Effects of the Unbelievable Belief: from unity to fragmentation

I want to begin by defining dissociation.

“Unless you first know something you cannot dissociate it. ²Knowledge must precede dissociation, so that dissociation is nothing more than a decision to forget. ³What has been forgotten then appears to be fearful, but only because the dissociation is an attack on truth. ⁴You are fearful because you have forgotten. ⁵And you have replaced your knowledge by an awareness of dreams because you are afraid of your dissociation, not of what you have dissociated. ⁶When what you have dissociated is accepted, it ceases to be fearful.” ( T-10.II.1:1-6)

All who perceive the world, including those of us who study the Course, have dissociated from reality. Dissociation, as commonly understood, is the experience of detaching from reality. It occurs when a person is trying to forget some trauma or distressful occurrence in their personal life.  The trauma we (an aspect of mind) have chosen to forget is the unbelievable belief shared by all (now massively fragmented aspects of mind)  experiencing the world.  The belief we have literally separated from our unified mind, usurped god’s power and are self created. Terrorized by this belief, we dissociated from all knowledge of our choice to forget reality. And we replaced reality with the awareness of fearful dreams. Therefore, the Course’s goal is to lead us out of fear to peace: from fearful dreams to happy dreams.

Of course the impossible could not and did not happen in reality.— “What seems to be the opposite of life is merely sleeping. ²When the mind elects to be what it is not, and to assume an alien power which it does not have, a foreign state it cannot enter, or a false condition not within its Source, it merely seems to go to sleep a while. ³It dreams of time; an interval in which what seems to happen never has occurred, the changes wrought are substanceless, and all events are nowhere. ⁴When the mind awakes, it but continues as it always was.” (W-167.9:1-4)

Within our current paradigm, problems believed to be in the world have never and can never be resolved because their cause is not in the world, they are in the mind of the believer or dreamer of the world. Beliefs, however, can be given up, and all fearful images associated with the belief will vanish accordingly. —“Seek not to change the world but choose to change your mind about the world.” (T-21, in.1.7). — No one can prove this to you, but you can prove it to yourself. When you let go of your fearful belief, your experience must change accordingly. The cause of all fear is a secret we have kept but from ourselves.

This unbelievable belief was the birthplace of the illusory ego thought system.  The purpose of the ego’s narrative is to maintain the belief in an individual separate existence, a critical belief for ego survival. The ego or dissociated mind does not know of our reality but it is aware that its maker can withdraw belief in it. Because of the correspondence between the guilt in our mind and the dream-world, the world provides a mirror image of the insane ideas in our dissociated mind and is therefore extremely valuable in correcting the underlying cause of all guilt. This also explains why we are never upset for the reasons we think.

In the ego’s narrative, god is depicted as angry, vengeful, wrathful, jealous, and destructive. Likewise, nature is depicted as cruel and destructive, where all “living” things experience pain, suffering, loss and ultimately death. Reflecting its maker’s fearful state of mind, nature is designed to unleash massive destructive powers such as volcanoes, floods, droughts, earthquakes, tornadoes and other so called natural disasters. According to evolutionary theory all living things compete with one another for survival: “kill or be killed” is nature’s or the ego’s mantra.

We never question how contradictory and insane this narrative is. We never wonder how, much less why, such an evil world came about.  As the Course says:

“Forget not that the witness to the world of evil cannot speak except for what has seen a need for evil in the world. And this is where your guilt was first beheld. In separation from your brother was the first attack upon yourself begun. And it is this the world bears witness to. Seek not another cause, nor look among the mighty legions of its witnesses for its undoing. They support its claim on your allegiance. What conceals the truth is not where you should look to find the truth.” (T-27.VII.6:2-8)

Our secret goal has never been to experience peace in the world; our secret goal is now and has always been survival of the ego thought system! I say our goal because this vow to the ego, or alter self we made, was as one dissociated mind, which then seemed to fragment into infinite aspects of mind:——- “In your madness you see only your own split mind everywhere you look.” (T-13.V.6:5) —-Everything we experience in the world-dream is a pictorial representation of the insane images in our mind.

A world of evil is essential in the ego’s plan for survival! While you would be willing to accept responsibility for peaceful experiences in the world, you would rigorously deny responsibility for all the fearful experiences. They must be an effect of a cause outside yourself. Ergo the world must be an objective reality within which you are an effect or innocent victim. This would explain the ego’s need for making a world inhabited by beings with pain receptors. The ego thought system literally depends on experiences of great suffering.  And all this is rationalized by saying its just a “mystery.” Surely an all powerful god and/or nature could have created a joyful, peaceful, pain-free world. Our experience of the world is no accident it is purposive. As mentioned above, “ a world of evil cannot speak accept for what has need of seeing evil in the world.”

Until one questions the validity and nature of their experience of the world, the cause will remain obscured from awareness, making correction impossible. However, with a little willingness to examine this unbelievable belief, you will discover there is another way of perceiving the world. As you begin to accept what you have dissociated, it ceases to be fearful. A Course in Miracles is brilliantly designed to afford such an experience:

“The course does not aim at teaching the meaning of love, for that is beyond what can be taught. ⁷It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the awareness of love’s presence, which is your natural inheritance.” (T-in.1:6-7)