Does the seemingly incessant parade of current events rivet your attention? From an almost-unquestioned, highly popular perspective, the world seems to be getting wackier and more bizarrely surreal all the time. Yet perhaps there’s another way, a better way to look at what appears in our evidently out-of-control, out-of-order world. Jackie Lora Jones and Bruce Rawles resume their conversations about A Course In Miracles (ACIM) in this video about how we always have the choice in our minds to undo ego projections and wake up from our zombie-like fixation on the screen of ego’s insanity, typified and parodied by this classic 1984 Apple Macinosh computer ad.* When we remember – with help from our Inner Kindness Teacher – to forgive everyone for everything, we need not be mesmerized by ego’s witness tampering making the dream (of separation, space, time, duality, grievances, sin, guilt, fear, death, and every misconceived thought and feeling that fights sustainable peace) real. We simply metaphorically shift our attention from the screen to the projection mechanism in our mind – our wanting to believe in a separate self and believing we pulled off this impossible crime. If the mind is primary and physicality is just a colossal misunderstanding – an incorrectly interpreted assumption, it changes everything, as explored in this blog post – Are Physics, Geometry and Science pointing to (Non-Dual) Metaphysics? – on another site I edit.
Mistakes (errors) – all beliefs that result in projecting the dream of separate identities – call for correction in Holy Spirit’s curriculum, whereas seen from the ego’s sinful, guilty, fearful, insane thought system, these same mistakes call for (unending) damnation or (at best) the dread of impending punishment and oblivion. In A Course In Miracles, there is such an important distinction between sin (uncorrectable, unrecoverable) and error (silly, forgivable misunderstanding due to voluntarily distorting our perception by limiting it to a an outrageously tiny, finite self. Underscoring the importance of learning this distinction in the Course’s curriculum – truly the bedrock of the sane and eternal reason for true forgiveness, the word “error” appears 278 times in the Course, and projection (and variations of that word) appears 132 times! We evidently need to hear this over and over until it sinks in to completely liberate ourselves from mental slavery!
“Son of God, you have not sinned, but you have been much mistaken.” (ACIM, T-10.V.6:1)
When we see our projected misinterpretations of reality as the forgivable mistakes they are in truth, it seems like a miracle, but it is so very natural to give up the idea of sacrifice. Other favorite Course quotes we refer to in this conversation:
“To learn this course requires willingness to question every value that you hold.” (ACIM, T-24.in.2:1)
“The world will end with the benediction of holiness upon it. When not one thought of sin remains, the world is over. It will not be destroyed nor attacked nor even touched. It will merely cease to seem to be.” (ACIM, M-14.2:9-12)
“It is in the instant that the therapist forgets to judge the patient that healing occurs.” (ACIM, P-3.II.6:1)
Here are some of Jackie’s thoughts about this conversation on Remembering Your Holiness in Challenging Times or How to Reflect Our Holiness in Challenging Times. How we reflect the truth:
- Remember to look at the problem as it is instead of how we set it up (Workbook Lessons 79 & 80)
- See world events ( any perceived problem) through Christ’s vision instead of the ego’s judgment to inspire our “actions” … “A miracle is a correction. It does not create, nor really change at all. It merely looks on devastation, and reminds the mind that what it sees is false.” (ACIM, W-pII.13.1:1-3)
- Understand projection – the whole physical universe rests on the “error” that we separated from God. (The miracle is the correction for this error and we can reflect that here through our power of choice.)
This video recording was recorded on Wednesday, June 29, 2022.
* Aside: While recently watching the latest Apple (2022) WWDC keynote video, I thought it might make a fun spoof (any video editor volunteers?) to have one of the main characters from the TV series Severance momentarily appear in the elevator at about 4:20 – 4:40 into the video. (If you’re not familiar with either of these, not to worry!) We’re all volunteer paranoid schizophrenics in denial here … until we decide not to be!
Check out Jackie’s True Forgiveness Teachings podcast here.
These readings provide a platform to discuss a variety of helpful ideas and practices from the non-dual metaphysics of A Course in Miracles. Jackie has conducted insightful video interviews with Gary Renard and numerous others. She and her sister, Cindy Lora-Renard, facilitate classes on ACIM in addition to equally highly-regarded workshops on “The Course.” Jackie’s first book, All Peace, No Pieces – now available in audiobook form – is a valuable addition to any Course student’s library, regardless of their level of familiarity with the Course’s ideas, with some particularly fun and insightful metaphors from the Wizard of Oz movie.
Here are more ACIM-related conversations with Jackie Lora Jones and Bruce Rawles.