Translation and interpretation are important ideas in A Course In Miracles. ACIM reminds us that ego’s incessant propaganda machine (mis)interprets everything as evidence for the belief in separation, making the vivid holographic dream of duality seem oh-so-real, yet our Inner Kindness Teacher (a.k.a. Holy Spirit) gently smiles to assure us that no impossible crime has been committed in Truth. HS translates every specific (that the ego would distort into imprisoning calls for war) into gentle forgiveness classrooms. In these every day every moment classrooms, the actual neutrality of the projected world is recognized as merely the effect of a blip-wannabe on the radar of eternity; not a cause at all, but a silly nightmare we can awaken from with the help of that corrective thought system of lovingkindness.
in this video recording of a class (shared in one of the ongoing School For A Course In Miracles – SFACIM classes graciously hosted by Lyn Corona and Tim Wise) we read and discussed The Law of the Kingdom (ACIM, T-7.II.) We began this class/conversation by sharing the Workbook Lesson du jour – My thoughts are images that I have made (ACIM, W-15) – which fit nicely with the selected text section. Here are the first 3 paragraphs of that lesson:
“1. It is because the thoughts you think you think appear as images that you do not recognize them as nothing. ²You think you think them, and so you think you see them. ³This is how your “seeing” was made. ⁴This is the function you have given your body’s eyes. ⁵It is not seeing. ⁶It is image making. ⁷It takes the place of seeing, replacing vision with illusions.
2. This introductory idea to the process of image making that you call seeing will not have much meaning for you. ²You will begin to understand it when you have seen little edges of light around the same familiar objects which you see now. ³That is the beginning of real vision. ⁴You can be certain that real vision will come quickly when this has occurred.
3. As we go along, you may have many “light episodes.” ²They may take many different forms, some of them quite unexpected. ³Do not be afraid of them. ⁴They are signs that you are opening your eyes at last. ⁵They will not persist, because they merely symbolize true perception, and they are not related to knowledge. ⁶These exercises will not reveal knowledge to you. ⁷But they will prepare the way to it.”
We also read and shared thoughts about a related section in the text: VI. The Holy Instant and the Laws of God (ACIM, T-15.VI)
Some of the important words found in ACIM referenced in this post:
The laws of the kingdom depend completely upon which one of the two thought systems we choose every moment. The “laws” of chaos reign with terrifying tyranny in the film noir dystopian dream of being in the pit of the dark cavernous labyrinth of duality. When we choose a thought system (kingdom) we are automatically subject to all its laws. Holy Spirit’s law rules its empty courtroom where all cases are dismissed due to unconditional innocence and sinlessness, as it sees only the eternal. It automatically corrects our misperceptions by translating attacks (ours or those of a seeming other) into calls for help. Unlike computer autocorrect systems which can be problematic, HS’s autocorrect is flawless, consistent, and kind with infinite patience. Ego’s version of autopilot (enforcement of its bogus laws of sin, guilt, and fear) operates as “auto-corrupt” as contrasted with Holy Spirit’s true auto-correct.
Ego’s unconscious unfounded guilt is never neutral – it runs but can’t hide in the projected, reactive, toxic, dualistic dream world of the PITS (personality, individuality, time, and space) where nothing is neutral but alibis and scapegoats seem to abound until we face the inconvenient (to ego) truth that the world merely mirrors our choice for division – the insane wish to be separate from our Source and each “other.”
Here are the first 3 paragraphs of The Law of the Kingdom (ACIM, T-7.II):
“1. To heal is the only kind of thinking in this world that resembles the Thought of God, and because of the elements they share, can transfer easily to it. ²When a brother perceives himself as sick, he is perceiving himself as not whole, and therefore in need. ³If you, too, see him this way, you are seeing him as if he were absent from the Kingdom or separated from it, thus making the Kingdom itself obscure to both of you. ⁴Sickness and separation are not of God, but the Kingdom is. ⁵If you obscure the Kingdom, you are perceiving what is not of God.
2. To heal, then, is to correct perception in your brother and yourself by sharing the Holy Spirit with him. ²This places you both within the Kingdom, and restores its wholeness in your mind. ³This reflects creation, because it unifies by increasing and integrates by extending. ⁴What you project or extend is real for you. ⁵This is an immutable law of the mind in this world as well as in the Kingdom. ⁶However, the content is different in this world, because the thoughts it governs are very different from the Thoughts in the Kingdom. ⁷Laws must be adapted to circumstances if they are to maintain order. ⁸The outstanding characteristic of the laws of mind as they operate in this world is that by obeying them, and I assure you that you must obey them, you can arrive at diametrically opposed results. ⁹This is because the laws have been adapted to the circumstances of this world, in which diametrically opposed outcomes seem possible because you can respond to two conflicting voices.
3. Outside the Kingdom, the law that prevails inside is adapted to “What you project you believe.” ²This is its teaching form, because outside the Kingdom learning is essential. ³This form implies that you will learn what you are from what you have projected onto others, and therefore believe they are. ⁴In the Kingdom there is no teaching or learning, because there is no belief. ⁵There is only certainty. ⁶God and His Sons, in the surety of being, know that what you extend you are. ⁷That form of the law is not adapted at all, being the law of creation. ⁸God Himself created the law by creating by it. ⁹And His Sons, who create like Him, follow it gladly, knowing that the increase of the Kingdom depends on it, just as their own creation did.”
A few thoughts about the first paragraph of this section from the text:
Undoing the belief in separation reflected in the ego’s stingy, miserly, and pointless defensiveness is the only way we can return our minds to the One Mind that never lacks, and to achieve that, we need to listen to and respond to Holy Spirit’s gentle call to share the innocence we thought we trashed, we give to everyone what we think we stole from Perfect Oneness, demonstrating that they never lost their undifferentiated, loving Self nor did we, as that Self could not be divided.
What do egos do when they are confronted with the inescapable “need” (neediness) of their own invention? Beg, borrow or steal (in dreams only) from Holy Spirit’s unassailable storehouse of infinite abundance where our True Identity is reflected in kindness, forgiveness, and all-inclusive, unconditional, egalitarian abundance.
What does Holy Spirit “do”? It forever reflects our Real Identity which gives eternally to Itself in joyous concord that is only possible in a non-dual mind. Duality implies separate parts that of necessity must seem incomplete, having an inadequate vision to embrace wholeness. Our silly seemingly separate selves appear to inhabit need machines of form, forever seeking but never finding … the Peace of God.
My golden opportunity, every second, is to mindfully see – through our Inner Kindness Teacher’s vision – that all the specifics my body’s senses report and ego misinterprets can be reassigned as forgiveness lessons while going about my daily activities but without ego’s fraudulent “meaning” and unexamined meanness.
“To heal, then, is to correct perception in your brother and yourself by sharing the Holy Spirit with him.” (ACIM, T-7.II.2:1)
This doesn’t mean going door-to-door handing out tiny biodegradable postcards with ACIM.org web links and a corresponding QR code or dropping them from an airplane over densely populated areas, or initiating a holiday meal conversation about pure non-duality with in-laws, but it does mean that I need to gently observe – without condemnation – every meaningless thought of comparison, criticism or condemnation that would appear to maintain the separation from any of my (billions of) siblings in my mind which is the prerequisite to undoing the belief in separation from our Whole Mind which is the only state where consistent peace is possible. All else is insane warfare or seeming cease-fires between opposing factions engendered by a faulty premise that separation seemed to happen.
Two uses of law
Ego uses law to punish assumed guilt, enforce the belief in sacrifice and protect the sacred inner sanctum of separation. Holy Spirit uses law to mindfully undo the erroneous belief in separation by freeing imprisoned thoughts of sameness, forgiveness, and peace, bringing relief to all minds.
Referring to types of laws, it would seem that the laws of the kingdom might be most closely related to what we think of as scientific laws with the idea that the aim of true science should aspire to find laws that can be truly generalized, those that prove true regardless of time, space, person or circumstance. Ego is always 100% insane … consistently! Holy Spirit is 100% sane … consistently!
It is our understanding of this consistency of cause and effect – with both of these 2 thought systems – that helps us choose against ego which leaves HS as the only viable, sane option. HS translates to change form but preserves content; ego interprets to change content but preserves form. The content of HS’s forgiveness is Love; the content of ego’s interpretations is hatred, condemnation, duality, and separation.
“You have no sense of real self-preservation, and are likely to decide that you need precisely what would hurt you most. ⁵Yet whether or not you recognize it now, you have agreed to cooperate in the effort to become both harmless and helpful, attributes that must go together.” (ACIM, T-4.II.5:4-5)
We don’t need to learn how to be (truly) helpful, as that is our true, eternal nature; however, since ACIM is an “undo curriculum” we do need to ask Holy Spirit for help in seeing how to be truly harmless by persistently, patiently, and gently noticing when we would rather hang onto the metaphoric sword of grievances we forgot we picked up … again and again and again … until our battle scars give us the motivation for peace.
“Laws must be communicated if they are to be helpful. ²In effect, they must be translated for those who speak different languages. ³Nevertheless, a good translator, although he must alter the form of what he translates, never changes the meaning. ⁴In fact, his whole purpose is to change the form so that the original meaning is retained. ⁵The Holy Spirit is the Translator of the laws of God to those who do not understand them. ⁶You could not do this yourself because a conflicted mind cannot be faithful to one meaning, and will therefore change the meaning to preserve the form.” (ACIM, T-7.II.4:1-6)
Ken Wapnick succinctly summarized the salient solution to the problem of figuring out the important content in his comments about paragraph 4 of the Law of the Kingdom:
“The content of forgiveness is love, though it is expressed in a translated form we can understand and relate to without fear.” – page 185, Journey Through The Text of ACIM, vol. 1.
This video was recorded on January 15, 2023.
(I highly recommend Lyn and Tim’s almost daily SFACIM zoom classes!)
Thinking about the balance scales while cobbling together the graphic above from a couple of Unsplash photos, I recalled something we saw 3 decades ago in Egypt – depictions of the “weighing of the heart” with the neters (gods) Anubis and Thoth in attendance. The “take-home lesson” from our tour guide: if your heart is as “light as a feather” – sounds like the peace of God to me! – then Heaven’s door is open. I just need to practice noticing when I am burdening my metaphoric heart with grievances, projections, specialness, and substitutions for the peace I really want and let them go with Holy Spirit’s help!
