If someone were to whisper in your ear, the one key secret thing which allows you to overcome the world, overcome death, be happy forever, and experience eternal life with God, you'd take that to be a pretty important secret, right? The ONE THING that unlocks the universe, sets you free from all suffering, and gives you back your real identity? You'd want that, right? And in a sense, you'd want to uphold that at all costs lest you lose sight of the way out of hell, right?

Well the "secret of salvation" is that you are doing this all to yourself, you cannot be hurt or attacked by anyone or the world, nothing causes you to suffer but yourself, and if you could fully OWN this you would be free from all forms of suffering forever and ever.

But this also means, if you want the way out of hell, and you want to ensure that it is POSSIBLE for you to get out of hell, then you're going to have to allow this truth to be true at all times, in all situations, without exception. Because if you compromise, or make an exception, or believe in any way that this secret is NOT TRUE, then you've literally taken the ONLY WAY OUT off the table, have hidden salvation from yourself, have made yourself hopeless and have disempowered yourself.

No matter how controversial it is, no matter how it flies in the face of societal norms, no matter how radical or extreme it seems to be, if the secret of salvation EVER seems to be untrue, then you are stuck in the hell of your making. If it EVER seems like you did not choose something or did not cause something or aren't the reason why you are experiencing something, you are lost, and you've lost sight of salvation.

If you did not do this to you, all of a sudden this means there is a power and a cause separate from you which determines your fate and your suffering, against your will. It means the dream is choosing for you. It means the day of your death has been decided by some seemingly external will and there' nothing you can do about it. And that means you have no power or ability to get OUT of it or be free of it, because it can do something against your will. That belief is the end of hope and the end of freedom.

This is why it's so important to realize, that this ONE SECRET is THE WAY TO BE SAVED. It is the core exit strategy. It is the ONLY way to leave hell behind. So it's pretty darn important that you don't compromise it or undermine it or believe something contradictory more than this. As soon as you slip into victim roles, victimizer roles, or belief in external causes, you are losing sight of the way home. Only by taking full responsibility for the power of your choice and 100% owning your freedom from YOUR OWN TYRANNY, can you be free from all suffering forever.

"The secret of salvation is but this: That YOU are doing this UNTO YOURSELF. No matter what the form of the attack, this STILL is true. Whoever takes the role of enemy and of attacker, STILL is this the truth. Whatever seems to be the cause of any pain and suffering you feel, this is STILL true. For you would not react at all to figures in a dream you knew that YOU were dreaming. Let them be as hateful and as vicious as they may, they COULD have no effect on you, unless you failed to recognize it is YOUR dream. This single lesson learned will set you free from suffering, WHATEVER form it takes."

If I find anyone to be "wrong" in ANY WAY, for ANY reason, I am scapegoating.

It doesn't even matter what the reasons are. Even if the reasons are valid.

If someone is making a wrong decision... if I identify they are wrong to make that decision, I am scapegoating.

If someone is behaving a certain way, and I identify it as a wrong behavior in any way, I am scapegoating.

If someone is being egotistical or selfish or arrogant or whatever, and if I identify that they are wrong to be this way, that THEY are clearly "the one who is wrong", I am scapegoating.

It's a very subtle trap to fall into. ACIM refers to it as the "obstacles to peace" which your BROTHER puts in front of you. ie, HIS assertions of error, HIS mistakes, HIS sins, HIS lacks, HIS false beliefs acting out. .... presented to you, as temptations.

If you agree with this wrongfulness, if you identify it as wrong, or they are guilty of anything, YOU must be getting a benefit from it.This is tough to admit to because it pretty much encompasses EVERYTHING PEOPLE DO without exception.

If they are wrong for ANY of it.... you are scapegoating.It doesn't matter what it is. There are no exceptions or special categories. If you are finding them to be wrong, mistaken, guilty, sinful, incorrect, you ARE in a scapegoating mode. You ARE projecting your own sin and guilt.

Which means that, every single time you think someone is doing something wrong, even "if they are" ... even if "its obvious" that it's ENTIRELY their fault, and ESPECIALLY then, you MUST be involved in a scapegoating mechanism.

Since "you but accuse your brother of your own sins", what that means is that WHATEVER you accuse your brother of, and EVERY TIME that you accuse him, YOU ARE scapegoating. Without exception.

It doesn't matter the severity of their acts, it doesn't matter how mistaken they are, how many times they do it, whether it's important or not. If you find it to be wrong, you are scapegoating and are trying to get rid of some of your own guilt.

And every single time that you scapegoat, you are attempting to get rid of guilt that is in YOUR mind that YOU put there. You are USING the person's "temptation" of "doing something wrong" as an OPPORTUNITY, to compound THEIR mistake, by adding yours TO it, to DISGUISE your mistake and mix it in with theirs, so that it is lost in their mistake and associated with them.

It's like saying, well, this person was already sinning, so I thought I'd just throw some of my sin onto the pile with them so that no-one would notice there was some of my sin mixed in there. Then I can get away with it and be the innocent one. Then they get to be the fall guy.

Every .... single.... time..... Every.... single.... person..... Every..... single.... judgement....... is scapegoating.

Finding ANYONE to be wrong, guilty, sinful, or even in error, means you are trying to project your own guilt and sin. Even if the other person seems to be VERY sinful. Even if they are evil. You still are using them.

Because the only truth is that you and your brother are totally innocent at all times. So anything else is a mistake.

In the Holy Mind (whole mind, one mind), what applies to you applies to others, because they are one with you. There is nothing you can do to them that you don’t *directly* do to yourself. Because you are AWARE that you are "in" other people, in harmony with them, it is in your best interests to ONLY LOVE them, in order for you to love yourself.

It is impossible in the shared mind to attack another without attacking yourself. You can’t have something apply to someone that does not apply to you.

Enter then into the ego’s game of death, it’s vast illusion of separation. The game has one rule. If you play within the game, you will die. It’s a very simple rule. However, it is possible to be in DENIAL of the rule, and to start believing there is SOME WAY that you can have something apply to someone else that does not apply to you.

As you lose awareness, you will forget that you have SHARED INTERESTS with everyone because of your Oneness with them. You will start to think they are not one with you, something applies to them differently than applies to you, and therefore there are victims. This also means, you believe you can get away with murder - that you can CAUSE something without experiencing the EFFECTS.

Even if you are under this illusion, believing that this is true and that you’re SUCCEEDING at getting away with murder, rest assured that the RULE of the game does not change. Even if you are in DENIAL of the rule, it applies to you. The law is fixed because it is part of the metaphysics of the one mind. What applies to you ALWAYS applies to others, immediately, directly, and without exception, EVEN if you are in a dream pretending that this is not true.

When you play the ego’s game and take sides, hold a grievance, maintain an enemy, hate someone, attack someone, judge someone, be against or opposed to something, or in any other way USE SEPARATION, it means you are using the EGO. This immediately enacts the one rule of the game - that you will DIE. It also means, that you will have DONE IT TO YOURSELF.

Since the mind of oneness is a mind where what you do to others you do to yourself, you cannot escape the EFFECTS that you attempt to cause. You cannot get away with murder. When you try to, you will KILL YOURSELF.

There is no way to play the game in any special, skilled, clever, educated kind of way. To do so is an attempt to CHANGE THE RULES, which you will NEVER be able to do. Belief in and use of separation is a belief in death, and it will "cause" you to die. This is why all death is suicide, because when you attempt to attack your brother, it destroys YOU, one way or another, sooner or later.

The secret to salvation is the *recognition* that you are doing this all to yourself. You cannot SUCCEED at the game, win over someone else, win a war, or be the victor. Every time you attempt to win, YOU WILL LOSE, beacuse you used separation, and that is self-attack. You cannot WIN the ego’s game of death. Its one rule always applies. If you play it at all, you will die, because that is what you will be choosing.

It doesn’t matter how much you think you can change the rules, find loopholes, figure it out, compete better, one-up someone, make someone else the scapegoat, judge another, or inventively get rid of your sin. If you are playing the ego’s game, YOU WILL DIE, and you will have done it to yourself.

This is why you MUST at some point FORGIVE absolutely everyone. If you don’t, you will hold a grievance against YOURSELF while pretending it is about someone else. You cannot get to heaven with an ego. You cannot win the ego’s game. It is not escaped or won by death or by playing it better. Success at the ego’s game is FAILURE. The only way out, is truth. You MUST surrender the ego, or you will keep weaving illusions of self destruction.

It is perhaps sad news that you have to forgive EVERYONE. It is not welcomed by the ego to recognize the rule of the game clearly. Recognizing the game helps you to NOT PLAY. Only by not playing it can you have awareness of eternal life. This is all metaphysical fact. There is no exception.

"Forgive or die." It is in your best interests to forgive absolutely everything for what it has not done, in order to RECOGNIZE your own innocence. You can only be innocent if the same is true of everyone. It’s all or nothing. The entire sonship is holy, or none of it.

You cannot play the game of death and live. Truth is the ONLY exit.

Forgiveness absolutely depends on your ability to recognize and believe that NOTHING HAPPENED.

And I give you this profound and inspiring quote re forgiveness:

"It does not pardon sins and make them real. It sees there was no sin. And in that view are all your sins forgiven."

So simple yet so fucking profound.

It means ALL sins are not real! It means that in order to "accept the atonement", you HAVE to get your mind to where it is convinced that:

a) sin is not real, EVER, and

b) because of that, NOTHING has really ever happened.

This MUST also mean that the entire world in which "stuff happens" CANNOT BE HAPPENING. It cannot be real.

Sin is the idea that stuff is really happening. This world is the illusion that stuff is really happening. IT IS NOT!

So the only way that you can forgive yourself "all the way", is by absolutely and without exception accepting these facts:

1) The world is not reality, it is entirely 100% illusion

2) You have not ever done anything here

3) You cannot be sinful because sin is not reality

4) There is no real sin

5) Therefore, in reality, in truth, NOTHING HAS HAPPENED.

Forgiveness=Atonement=World is not real=There is no sin!

Jesus is encouraging you to open your mind, transcend your boundaries, and develop your psychic abilities. All abilities can be used with the Holy Spirit for good. In fact minds are joined naturally and those who have become better at accessing this are moving closer to God. We have to find ways to reach out past the body with the mind, join with other minds, and use the power of the mind for good.

"It is equally obvious, however, that each individual has many abilities of which he is unaware. As his awareness increases, he may well develop abilities that seem quite startling to him." "Certainly there are many "psychic" powers that are clearly in line with this course. Communication is not limited to the small range of channels the world recognizes."

"The limits the world places on communication is the chief barrier to direct experience of the Holy Spirit, Whose Presence is always there and Whose Voice is available but for the hearing. These limits are placed out of fear, for without them the walls that surround all the separate places of the world would fall at the holy sound of His Voice. Who transcends these limits in any way is merely becoming more natural. He is doing nothing special, and there is no magic in his accomplishments."

"The seemingly new abilities that may be gathered on the way can be very helpful. Given to the Holy Spirit, and used under His direction, they are very valuable teaching aids."

"no-one has any powers that are not available to everyone."

"There is, however, a particular appeal in unusual abilities which can be curiously tempting. Here are strengths which the Holy Spirit wants and needs. Yet the ego sees in these same strengths an opportunity to glorify itself."

"Any ability that anyone develops has the potentiality for good. To this there is no exception. And the more unusual and unexpected the power, the greater its potential usefulness. Salvation has need of all abilities, for what the world would destroy the Holy Spirit would restore."

"Psychic" abilities have been used to call upon the devil, which merely means to strengthen the ego. Yet here is also a great channel of hope and healing in the Holy Spirit's service."

"Those who have developed "psychic" powers have merely let some of the limitations they laid upon their minds be lifted."

"The Holy Spirit needs these gifts, and those who offer them to Him and Him alone go with Christ's gratitude upon their hearts, and His holy sight not far behind."

Love recognizes perfect equality in all children of God. The Golden Rule states that what applies to you applies to all other creations and the entire sonship without exception.

When you believe that something applies to you which does not apply to someone else, you are being murderous.

When this happens, there has been a separation idea introduced in-between cause and effect. God the Father is cause, you are His effect. To separate from God you drive a wedge between the two.

This now means that you believe you can cause something without being at the effect of what you cause. That you can GIVE, without RECEIVING, which is a principle of sacrifice. And that in turn means, you can do something to someone else, and escape the consequences.

This immediately places you in a position of seeming to be able to "get away with murder", because if you can do something to someone or have something be true of them and not of you, you can attack them and cause them harm without seeming to hurt yourself (which is delusional.)

This is why anything short of love is attempted murder. It's an attempt to say, hey brother, we are different, and you are this thing that I am not, and so it's possible for you to suffer without me suffering, and it's possible for me to attack you without me receiving the same attack.

In this view, giving a receiving are no longer equal and what is true of me is no longer true for you, and so I can make something apply to you without it applying to me, and thus get away with it.

Even the slightest hint that the Golden Rule does not apply, or that there are different rules of values for each child of God, introduces a fundamentally murderous thought system, which is murderous at its very core. This is why anything which is not eternal life, is death, and there is no life outside of Heaven.

It IS a black and white, literal teaching. The ego is fundamentally a murderous thought system. Any lack of equality is an attack. Any imbalance or specialness or special favor or chaotic lack of identicality is an attack on the entire sonship.

God creates only perfectly identical mirror-image beings who are in His own image and likeness in every way. None of them lacks anything, nothing is missing. "God who encompasses all being nevertheless created separate beings who have everything individually and want to share it to increase their joy." When such beings attempt to not share, and to not increase joy, and to not be perfectly identical, they enter into lack, which produces perceived attack, which is a state of attempted murder.

Jesus is very clear about this. "What is not love is murder." If it's not perfect unconditional divine holy love, the person is being murderous. And that means even a slight grievance is murderous. Even a casual judgement. Even a single attack thought. Even an irritation or slight annoyance. It may seem to show up as "degrees" of murderousness but it's still ALL murderous.

Only ego can only attack itself. It cannot attack what is not inside of itself.

If you are outside of the ego, you cannot be attacked. You are immortal and invulnerable.

If you identify with ego, labeling your sense of self as being "made of" something ego .... sin, guilt, fear, sickness, unworthiness, etc... then you can be attacked. Because THAT illusion can be attacked, because it IS attack.

The ego can only attack that which is PART OF its thought system. It is like a dog which runs wild in a yard, barking and screaming, threatening to bite, but the yard is fenced in, and so long as you are not inside the fence, the dog can do nothing.

Identifying with/as something illusory, ie ego, you put yourself inside the yard. Now your "self" is inside the realm of the ego's thought system. And it will attack you, because all illusions are thoughts of war. The ego is a mindset of self-attack, inner conflict, a war with yourself.

The Kingdom of God is outside of the realm of the ego, or rather, the ego is nowhere that God's Creation is. The Kingdom of God therefore cannot be attacked. The mind of the ego cannot enter Heaven. As soon as it approaches the light it is dispelled and dissolved.

Darkness cannot exist where there is light. And the ego "self" cannot be taken into the light, or into heaven. Trying to do so will merely make it either resist or pretend that it is becoming spiritual. Darkness has no effect on light, but the belief that darkness can hide light is part of the ego's insanity.

So if you want to be immortal, all you need to do is recognize your identity has nothing to do with ego, is not made of ego in any way, has no illusions in it, and is outside of the ego thought system. Then you cannot be touched.

There is then NOTHING the ego can do to attack you or hurt you, to make you sick, to make you die, to make you suffer in any way. You are utterly OUT OF REACH. You cannot be sick or die and you do not depend whatsoever on the ego's forms of supply or sustaining of life. You are sustained by the love of God. The love of God doesn't just warm your heart amidst a dreary world, it POWERS YOU and PROTECTS YOU.

What is innocent and sinless cannot be sinned against. Perfect invulnerability is not only possible is the ONLY real possibility.

Immortality is permanent and real. Mortality is a lie. Immortality is not an exception, it is perfectly natural. Mortality is UNNATURAL.

"The body cannot heal, because it cannot MAKE ITSELF SICK. It NEEDS no healing. Its health or sickness depends ENTIRELY on how the mind perceives it, and the purpose that the mind would use it FOR."

So. The body itself cannot create its own sickness. The belief that it can or has, is level confusion and a belief in magic. It means you see the body as "causing the mind" instead of the mind causing the body.

So the body cannot "get sick" by itself. It cannot become sick as a result of external things happening. It cannot contract sickness from others. It cannot be attacked without your consent. And it cannot die unless your MIND chooses that it die.

"You (as body) cannot die unless you choose to do so."

So the body cannot become sick "on its own", or as the result of anything other than your mind's decision. It also cannot HEAL ITSELF. The idea that the body has an immune system is an ILLUSION. The body does not heal itself, just as it does not make itself sick.

It is up to the mind to decide, whether or not to make the body sick, or to make the body healthy. The mind can ADD sickness to the body at any time, by free will. The mind can REVOKE sickness from the body at any time, by free will.

"You made sickness and death and therefore can abolish both."

It does not matter what state the body is in. It does not matter if has been sick for 50 years. It does not matter how severe the sickness is or how it was contracted or developed or all the reasons why it is so unchangeable. If the mind chooses health, the body MUST BE HEALED. And when the mind is healthy in its outlook, it WILL see the body in a healthy way and thus FORCE the body to heal "against its will", because it has no will and no way to resist the mind.

"The mind MUST be stronger than the body. Every miracle DEMONSTRATES this."

So no matter what state the body is in or the "story" behind how it seemed to get that way, which is a LIE, the mind CAN heal it at any time. And when it chooses to do so, NOTHING in all the universe has the power to stop it. Even death can be reversed. And when the mind does elect to heal and be healed, it WILL heal the body without exception. "The mind, being sane, heals the body." Such a healing is a MIRACLE. And such miracles can RAISE THE DEAD and reverse EVERY form of bodily sickness.

This is a Course in MIRACLES.

YOU are not responsible for establishing the innocence of yourself or others.

The nature of a soul is ENTIRELY the responsibility of God. God establishes the nature of the soul at its CREATION, and gives it its attributes. These attributes are permanent, because God's nature is permanence and He only creates that which is permanent.

God is also innocence so the soul INHERITS His innocence permanently. God does not design the soul to be ABLE to sin, to attack, to be sick or to die. These things are literally impossible in reality. The soul remains PERFECTLY INNOCENT FOREVER.

The function of forgiveness is not there to ESTABLISH the innocence of yourself or others. It is moreso a way to RECOGNIZE the PRE-EXISTING innocence of yourself and others.

Forgiveness and atonement are the same thing. To accept atonement is to accept the truth. But the truth that's being accepted isnt "the atonement" itself. The truth is OF GOD. The truth is the reality of the soul. The reality of the soul is being accepted in the atonement. And so similarly forgiveness recognizes the EXISTING innocence of the soul.

This is why forgiveness is said to be the recognition that there IS NO SIN. It is by recognizing the heavenly truth of yourself and others that you become aware that you HAVE ALWAYS been innocent, nothing has changed, and you STILL ARE innocent. This is awarenes that you HAVE NOT sinned because SIN IS NOT A FUNCTION OF THE SOUL.

Literally and without exception, every soul is permanently innocent and permanently sinless and utterly incapable of ever sinning. Atonement or forgiveness is merely the recognition and ACCEPTANCE of this FACT. It is a willingness to see reality and to put aside all notions that contradict the will of God.

Given that God WILLED, in the creation of the soul, that the soul be permanently sinless, forgiveness merely "sorts out" whether or not an accusation of sin is true of the soul or not. By clearly distinguishing what GOD WILLED in the soul's creation, which is done forever, you can recognize the truth.

"Recognize this, for it is true, and truth MUST be recognized, if it is to be distinguished from illusion"

"This is because of the miracle's inherent avoidance of within-error distinctions. Its SOLE concern is to distinguish between truth, on the one hand, and ALL kinds of error, on the other."

What Jesus refers to a the miracle, which perhaps we can also equate with atonement and forgiveness, is the state of recognition that ONLY God's truth and will are true, and nothing else is true. This is a recognition of WHAT GOD HAS DONE, versus what we believe has happened in dreams.

This is also why Jesus says: "The miracle does nothing. All it does is to UNdo. And thus it cancels out the interference to what HAS BEEN done. It does not add, but merely takes away."

Since "to atone is to undo", all we're doing in forgiveness is NOT doing the ego stuff, and cancelling out the interference to what GOD HAS DONE. That means recognizing the truth God established already in the creation of souls, and putting aside anything that contradicts that truth.

Individual miracles can also be said to reawaken the mind to the correct awareness of what the truth IS, as given BY GOD. They remind the mind of what is already true.

So forgiveness is just the process of discerning whether GODS TRUTH is true, or whether some other truth is true. Recognizing the truth of your brother is recognizing his soul nature. The truth about his soul was already established by God. Recognizing the permanent innocence of yourself and others is the way to remember God and to do His Will.

In this passage from "creation and communication", Jesus talks about how God created us as individual beings and minds. There are more than *35* references to multiple sons/minds/creations/individuals in this section alone. These mentions are not metaphors or concepts. Heaven actually DOES contain multiple minds, and each mind is responsible for choosing freely to do God’s will. This is why heave and "non-duality" or "oneness" concepts are a poor fit for the Reality of Creation.

"This communication IS the will of God. Creation and communication are synonymous. 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. Since only BEINGS of a like order can truly communicate. His CREATIONS naturally communicate with Him and communicate like Him. This communication is perfectly abstract, in that its quality is universal in application, and not subject to ANY judgment, ANY exception, or ANY alteration. God made YOU BY this and FOR this. The mind (of a soul) can distort its functions, but it cannot endow itself with those it was not given. That is why the mind cannot totally lose the ability to communicate, even though it may refuse to utilize it on behalf of being. Existence as well as being rests on communication."

"Existence is SPECIFIC in how, what, and with whom communication is worth undertaking. Being is completely without these distinctions. It is a state in which the mind IS in communication with everything that is real, including its OWN SOUL. To whatever extent YOU permit this state to be curtailed, YOU are limiting YOUR sense of your OWN reality, which becomes total only by recognizing ALL reality in the glorious context of its real relationship to YOU. This IS YOUR reality. Do no desecrate it or recoil from it. It is YOUR real home, YOUR real temple, and YOUR REAL SELF."

"God, who encompasses ALL Being, NEVERTHELESS CREATED SEPARATE BEINGS WHO HAVE EVERYTHING INDIVIDUALLY, but who want to share it to increase THEIR joy. Nothing that is real can be increased EXCEPT by sharing it. That is why God Himself created YOU. Divine Abstraction takes joy in application, and that is what creation MEANS. How, what, and to whom are irrelevant, because real creation gives everything since it can only create like itself. Remember that in being, there is no difference between having and being, as there is in existence. In the state of being, the mind gives everything always."

"The Bible repeatedly states that you should praise God. This hardly means that you should tell Him how wonderful He is. He has no ego with which to accept thanks, and no perceptions with which to judge your offerings. But unless you take your part in the creation, His joy is not complete because YOURS is incomplete. And THIS He does know. He knows it in his own Being and ITS EXPERIENCE OF HS SON’S EXPERIENCE. The constant GOING OUT of His love is blocked when HIS CHANNELS are closed, and He IS lonely when the MINDS HE CREATED do not communicate fully with Him."

"God HAS kept your kingdom for you, but He cannot share His joy with you until you know it with your whole mind. Even revelation is not enough, because it is communication FROM God. But it is not enough until it is shared. God does not need revelation returned to Him, which would clearly be impossible, but He DOES want revelation brought to OTHERS. This cannot be done with the actual revelation, because its content cannot be expressed, and it is INTENSELY PERSONAL TO THE MIND WHICH RECEIVES IT. But it can still be returned BY THAT MIND through its attitudes TO OTHER MINDS which the knowledge from the revelation brings.

God is praised whenever ANY MIND learns to be wholly helpful. This is impossible without being wholly harmless, because the two beliefs cannot coexist. The truly helpful (many) are invulnerable, because THEY are NOT protecting THEIR EGOS (individual egos), so that nothing CAN hurt THEM. Their helpfulness IS their praise of God, and He will return their praise of Him, because they are like Him and can rejoice TOGETHER. God goes out to THEM and through THEM, and there is great joy throughout the Kingdom. EVERY MIND THAT IS CHANGED adds to this joy with ITS OWN INDIVIDUAL WILLINGNESS to share in it.

The truly helpful are God’s MIRACLE WORKERS (many), whom I direct until we are ALL UNITED in the joy of the kingdom. I will direct YOU to wherever YOU can be truly helpful, and to WHOEVER can follow my guidance through YOU.