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A Course In Miracles 

CHAPTER 6: THE LESSONS OF LOVE

 

Introduction

 

            “The relationship of anger to attack is obvious, but the relationship of anger to fear is not always so apparent.”  (1:1)

 

            “Anger cannot occur unless you believe that you have been attacked, that your attack is justified in return, and that you are in no way responsible for it.”  (1:3)

 

            “You cannot be attacked, attack has no justification, and you are responsible for what you believe.”  (1:7)

 

            “Everyone teaches, and teaches all the time.”  (2:2)

 

            “Once you have developed a thought system of any kind, you live by it and teach it.”  (2:4)

 

In summary, the “Introduction” is saying:

 

            If our true Identity is love, then there cannot be anger or fear in us.  To react in this way is a misperception of both our self and others.  It is an incorrect thought system to believe in any identity other than love.  Now we are going to learn this new thought system; one we will teach the world by how we live it.  We are going to learn the lessons of love.

 

I. The Message of the Crucifixion

 

            “For learning purposes, let us consider the crucifixion again.”  (1:1)

 

            “There is a positive interpretation of the crucifixion that is wholly devoid of fear, and therefore wholly benign in what it teaches, if it is properly understood.”  (1:5)

 

            “It can be, and has been, misunderstood.  This is only because the fearful are apt to perceive fearfully.”  (2:3-4)

 

            “While I emphasized only the resurrection before, the purpose of the crucifixion and how it actually led to the resurrection was not clarified then.”  (2:7)

 

            “The real meaning of the crucifixion lies in the apparent intensity of the assault of some of the Sons of God upon another.  This, of course, is impossible, and must be fully understood as impossible.”  (3:4-5)

 

            “Assault can ultimately be made only on the body.  There is little doubt that one body can assault another, and can even destroy it.  Yet if destruction itself is impossible, anything that is destructible cannot be real.  Its destruction, therefore, does not justify anger.  To the extent to which you believe that it does, you are accepting false premises and teaching them to others.”  (4:1-5)

 

            “You are free to perceive yourself as persecuted if you choose.  When you do choose to react that way, however, you might remember that I was persecuted as the world judges, and did not share this evaluation for myself.”  (5:2-3)

 

            “If you react as if you are persecuted, you are teaching persecution.  This is not a lesson a Son of God should want to teach if he is to realize his own salvation.  Rather, teach your own perfect immunity, which is the truth in you, and realize that it cannot be assailed.”  (6:2-4)

 

            “You are merely asked to follow my example in the face of much less extreme temptations to misperceive, and not to accept them as false justifications for anger.”  (6:7)

 

            “Your resurrection is your reawakening.”  (7:1)

 

            “I elected, for your sake and mine, to demonstrate that the most outrageous assault, as judged by the ego, does not matter.”  (9:1)

 

            “You are not persecuted, nor was I.”  (11:1)

 

            “The message of the crucifixion is perfectly clear:

                        

                        Teach only love, for that is what you are.”  (13:1-2)

 

            “If you interpret the crucifixion in any other way, you are using it as a weapon for assault rather than as the call for peace for which it was intended.”  (14:1)

 

In summary, section 1: “The Message of the Crucifixion” is saying:

 

            Jesus left this world in an extreme manner; He was betrayed, abandoned, beaten, tortured and finally crucified while still alive.  His death ranged the whole gamut of possible ways pain can be inflicted upon a human body.  And we are asked to see past these atrocities and to know that despite the suffering He appeared to endure, His true form of Love, remained undefiled and serenely resting in the Arms of God.  By not reacting to His abuse as a victim, He taught us Who He Was in truth: He taught only love, for that is What He IS.  Only Love could react to such torture and abuse with nothing but total forgiveness.  Jesus knew such actions stemmed from people who were fearful, and fear is apt to be vicious.  He knew they knew not Who He Was, and that they were ignorantly trying to kill Love Itself.  The ego will always retaliate against Love and try to harm it.  Do not let this reaction tempt you into believing that Love can be harmed.  The body yes, but not the Love that is Who You Are.  That is the message of the crucifixion.  Your resurrection is your awakening to this truth.

 

II. The Alternative to Projection

 

            “We have said before that the separation was and is dissociation, and that once it occurs projection becomes its main defense, or the device that keeps it going.”  (1:5)

 

            “What you project you disown, and therefore do not believe is yours.  You are excluding yourself by the very judgment that you are different from the one on whom you project.”  (2:1-2)

 

            “It is solely a device of the ego to make you feel different from your brothers and separated from them.”  (3:3)

 

            “The ego uses projection only to destroy your perception of both yourself and your brothers.”  (3:7)

 

            “We have learned, however, that there is an alternative to projection.”  (4:1)

 

            “The Holy Spirit begins by perceiving you as perfect.  Knowing this perfection is shared He recognizes it in others, thus strengthening it in both.”  (5:1-2)

 

            “To perceive yourself this way is the only way in which you can find happiness in the world.  That is because it is the acknowledgement that you are not in this world, for the world is unhappy.”  (5:6-7)

 

            “How else can you find joy in a joyless place except by realizing that you are not there?  You cannot be anywhere God did not put you, and God created you as part of Him.  That is both where you are and what you are.  It is completely unalterable.”  (6:1-4)

 

            “The full awareness of the Atonement, then, is the recognition that the separation never occurred.  The ego cannot prevail against this because it is an explicit statement that the ego never occurred.”  (10:7-8)

 

In summary, section 2: “The Alternative to Projection” is saying:

 

            The world we currently see is one we made through dissociation – we dissociated our mind from the unity of God in order to experience the separation we now understand as our reality.  The ego maintains what we see, through continuous projection of its thoughts of separation.  This destroys our perception of oneness and allows only for seeing each other as separate bodies living in a world of other separate living things.  The Holy Spirit can show us another way to perceive the world that restores our true sight:  He can remind us of our perfection – our perfect unity in God and each other – a state the ego cannot see.  To see the world this way is the only way to happy, because it is the acknowledgment that this reality is not the truth.  The truth is, the separation never truly happened, what we see is not true about us.  We are not bodies.  We are still Love, as God created us.

 

III. The Relinquishment of Attack

 

            “Your Godlike mind can never be defiled.  The ego never was and never will be part of it, but through the ego you can hear and teach and learn what is not true.  You have taught yourself to believe that you are not what you are.”  (1:6-8)

 

            “Every lesson you teach you are learning.”  (1:10)

 

            “That is why you must teach only one lesson.  If you are to be conflict-free yourself, you must learn only from the Holy Spirit and teach only by Him.  You are only love, but when you deny this, you make what you are something you must learn to remember.”  (2:1-3)

 

            “ “As you teach so will you learn.”  If that is true, and it is true indeed, do not forget that what you teach is teaching you.  And what you project or extend you believe.”  (2:7-9)

 

            “The only safety lies in extending the Holy Spirit, because as you see His gentleness in others your own mind perceives itself as totally harmless.  Once it can accept this fully, it sees no need to protect itself.  The protection of God then dawns upon it, assuring it that it is perfectly safe forever.  The perfectly safe are wholly benign.”  (3:1-4)

 

            “Safety is the complete relinquishment of attack.”  (3:7)

 

            “Since you cannot not teach, your salvation lies in teaching the exact opposite of everything the ego believes.  This is how you will learn the truth that will set you free, and will keep you free as others learn it of you.  The only way to have peace is to teach peace.”  (4:1-3)

 

            “Only thus can you win back the knowledge that you threw away.”  (4:5)

 

            In summary, section 3: “The Relinquishment of Attack” is saying:

 

            When we think of attack and the fear associated with it, we think of harm coming to us in some form, be it verbal or physical.  All forms of attack trigger pain and suffering in us.  Yet, here we learn that all fear and attack stem from a single belief: that we are bodies that can be attacked.  To believe we are bodies is actually an attack upon God’s definition of us – it is to deny He created us as eternal beings of light and love.  Rebelliously, through the use of the ego, we have taught ourselves the opposite: that we are not eternal and can easily lose the short little life we think we have in these bodies.  Which from the ego’s perspective is indeed true.  No matter what we do or try in this life, the body will be lost.  The only way to freedom and safety from this grim demise is give up all such false beliefs.  Relinquishment of all ideas of attack upon the Identity God gave us by giving up our belief in the body is the way to safety.  Our minds can then rest in the knowledge of Who We truly Are.  As quoted previously, “Safety is the complete relinquishment of attack.”  Teach this lesson in Love and you will learn that you ARE Love through your reactions towards others loveless acts.  

 

IV. The Only Answer

 

            “Remember that the Holy Spirit is the Answer, not the question.  The ego always speaks first.  It is capricious and does not mean its maker well.  It believes, and correctly, that its maker may withdraw his support from it at any moment.”  (1:1-4)

 

            “The ego does not regard itself as part of you.”  (1:6)

 

            “When God created you He made you part of Him.”  (2:1)

 

            “You made the ego without love, and so it does not love you.”  (2:3)

 

            “The ego, then raised the first question that was ever asked, but one it can never answer.  That question, “What are you?” was the beginning of doubt.  The ego has never answered any questions since although it has raised a great many.”  (2:6-8)

 

            “Hear, then, the one answer of the Holy Spirit to all the questions the ego raises: You are a child of God, a priceless part of His Kingdom, which He created as part of Him.  Nothing else exists and only this is real.  You have chosen a sleep in which you have had bad dreams, but the sleep is not real and God calls you to awake.”  (6:1-3)

 

            “Your dreams contain many of the ego’s symbols and they have confused you.  Yet that was only because you were asleep and did not know.  When you wake you will see the truth around you and in you, and you will no longer believe in dreams because they will have no reality for you.  Yet the Kingdom and all that you have created there will have great reality for you, because they are beautiful and true.”  (6:5-8)

 

            “The separation was not a loss of perfection, but a failure in communication.  A harsh and strident form of communication arose as the ego’s voice.  It could not shatter the peace of God, but it could shatter yours.  God did not blot it out, because to eradicate it would be to attack it.  Being questioned, He did not question.  He merely gave the Answer.  His Answer is your Teacher.”  (12:5-11)

 

In summary, section 4: “The Only Answer” is saying:

 

            When we rebelled against our Unity with God through imagining ourselves separate from Him, our minds split – one part was still joined with God in Holy Unity and the other part then became unaware of God and the ego was the manifestation of that unawareness.  In response to the manifestation of the ego’s voice for separation, which is our only problem, God instantaneously placed within us the only Answer to this problem: The Voice of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is the One Answer to our seeming separation, for He is the Voice for Unity – a Unified Mind in God, which is a healed mind.  Until our split minds are healed, we have a choice to make between teachers we may listen to: the ego or the Holy Spirit.  Only the Voice of Holy Spirit can teach us how to heal our split mind with His one and only Answer to all the lies the ego would have us believe: we are still unified with God in perfect holiness, love and everlasting joy.

 

V. The Lessons of the Holy Spirit

 

            “Like any good teacher, the Holy Spirit knows more than you do now, but He teaches only to make you equal with Him.”  (1:1)

 

            “Would God teach you that you had made a split mind, when He knows your mind only as whole?”  (1:4)

 

            “How can you wake children in a more kindly way than by a gentle Voice that will not frighten them, but will merely remind them that the night is over and the light has come?”  (2:1)

 

            “The Holy Spirit never itemizes errors because He does not frighten children, and those who lack wisdom are children.”  (4:1)

 

            “Children do confuse fantasy and reality, and they are frightened because they do not recognize the difference.  The Holy Spirit makes no distinction among dreams.  He merely shines them away.  His light is always the Call to awaken, whatever you have been dreaming.  Nothing lasting lies in dreams, and the Holy Spirit, shining with the light from God Himself, speaks only for what lasts forever.”  (4:3-7)

 

In summary, section 5: “The Lessons of the Holy Spirit” is saying:

 

            We do not know we sleep, and think this world is true.  We are frightened here within the dream of this world, and yet we are even more frightened of waking from it for we fear what will then be our new reality.  We fear the unknown, or rather, what we have simply forgotten.  The best way for God to awaken us is to simply keep reminding us that the nightmare is not real, and we can waken from this dream any time we fully accept the truth: what is not eternal cannot be real.  The Holy Spirit will not “itemize” or “count up” our errors, knowing this would increase our guilt rather than heal it.  We are like children in that we know not what we do.  We are confused about where we are, whom we are, and what we should be doing.  The Holy Spirit would clarify all these questions by simply teaching this lesson: “Do not worry about anything precious child.  None of what you think you know is the truth.  Nothing here is everlasting and so you can let it all go in peace.”  With this realization, the Light of the Holy Spirit will shine into your dreams and you will awaken to God’s Heavenly Reality.

 

A. To Have, Give All to All

 

            “When your body and your ego and your dreams are gone, you will know that you will last forever. Perhaps you think this is accomplished through death, but nothing is accomplished through death, because death is nothing.”  (1:1-2)

 

            “If we share the same mind, you can overcome death because I did.  Death is an attempt to resolve conflict by not deciding at all.  Like any other impossible solution the ego attempts, it will not work.” (1:5-7)

 

            “God did not make the body, because it is destructible, and therefore not of the Kingdom.  The body is the symbol of what you think you are.  It is clearly a separation device, and therefore does not exist.”  (2:3)

 

            “I have said that the Holy Spirit is the motivation for miracles.  He always tells you that only the mind is real, because only the mind can be shared.  The body is separate, and therefore cannot be part of you.  To be of one mind is meaningful, but to be one body is meaningless.  By the laws of mind, then, the body is meaningless.”  (3:1-5)

 

            “To the Holy Spirit, there is no order of difficulty in miracles.  This is familiar enough to you by now, but it has not yet become believable.  Therefore, you do not understand it and cannot use it.

 

            “You cannot perform miracles without believing it, because it is a belief in perfect equality.  Only one equal gift can be offered to the equal Son of God, and that is full appreciation.”  (4:6-7)

 

            “The ego uses the body for attack, for pleasure and for pride.  The insanity of this perception makes it a fearful one indeed.  The Holy Spirit sees the body only as a means of communication, and because communicating is sharing it becomes communion.”  (5:3-5)

 

            “The Holy Spirit communicates only what each one can give to all.  He never takes anything back, because He wants you to keep it.  Therefore, His teaching begins with the lesson:

 

To have, give all to all.  (5:10-13)

 

            “This is a very preliminary step, and the only one you must take for yourself.”  (6:1)

 

            “Some remain at this step for a long time, experiencing very acute conflict.  At this point they may try to accept the conflict, rather than take the next step towards its resolution.  Having taken the first step, however, they will be helped.  Once they have chosen what they cannot complete alone, they are no longer alone.”  (6:6-9)

 

In summary, section A. “To Have, Give All to All” is saying:

            In order to overcome our belief we are a body, we must understand how we can truly escape from it.  Currently, we believe that death of the body is our final release from it.  Yet if that were true, we would cease to come here at all – there would be no desire to return to a body if we were truly released from it.  Clearly, we are not released from the body if we find ourselves here now.  Physical death in any way, shape or form is not a release.  True release from the body comes from releasing our belief that we are a body to begin with.  We know we have released this belief by how we treat our brothers.  If we have learned how to love them as God does – that is, to love them without even thinking about it – then we have achieved a miracle!  It is a miracle to use the body only for communicating love, which is also the feeling of communion or oneness with all living things – love given equally to all without discrimination or attack.  This idea may cause your ego to feel great discomfort, because to love everyone in this manner means it would have to give up its identity as your body.  Only bodies can say and do things that cause us to feel unloving towards one another.  We may try to simply accept that there are some people we just cannot seem to love, and yet the Course says that once we reach this often prolonged and difficult stage, we will receive Divine Help because we have taken the first step towards choosing only love.  To have love, we must learn to give all our love, to all.  

 

B. To Have Peace, Teach Peace to Learn It

 

            “All who believe in separation have a basic fear of retaliation and abandonment.  They believe in attack and rejection, so that is what they perceive and teach and learn.”  (1:1-2)

 

            “All good teachers realize that only fundamental change will last, but they do not begin at that level. Strengthening motivation for change is their first and foremost goal.  It is also their last and final one.”  (2:1-3)

 

            “Change in motivation is a change of mind, and this will inevitably produce fundamental change because the mind is fundamental.”  (2:5)

 

            “The first step in the reversal or undoing process is the undoing of the getting concept.  Accordingly, the Holy Spirit’s first lesson was “To have, give all to all.””  (3:1-2)

 

            “Upside down as always, the ego perceives the first lesson as insane.”  (4:1)

 

            “Meanwhile, the increasing clarity of the Holy Spirit’s Voice makes it impossible for the learner not to listen.  For a time, then, he is receiving conflicting messages and accepting both.”  (4:5-6)

 

            “The way out of conflict between two opposing thought systems is clearly to choose one and relinquish the other.”  (5:1)

 

            “There can be no conflict between sanity and insanity.  Only one is true, and therefore only one is real.”  (6:1)

 

            “The Holy Spirit perceives the conflict exactly as it is.  Therefore, His second lesson is:

 

To have peace, teach peace to learn it.  (7:3-5)

 

            “This is still a preliminary step, since having and being are still not equated.”  (8:1)

 

            “The second step, then, is still perceptual, although it is a giant step toward the unified perception that reflects God’s knowing.”  (9:1)

 

In summary, section B. “To Have Peace, Teach Peace to Learn It” is saying:

 

            Our ego tells us that in order to be happy in this world, we must have and get certain things.  What these things are, differ from person to person, yet they all have one thing in common: they are all things of this world.  Yet these things either never come to us, or once gotten, fail to make us happy in a sustained way.  The feeling always fades, and our egos are on the hunt once again.  Some call this greed, because enough is never enough when it comes to the ego.  The pursuit of happiness has then become a process without hope of achievement, yet the ego will insanely keep trying.   This is why the Holy Spirit instructs us that the first step in the reversal of the egos thought system is the letting go of the “getting concept.”  This is a fundamental or permanent change at the very bedrock of our current belief system.  It is to learn that there is no loss or penalty for giving what you truly have – in fact; it only increases as it is given.  What is it we want above and beyond what the ego relentlessly searches for, but never finds?  What is it we are trying to achieve with all of our wants and needs?  Inner peace.  We want peace of mind and the satisfied feeling of completion.  The only way to have it is to give it.  This concept is in direct opposition to the egos thought system, and yet if we embrace it, all our needs and wants will be satisfied beyond what we ever thought possible.  Our motivation to make this fundamental change in thinking comes from experiencing the positive results of learning peace through teaching it by our thoughts and actions.  True peace comes from letting go of all thoughts about the world.  

 

C. Be Vigilant Only for God and His Kingdom

 

            “We said before that the Holy Spirit is evaluative, and must be.  He sorts out the true from the false in your mind, and teaches you to judge every thought you allow to enter it in the light of what God put there.” (1:1-2)

 

            “God Himself has established what you can extend with perfect safety.  Therefore, the Holy Spirit’s third lesson is:

 

Be vigilant only for God and His Kingdom.  (2:6-8)

 

            “This is a major step toward fundamental change.”  (3:1)

 

            “I have already told you that you can be as vigilant against the ego as for it.  This lesson teaches not only that you can be, but that you must be.”  (4:2-3)

 

            “This lesson is unequivocal in that it teaches there must be no exceptions, although it does not deny that the temptation to make exceptions will occur.  Here, then, your consistency is called on despite chaos.” (4:5-6)

 

            “You learn first that having rests on giving, and not on getting.  Next you learn that you learn what you teach, and that you want to learn peace.”  (6:1-2)

 

            “The third step is thus one of protection for your mind, allowing you to identify only with the center, where God placed the altar to Himself.  Altars are beliefs, but God and His creations are beyond belief because they are beyond question.”  (7:1-2)

 

            “To teach the whole Sonship without exception demonstrates that you perceive its wholeness, and have learned that it is one.  Now you must be vigilant to hold its oneness in your mind because, if you let doubt enter, you will lose awareness of its wholeness and will be unable to teach it.”  (8:1-2)

 

            “The third step, then, is a statement of what you want to believe, and entails a willingness to relinquish everything else.”  (10:1)

 

            “You have exerted great effort to preserve what you made because it was not true.  Therefore, you must now turn your effort against it.”  (10:5-6)

 

In summary, section C. “Be Vigilant Only for God and His Kingdom” is saying:

 

            And so now that we know that thoughts of this world, including all our needs and wants are actually thoughts of the ego, we must be vigilant for when we are having them.  We must do this in order to re-train our minds to think the Thoughts of God.  Our inner altars must be clear.  And as stated previously, altars are beliefs.  Our belief in what we know to be true must undergo a fundamental, permanent change:  We must learn we are Love and not a body – a thing filled with needs, wants and endless desires for things of this world.  We are not separate beings, but a unified creation in God.  There can be no exceptions to our wholeness, despite the fact that there are some bodies we would rather not include as part of us.  We must be vigilant for such thoughts of exclusion.  Why?  Because to exclude anyone means that we ourselves are also excluded from God’s Love and this is a false belief, corrupting our purified altar.  We must be willing to relinquish all thoughts of separation in exchange for the desire for knowing our wholeness and having peace.  Therefore, let your mind be vigilant only for God and His Kingdom.  You will know you have chosen to keep the correct thoughts by the level of peace and love that you feel.  It is through this inner process that you learn the lessons of Love.

                

This concludes CHAPTER 6: THE LESSONS OF LOVE

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