“Perception is a mirror, not at fact. And what I look upon is my state of mind, reflected outward.”  A Course in Miracles

Although scholars have exhaustively examined our world and discovered more and more facts about its behavior, they remain ignorant about its origin.  Having read and listened to many of these scholars, I noticed that most of them, since the advent of quantum mechanics in the early 20th century, consider consciousness to be fundamental.  It is important to note that consciousness is called “the Hard Problem” because there is no agreement as to its origin or nature. It is a subjective experience having to do with qualia not quantity and as such cannot be evaluated within the materialistic framework.  Therefore those who believe the world is material or physical in nature think consciousness emanated from the brain and its only a matter of time before they will be able to prove this. Idealists also believe consciousness is fundamental, though emanating from an abstract non-material mind.

A Course in Miracles states: “Consciousness, the level of perception, was the first split introduced into the mind after the separation, making the mind a perceiver rather than a creator. Consciousness is correctly identified as the domain of the ego. The ego is a wrong-minded attempt to perceive yourself as you wish to be, rather than as you are. T-3.IV.2:1-3). Within the ego thought system we made and chose to identify with, consciousness is fundamental. But neither the ego or consciousness are fundamental to our Reality: they were made to obscure our reality. By seeing consciousness as all there is, most people, including scholars, cannot transcend the ego’s perceptual dualistic framework whose purpose is to prevent any awareness of the dissociated mind’s origin. The world you see is a vengeful world, and everything in it is a symbol of vengeance. Each of your perceptions of “external reality” is a pictorial representation of your own attack thoughts. You see the world that you have made, but you do not see yourself as the image maker. W-23.3. 4

In our insane defense against the truth we have been willing to accept ideas that required inverting a whole frame of reference in order to justify them. Hence we claim that “nature” has protected our “individual life,” be it physical or mental, by limiting our awareness to the modality of perception, which many scholars acknowledge, bears no resemblance to reality beyond perception. As the Course points out: This procedure is painful in its minor applications and genuinely tragic on a wider scale. Persecution frequently results in an attempt to “justify” the terrible misperception that God Himself persecuted His Own Son on behalf of salvation. It has been particularly difficult to overcome this because, although the error itself is no harder to correct than any other, many have been unwilling to give it up in view of its prominent value as a defense. In milder forms a parent says, “This hurts me more than it hurts you,” and feels exonerated in beating a child. Can you believe our Father really thinks this way?  T-3.I.2:1-8).

Although this world is an illusion, its effect on our dissociated mind is very strong! As stated in “The Foundation,” the alter self or ego we made and identify with, post our choice to believe in the “separation,” set into motion a two-pronged defense of this belief: denial of the SECRET dream of separation ; followed by its projection onto the world dream.  It works like this: the secret dream, the belief we attacked god, is buried deep in the recesses of our mind (denied) and the resulting guilt is projectedonto a world dream. We now believe the cause of the guilt or “problems” we experience, be they personal, social, political, environmental  or economic, are not in our dissociated mind, where they must be corrected, but in a world outside and separate from ourselves. Everything you perceive as the outside world is merely your attempt to maintain your ego identification, T-12.III.7

The Course is for all who believe there must be a better way to perceive the world. It introduces us to a part of our dissociated mind that knows about the dream and is joined with Spirit. It communicates to us at the same level as the ego operates and is referred to as right-minded perception. It takes us above the battleground, back to our mind where the error was made. Thus can we choose to correct the mistaken belief in the separation. Corrected perception leads to what the Course refers to as the “real world.” It is not Reality or One Mindedness, for that cannot be perceived, only known. It is right-minded perception, transforming our nightmares into happy dreams. And it is here we rest a while in peace and understanding as Spirit Guides our way.

What began as an act of faith, as I worked with the Course, led to an experience of the “real world:” a world redeemed from what I thought was there. I now know, through experience, that ICAN elect to change all thoughts that hurt — loss IS not loss when properly perceived, I AM never upset for the reasons I think. These are not just Course ideas, they have been validated by my experience. My perceptions have not yet stabilized, however, as I perceive more and more common elements in all situations, my learning has generalized. I am applying them to everyone and everything because I recognize their universal application. By continuing to join with my Right-Mind the world has become a classroom wherein I look at what I have denied, without fear.  And as I forgive these guilty wrong-minded thoughts, the guilt is gone. What I accepted as an act of faith has radically shifted my experience of the world from effect to cause; from a battleground and imprisonment to peace and freedom. From nightmares to happy dreams!

In lesson 325 the Course gives us a brief description of how our world comes about. (Please pause and reflect on each sentence) What I see reflects a process in my mind, which starts with my idea of what I want. From there, the mind makes up an image of the thing the mind desires, judges valuable, and therefore seeks to find. These images are then projected outward, looked upon, esteemed as real and guarded as one’s own. From insane wishes comes an insane world. From judgment comes a world condemned. And from forgiving thoughts a gentle world comes forth—, W-325.1:1-6)

In our current dissociated state of mind, where the ego operates, there are only two possibilities guiding our experience: Right-Mind or wrong-mind and our experience will reflect this choice. Only the Right-Mind wants peace; the wrong-mind projects guilt and must lead to fear.  My Right-Mind has lifted me above the battleground, allowing me to experience the “real world.”

“Love is the way I walk in gratitude!” - L-195