Belief is powerful indeed. ⁴The thoughts you hold are mighty, and illusions are as strong in their effects as is the truth. ⁵A madman thinks the world he sees is real, and does not doubt it. ⁶Nor can he be swayed by questioning his thoughts’ effects. ⁷It is but when their source is raised to question that the hope of freedom comes to him at last (ACIM, W-132.1:1-7)

We all share the same fundamental problem, the insane belief we separated from our Source our Self, leading to what I call the Dystopian Dream Disorder. The idea of separation is encoded in, and maintained by the ego’s DNA (Do Not Accept the Atonement). I first heard this acronym while listening to a talk by Dr. Kenneth Wapnick who worked closely with Helen and Bill. I am personally very grateful to Ken for his numerous, in-depth, extremely helpful workshops, and at times quite humorous comments. (Contact FACIM for copies of Kenneth Wapnick’s  numerous lectures, and books.)

The Course is addressing the mind of the dreamer. Yes, I mean you and I, a non material, now massively fragmented, dissociated aspect of mind, reviewing in memory a dream that was over long ago. As such we are “outside” of the space-time dream, the one observing the dream and deciding whether to review the fearful wrong-minded ego narrative or the corrected, peaceful right-minded ego narrative. The ego or alter self, though unaware of Spirit, is aware that the mind that chose the ego can choose to let it go. This is the ego’s greatest fear, so the ego tries to obliterate mind from our awareness.  The dreamer, sometimes referred to as the observer, is the aspect of the dissociated mind that can learn and as it taught itself the wrong-minded narrative it can unlearn or reverse what it taught itself. —-The miracle does nothing. ²All it does is to undo. ³And thus it cancels out the interference to what has been done. ⁴It does not add, but merely takes away. ⁵And what it takes away is long since gone, but being kept in memory appears to have immediate effects. ⁶This world was over long ago. ⁷The thoughts that made it are no longer in the mind that thought of them and loved them for a little while. ⁸The miracle but shows the past is gone, and what has truly gone has no effects.⁹Remembering a cause can but produce illusions of its presence, not effects (ACIM, T-28.I.1:1-9)

Perception is a limited mode of thinking used by mind caught in a dream. It is our interpretation based on what we, the dreamer, want to believe. The ego, or substitute reality, is the insane idea we separated from and thereby killed God and made a dualistic illusory form filled dream-world. A world made up of idols to convince us the separation is real. Therefore, everything we perceive as separate forms or bodies will be interpreted as proof the separation has occurred. This sets the stage for the dream’s storyline which follows the ego’s tale of sin, guilt and fear. Our sin of separation in the past caused the psychological experience of guilt in the present and fear of future punishment. While the form our individual guilt takes is different, the content, fear, is the same for all fragmented aspects of the dissociated mind. It is our shared wish to be separate individuals that produced a fearful dystopian dream-world!

Key ideas in the ego’s playbook are perception, space-time and as mentioned above, sin, guilt, and fear. Perception is the process of receiving sensory information which is then given meaning based on subjective beliefs, not objective facts.  Space is defined as the experience of relationships between things in our perception and Time is the experience of relationships between events in our thought. Time creates the illusion of cause and effect relationships. This deceptive use of time sustains the ego’s destructive thought system and the anxiety prone Dystopian Dream Disorder suffered by all of the ego’s disciples, a.k.a the dreamer. By judging the present in terms of the past, the “future” merely becomes a continuation of the past. True change can only occur in the present, free of past reference.

Within the dream we experience a phenomenal world, a world known through sense perception and interpreted from beliefs the dreamer wishes to be true. Science is the study of this phenomenal world or dream. Despite the amazing breakthroughs scientists have achieved in both the physical and biological sciences there are many foundational questions that remain unanswered, such as how did the universe come about and what is consciousness? These and many other ontological questions remain largely unexplored because they cannot be addressed within the limits of their current perspective. (see my essay How Could Science be Different?) The operative phrase is “limits of their current perspective.” Change the perspective, which the Course in teaching us to do, and we will experience the world fundamentally transformed. Not just something better or different than before but qualitatively distinct. This takes no time because this transformation is inherent in the new perspective. A fearful world perceived to be real, ceases to be fearful when perceived from the perspective of a dream. Again this shift in perspective is not a function of time! Choose Spirit as our teacher and our perspective will shift from being an effect of the world to being cause, and in that instant the cause of our fear is gone. “The world contains no fear we laid not upon it!”

It is only our resistance to making this shift in perspective that causes delay! Caveat: Denial of this resistance is a potent ego defense that we must actively guard against. Our resistance  simply stated is that we do not want to believe the world is a dream. Were it not for this fact the evidence on its behalf is overwhelming. Every major concern, be it political , social, psychological, personal, environmental etc., can be easily understood and corrected within the framework of a dream. Conversely, history demonstrates that within our current real world framework there has never been and can never be meaningful resolutions to any problems. See my essay Contradictions for further details.

How willing are you to escape effects of all the dreams the world has ever had? ²Is it your wish to let no dream appear to be the cause of what it is you do? (ACIM, T-27.VIII.5:1-2) —-These are two very important questions to seriously consider. We would be at the effect of a dystopian real world, but a dystopian dream world is our choice. Therefore, we can choose to see it from the perspective of cause.—-The miracle does not awaken you, but merely shows you who the dreamer is. ³It teaches you there is a choice of dreams while you are still asleep, depending on the purpose of your dreaming. ⁴Do you wish for dreams of healing, or for dreams of death?  (ACIM, T-28.II.4:2-5)

If we choose healing, the body will no longer be experienced as an “engine of destruction” but a communication vehicle for healing. We need only demonstrate the willingness and desire to see things differently. —-  Health is the beginning of the proper perspective on life under the guidance of the one Teacher Who knows what life is, being the Voice for Life Itself (ACIM, T-8.VIII.9:9-10)——The Dystopian Dream Disorder we all suffer from is easily remedied if we are willing to let the Voice for Life teach us the right perception of the body and world.

As noted in Lesson132 mentioned above:  You cannot be swayed by questioning your thought’s effects. It is but when their source is raised to question that hope of freedom comes to you at last.—- The miracle is taken first on faith, because to ask for it implies the mind has been made ready to conceive of what it cannot see and does not understand. ²Yet faith will bring its witnesses to show that what it rested on is really there. ³And thus the miracle will justify your faith in it, and show it rested on a world more real than what you saw before; a world redeemed from what you thought was there. (ACIM, W-pII.13.4:1-3)

In gratitude and Love, Caryl

As always, please reach out to me directly with any questions or comments related to this essay or any of my essays at: carylbrowne@gmail.com