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Re: reality
|
Stephen
¿ªÔÆÌåÓý
?Not quite, Jim.? Let's look at this exact quote of
yours:
?
"W-132.6.2??There is no world! 3 This is the
central thought the course attempts to
teach."
?
On the surface it does seem pretty clear, doesn't it??
The Course is, without question, saying "There is no world!" and it is quite
understandable why many might take this statement to mean much more than the
Author intended.? To understand it's limits you have to understand what
ACIM actually *means* by world - and to do this we need only look at Lesson 184
to find this?statement:
?
"W-184.8. Think not you made the world. 2 Illusions, yes! 3 But what
is true in earth and Heaven is beyond your
naming."
?
The "world" in ACIM is the world of Illusions - nothing
more and nothing less - and an "illusion" in the American Heritage Dictionary
(4th Ed.), Jim,?is "An erroneous perception of
reality".
?
But the *really* interesting thing about comparing these
two passages is that we can notice instantly how the?statements "There is
no world!" and "Think not you made the world.? Illusions, yes!" are saying
exactly the same thing - our egocentric world-view isn't real.? Yet,
crucially, "...what is true in earth and Heaven [and] beyond [our] naming." is
off-set against the "world of illusions" in L-184.
?
It's irrefutable.? 'Heaven and
earth' are placed over and against the world of illusions in L-184 and are
clearly stipulated?in the rest of that Lesson as *not* being part of the
illusion.? Here's the proof - just look at the first, second and then final
paragraphs of L-184:
?
"W-184.1. You live by symbols. 2 You have made up names for
everything you see. 3 Each one becomes a separate entity, identified by its own
name. 4 By this you carve it out of unity. 5 By this you designate its special
attributes, and set it off from other things by emphasizing space surrounding
it. 6 This space you lay between all things to which you give a different name;
all happenings in terms of place and time; all bodies which are greeted by a
name."
?
"W-184.2. This space you see as setting off all things from one
another is the means by which the world's perception is achieved. 2 You see
something where nothing is, and see as well nothing where there is unity; a
space between all things, between all things and you. 3 Thus do you think that
you have given life in separation. 4 By this split you think you are established
as a unity which functions with an independent
will."
?
"W-184.15. Father, our Name is Yours. 2 In It we are united with all
living things, and You Who are their one Creator. 3 What we made and call by
many different names is but a shadow we have tried to cast across Your Own
reality. 4 And we are glad and thankful we were wrong. 5 All our mistakes we
give to You, that we may be absolved from all effects our errors seemed to have.
6 And we accept the truth You give, in place of every one of them. 7 Your Name
is our salvation and escape from what we made. 8 Your Name unites us in the
oneness which is our inheritance and peace. 9
Amen."
?
And this is all fully confirmed in
the Manual for Teachers:
?
M-11.1.6? The world you see
cannot be the world God loves, and yet His Word assures us that He loves the
world. 7 God's Word has promised that peace is possible here, and what He
promises can hardly be impossible. 8 But it is true that the world must be
looked at differently, if His promises are to be accepted. 9 What the world is,
is but a fact. 10 You cannot choose what this should be. 11 But you can choose
how you would see it. 12 Indeed, you choose this.?
M-11.2. Again we come to the
question of judgment. 2 This time ask yourself whether your judgment or the Word
of God is more likely to be true.
That's not exactly true forgiveness or the?proper use
of denial in ACIM.
?
~
Stephen |
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