.

The EGO is the confusion about cause and effect, about who your creator is, and therefore where CAUSE is coming from. If you assign cause to your brothers, or to the world, or to the body, then you are confused. They are NOT the cause of you in any way. When you believe cause is outside of you making you its effect, or you are at the effect of the world, you are claiming that the world is your creator.

You DO actually have creations which YOU HAVE caused, which are the living beings in heaven that you co-created with God and your brothers. These are not the people of the world. You DO have power over these beings because you are the CO-CREATOR of them. But you have created them by giving them freedom, just as God has with you.

If in any way right now you think that some person is doing something to you, or some company, or some group, or something in the body, or some aspect of the world, or anything at all in this dream, then you ARE MISTAKEN.

The ego will then form notions of a kind of cord or connection or chain or cause and effect, between you and others, between you and the body, or you and the world. It will suggest there is a tie or bridge across which stuff from another person "comes into you" and "does things to you" or "makes you" or changes your emotions or induces reactions in you. The belief in these artificial cause-effect relationships have to be SEVERED.

Whenever you are mistaken about causality you will find a belief in your mind that someone or something has kind of latched onto you, is outside you, causing you from the outside in, and now you are at its effect. This is NOT true. This belief has to be undone.

You can simply do this by just looking at the beliefs you DO have about these horizontal cause-effect relationships, and UNDOING your belief in them.

I am not being caused by that person. That person is not doing anything to me. I am not at the effect of them. They are not responsible for how I feel. They are not making me upset. They are not doing anything to me. They are not the cause of my feelings. They have not attacked me. They are doing NOTHING to me.

You can see then that this leads to the fact that your brother is innocent, because if they truly are NOT CAUSING you at all, then you cannot claim that they are in ANY WAY sinful, guilty, wrong, bad, evil or attacking. So they must be innocent. Sorting out the fact that they are NOT the ones doing anything to you, helps you to see their innocence and yours, and places responsibility for sight back your own court.

It is also important to affirm that you are not doing anything to anyone else. I am not attacking them. I am not hurting them. I am not abusing anyone. I am not causing anyone to feel anything. I am not making anyone upset. I am not responsible for anyone feels. I am not making anyone sick or afraid. I am not attacking anyone. This is simply because YOU are innocent. You CANNOT DO ANYTHING TO ANYONE.

God himself PROTECTS everyone by his will. No-one but him can touch his children. His children CANNOT hurt each other in reality. This is the simplicity of forgiveness and atonement. Simply putting cause and effect back into their proper place, being willing to be forever an effect of God, and realizing that LOVE is all that you can actually share with anyone.

"It is God's Will that nothing touch His Son except Himself, and nothing else comes nigh unto him. He is as safe from pain as God Himself, Who watches over him in everything" "I am forever an Effect of God."

"Father, I was created in Your Mind, a holy Thought that never left its home. I am forever Your Effect, and You forever and forever are my Cause. As You created me I have remained. Where You established me I still abide, and all Your attributes abide in me because it is Your Will to have a Son so like his Cause that Cause and Its Effect are indistinguishable. Let me know that I am an Effect of God, and so I have the power to create like You. And as it is in Heaven, so on earth. Your plan I follow here, and at the end I know that You will gather Your Effects into the tranquil Heaven of Your Love, where earth will disappear, and separate things unite in glory as the Son of God."

"I am not the victim of the world I see."

"How can I be the victim of a world which can be completely undone if I so choose? My chains are loosened. I can drop them off merely by desiring to do so. The prison door is open. I can leave it simply by walking out. Nothing holds me in this world. Only my wish to stay keeps me a prisoner. I would give up insane wishes, and walk into the sunlight at last."

"Here is the perfect statement of my freedom. I am under no laws but God's. I am constantly tempted to make up other laws, and give them power over me. I suffer only because of my belief in them. They have no real effect on me at all. I am perfectly free of the effects of all laws save God's. And His are the laws of freedom."

I am entitled to miracles because I am under no laws but God's. His laws release me from all grievances, and replace them with miracles.

"You can do anything I ask. I have asked you to perform miracles, and have made it clear that miracles are natural, corrective, healing and universal. There is nothing they cannot do, but they cannot be performed in the spirit of doubt or fear.

When you are afraid of anything, you are acknowledging its power to hurt you. Remember that where your heart is, there is your treasure also. You believe in what you value. If you are afraid, you will inevitably value wrongly, and by endowing all thoughts with equal power will inevitably destroy peace." - ACIM

I am quoting this not so much for the "tip" that miracle-working requires you to not be in a state of fear, and that miracles can do literally anything, but to reinforce the theme of my posts today that when you believe something outside of you has power over you, it WILL produce a state of fear.

You can diffuse this fear simply be affirming the ways in which you are NOT at the effect of what is outside of you.

I am not affected by that person.

That person has no power over me.

They are not doing anything to do.

I am not doing anything to them.

They are not the cause of what I am experiencing.

I am not causing them to experience anything.

Neither of us are affecting each other in any way.

I am not a victim of that person.

That person is not a victim of me.

I am not being victimized by that person.

I am not victimizing that person.

I am completely unaffected by that person.

That person is completely unaffected by me.

I am completely free from the influence of that person.

That person is completely free from being influenced by me.

That person has no power over me.

I have no power against that person.

We are both equally innocent and holy.

Neither of us has done anything to each other.

They have not done anything to me at all.

I have not done anything to them at all.

etc.

Guaranteed, this will deflate your fear in a very short space of time because it will change your perception away from the ego-dependency of "something out there is causing me", and put the focus of where the cause is back into your own mind.

You are not a victim of the world you see.

You are not at the effect of the world you see.

You CANNOT BE AFRAID if you do not perceive yourself as being at the effect of the world. To be affected by the world is to be punished by the world, due to you being guilty. You have no reason to be afraid if you are NOT guilty.

Lately I feel like I have found a whole new sense of identity, and that I've discovered God.

I have been dwelling on two workbook lessons, 91 and 92. They talk about how I am not a body, and asks therefore, what am I? The focus is put on discovering who I really am if I am a not a limited, separated self, and begins to reinforce the various attributes of what must be my real self.

Then in 92 it builds on this by suggesting that all the attributes of my real self are actually shared with God. That for example God's light is my strength, that I see in God's light, that I share God's mind, that my strength is actually God in me etc.

These to me seem to be a kind of two step leap in identity - 1) That I am not a body and am something above and beyond this level and world, and 2) That all my real attributes are actually PART OF GOD. That my actual self is SHARED with him and everything true of my real self is INHERITED and simultaneously one with him.

That means that to claim my real self, to be not a body or an ego, I actually have to realize that I am part of God himself, that everything I have comes from him, that there is a strength and a power IN me which is actually HIM. That I am host to him, that he is in fact the life and the light in me, and that I can kind of step back into him and merge with him. Even my self, my soul, is actually an extended part of God himself which HE DWELLS IN.

I cannot really explain it but there has been a strange leap in confidence, sense of outward expression, of certainty and fearlessness, which has suddenly erupted as a result of this. It seems like a major shift in who and what I AM, away from "I'll do this all by myself" to "God and I will do this together." A leap from exclusion to inclusion, and from selfishness to sharing.

I've been having some .. bright and clear views of the world, in which it looks quite beautiful, which seems to effortlessly come by affirming that all MY attributes are actually God in me. That I see in his light, think with his mind, that my strength is his, that I forgive with his love, that I SHARE with him. And through this acknowledgement of him in my mind, I leap further to seeing God in everything. And this is also about TRUST.

I have to say that the degree of seeming 'light' that these visions entail is far beyond anything that any other course practice has ever revealed. And it seems so simply accessed through the acknowledgement of God in me, and that my SELF is embedded in him and a part of him. I am an extension of God. Everything I am comes from him and IS HIM!

By opening up to that, which is WITHIN myself, kind of behind myself, all of the sense of happiness and love and power and light and so on just seems to switch on like a lightbulb and flood my perception with 'forgiveness'. This isn't an intellectual exercise or a concept or theory. It's an immersive experience. I am putting myself into God's hands and am seeing myself as united with his attributes. That anything I have is OF him and not of me.

What I am is not just myself. What I am isn't an isolated, fenced-off me. The walls are dropping. What I am is shared with the whole. What I am is given to me by something much larger. And it seems the blessings and gifts of God are FAR FAR FAR in advance of any sense of "me and mine" that I could possibly come up with as a body-identified ego.

It also seems so very simple. Just stepping back and sinking into a sense of self that is made of God himself. Allowing myself to host him. Accepting that I am what he has created me to be. Recognizing not simply that I am some kind of spiritual self, but that I ONLY have what God has PUT in me, and what he has put in me is HIMSELF!

This also leads to the recognition that everyone else, all other children of God, also have God in them. And I am seeing this in the course more and more. To attack another is to attack God because they are host to God. To recognize that they are HOST to God, is to recognize their sacredness and to honor the power of God in them.

I cannot join with another WITHOUT joining with God and the Holy Spirit in them, because all must be included! I can't exclusively join with just one person, to the exclusion of God. God has to be part of the joining because he is the love. And his entire Kingdom must be there as well. To love unconditionally is to love the whole sonship at once.

To be an isolated, separated, exclusive, body-identified self, is to be HOSTAGE to the ego. You can be hostage to the ego or host to God. This is our choice. To host God is to have him be in you and through you, in which all he shares with and gives to you, is given FOR you and FOR others. And thus does it extend beyond yourself alone, because nothing is for yourself alone.

"Would you be hostage to the ego or host to God? You will accept only whom YOU invite. You are free to determine who shall be your guest, and how long he shall remain with you." "I who am host to God AM worthy of Him.

He Who ESTABLISHED His dwelling-place in me created it as He would have it be.

It is not needful that I make it ready for Him, but only that I DO NOT INTERFERE with His plan to RESTORE to me my own AWARENESS of my readiness, which is eternal.

I need ADD nothing to His plan,

But to RECEIVE it, I must be willing NOT to substitute my own IN PLACE of it.""

"You who are host to God, are also host to THEM."

"Thus will He make you ready to acknowledge that you ARE host to God, and hostage to no-one and to nothing."

"For He is Host to God. And you need but invite Him in Who is there ALREADY, by recognizing that His Host is One."

"We asked you once before, "Would you be hostage to the ego or host to God?" Let this question be asked you by the Holy Spirit in you, EVERY time you make a decision. For every decision you make DOES answer this, and invites sorrow or joy, accordingly."

"It is not true that you can make decisions BY yourself, or FOR yourself alone."

"Do not forget you do not answer for yourself alone." "Remember that you learn not for yourself alone, no more than I did."

"The Holy Spirit enables you to PERCEIVE THIS WHOLENESS NOW. You can no more pray for yourselves alone than you can find joy for yourself alone."

"And sight of bodies becomes the sign that sacrifice IS limited, and something still remains for you alone."

"The gifts you have are not for you alone. What He has come to offer you, you now must learn to give."

"It will NOT be for you alone, for therein lay its misery. As its UNholiness kept it as a thing apart, its HOLINESS will become an offering to everyone."

"Atonement is for all, because it is the way to UNDO the belief that ANYTHING is for you ALONE."

"Salvation IS His Will BECAUSE you share it. NOT for you alone, but for the Self which IS the Son of God."

When I used to do ACIM, it was always about me being here on Earth trying to forgive stuff. People were across from me in bodies, as bodies. I was a body. The focus was on me being here anchored in a body trying to somehow get closer to reality.

But then there was a big change and turning point, namely that my wife left her body and wend to heaven. But this was by no means the end of our interactions together, and instead she became a kind of anchor in heaven.

Since then my focus has noticeably shifted in how I deal with the course. I see it as telling me that I should be locating myself as IN heaven, and not of this world. Even if my body seems to be here, I should regard myself as with God. Physically on earth, mentally in heaven.

I see this also as relating to the topic of 'who I am really'. I am not a body, I am free. Well, where am I if I'm not a body - I'm in heaven. If I am Christ, where is Christ? Not on Earth. Christ IS heaven. If I am immortal spirit and recognize and identify myself as spirit, where is spirit? It's not on earth, it's in heaven, as heaven.

So for me now the focus has shifted quite a bit in terms of how I am 'oriented'. I am becoming increasingly more 'centered' in heaven, identifying as part of heaven, while my body continues to seem to exist on Earth.

I liken it to what it would be like if I was an angel in heaven, and came to Earth for a visit but was still entirely of the same nature and mindset that I was in heaven. Still believing I am with God, still in the light, still a spirit being, not confused about who or what I am. In the world, but not of it.

I think this is important because we need to realize we are not Earth people, we are not bodies or humans, we are not anchored here. Just because bodies are here it gives a flavour of ... everything I do is from the perspective of being here. But this isn't the proper perspective. To get above the battlefield mind has to see itself as NOT in a body, NOT outside the Kingdom, NOT separate from God.

I focus now much more on affirming and recognising who I really am - immortal spirit, where I really am - in heaven with God, how I really am - perfectly innocent and invulnerable. Lifting up and away from all the sense of the bullshit of the world, all the ideas of "something is going wrong", all the illusions of suffering and of being even someone or something that can suffer. Uncovering my true self.

We need to be above the world, looking down, not looking up from below. Believing we are firmly WITHIN God, not outside of God.

"You have been assured that the Kingdom of God is within you, and can never be lost."

"That is why we made no distinction before between HAVING the Kingdom of God and BEING the Kingdom of God."

"Forget not the Kingdom of God for anything the world has to offer. The world can ADD nothing to the power and the glory of God and His Holy Sons, but it CAN blind the Sons to the Father if they behold it."

"Because you are all the Kingdom of God, I can lead you back to your own creations"

"To be IN the Kingdom is merely to focus your full attention ON it."

"The Kingdom CANNOT be found alone, and you who ARE the Kingdom cannot find YOURSELVES alone."

"You ARE the Kingdom of Heaven, but you have let the belief in darkness enter your minds, and so you need a new light."

"You who ARE the Kingdom are not concerned with seeming. Reality is yours because you ARE reality."

I complain that food manufacturers constantly package food in containers which are way larger than the contents, and when you go to open it up you find it's half empty and feel deceived. It IS a dishonest practice. At first it was the 'oh potatoe chips need extra air space to cushion them against breakage' but then it was... well, here's 20 other foods that don't have this risk but still come with a large airspace. The packaging mis-represents what you actually will get. Ok, that's just a deceptive shitty lie.

Ok. That's my complaint. Now, let's look at what has happened because of this complaint.

I've started out by seeing myself as being victimized. I ask, who am *I* in this scenario. There's the food manufacturer over there and there's the product sitting in front of me and I'm seeing this scenario where I'm looking at ME in a particular way. I think I'm looking at the food container and complaining, but that's actually a few steps down the road. What happened before my angry reaction was me seeing myself 'in' the scenario as a victim. ie..

1) If the food item has more empty space than needed, I have decided that this means there is dishonesty. It's dishonesty on the level of form and implies deceit.

2) If there is deceit in the food item, and because I say it means they are being deceiving, and because I have an interest in this food item, I am now a part of the story and it is ME that is being deceived. It's personal!

3) Now that it's 'affecting me' (because of the way I CHOSE to position myself as the victim in the story), I am now justified in anger and annoyance. Now I can blame them. Now I can say it's their fault that I am angry, because what they did happened before what I did. But this covers up the fact that what I did (made it real, gave it meaning it doesn't have, treated it as non-neutral), happened before anything else.

4) If I am seeing guilt in the food container then who is experiencing guilt? I might be trying to get THEM to experience guilt but it's a part of my reality, so *I* am experiencing guilt, albeit displaced. That means there's guilt in my mind, and I believe in my own guilt. That means I believe I've sinned, and I'm trying to pin it on the food container and the people who made it wrongly.

So as I find the huge airspace in a bag of chips annoying, or the gross vomit-like quality of tv dinners to be nothing like the beautiful arrangement on the box cover, or the totally unnecessary container size housing rather less product just to get me to think that I am getting more than I am, I have this opportunity to realize.... this is ONLY there to trigger my own self-attack and to remind me that I am CHOOSING to see myself as a victim, and I'm only choosing that because *I* BELIEVE* I am deceptive and dishonest and guilty. Hmmm.

So... then it boils down to this. I can't hold THEM guilty without holding myself guilty, because this guilt is mine. Hmm. Ok, I forgive them BECAUSE they did not do anything, I DID IT. And I forgive me because I did not really DO anything, nothing has happened. And I am forgiven already because none of this happened in the first place, it's just a dream that isn't real. And I am actually whole and one with GOD right now being HAPPY rather than right. Yay. We are ALL innocent and equal and One and none of us are guilty at all.

Ok now to eat some chips.

If I see myself as "being attacked" by someone, I am attacking.

If I see myself as "being victimized", I am victimizing.

If I see myself as afraid, I am threatening.

If I see myself as lacking, I am stealing.

If I see myself as judged, I am judging.

If I seem sick against my will, I have deliberately made myself sick in order to accuse others of causing it.

If I am dying and don't want to die, it's a great way to discard all of my power and give up on life, as if death is the total opposite of what I want when in fact I'm choosing it.

If I am feeling unsafe, I'm undermining someone.

If I'm trying to rely on myself, I'm trying to be unreliable.

If I see myself as guilty, I must believe it about others as well.

If I see myself as innocent, it can be that I have put my sin onto others and am in denial.

Always the surface appearance hides the exact opposite motive that lies underneath, because the ego is always two faced. Whatever it seeks to accomplish it accomplishes the exact opposite. Whatever it says its intentions are, they are a cover-story for a completely opposite plan.

No-one dies without their own consent. Death is chosen. Death is suicide. And death is an attempt to prove that you have no will or power to choose anything else, while simultaneously using all of your will and power to make death seem to happen in secret.

This is why death is *failing the Course.*