A Course In Miracles Deep Dive, Chapter 2, Section XI, Paragraphs 19 to 21 | Superego, Magic, and Mercy | October 1, 2025

💫 From Bedlam to the Miracle Level 💫

Ever notice how that inner punisher speaks with such authority—yet leaves you small, tense, and afraid? In this Deep Dive, we unpack why that “voice of truth” isn’t you at all.

Through the lens of A Course in Miracles, we revisit Freud’s id–ego–superego model and flip the hierarchy: the deepest layer of mind isn’t animal instinct or chaos—it’s the miracle level—the quiet, unwavering memory of Love that was never lost.

When miracles are confused with magic, we chase symptoms in form and miss the cause in mind. Here, we untangle the two—so relief becomes practical and immediate.

You’ll see how Freud’s logic—civilization as compromise, psyche as battleground—makes discontent inevitable. Then we offer a new map: anxiety isn’t a cause, it’s an effect of believing in separation. Treating effects keeps you looping; correcting cause frees you now.

Expect grounded clarity and tools you can use right away:
 ✨ How to tell the counterfeit voice (harsh, urgent, shaming) from the Holy Spirit’s (quiet, kind, certain).
 ✨ How to redirect destructive “instincts” back into creative extension.
 ✨ How to use everyday forms—medicine, exercise, routines—without turning them into salvation.
 ✨ How to pause when the mind piles on analysis and simply ask, Would Love speak this way?

By the end, the mind’s bedlam gives way to order.
You reclaim authorship of your attention, recognizing that even the power behind every miscreation was always your creative power—ready to return to Love.

If this conversation helps you hear the gentler voice within, share it with a friend, subscribe for future Deep Dives, and leave a review so others can find the way back to peace. 🕊️

Chapters

• 0:00 Glitchy Start, Community Check-in
• 1:04 Setting the Text and Context
• 2:41 Superego as Miscreation
• 6:05 The Counterfeit Voice vs Holy Spirit
• 10:58 Freedom, Not Control
• 15:20 Painful Truce: Id, Ego, Superego
• 21:12 Civilization and Discontent Reframed
• 28:00 Q&A: Fear, Thought, and Projection
• 32:14 Addictions, “Magic,” and Inviting Spirit
• 42:02 The Id Is Only Surface
• 47:14 Miracles vs Magic: Key Distinction
• 53:12 Layering Theory as Ego Defense
• 58:38 Bedlam: The Ego’s Madhouse Image
• 1:06:23 Anxiety: Effect, Not Cause
• 1:15:15 Instinct, Destructiveness, and Redirection
• 1:22:38 Redirecting Power Back to Love
• 1:27:22 Closing, Resources, and Next Steps

Transcript

SPEAKER_03: 0:00

Make sure it does it this time.

SPEAKER_01: 0:04

You can do it.

SPEAKER_03: 0:14

Okay, yay. Oh yay. Okay. We showed up on Substack. Okay. Thank you for joining, Sub Substack Peeps. We love you. Uh there is a little bit of a glitch, so I arrived a little bit later than scheduled, and we had a beautiful prayer already that will be there in the playback later. It'll show up on Substack and it'll show up on uh YouTube and it'll be in all of the podcast channels. So you can tune in there. I love you. Okay, let's get to it. If anyone has any questions, you can raise your hand to me on Zoom or you can just type in the chat or the QA. And if you're on Substack, feel free to make any comments. I check on you guys over there too. All right, yay. So we're starting with paragraph 19, set sentence one. And this comes from a course in miracles. It's the complete annotated edition. It was published in 2021. It has a purplish color. So we've been discussing Freud's superego and id theory. Now we're gonna go deeper. If you didn't see last week's, you can always go to that to get some more context. But it's basically uh going to be explained just going through this text right now. All right, so the first sentence we're looking at, paragraph 19, sentence one. Freud's superego is a particularly interesting example of the real power of miscreation. So here's a fun sentence. Freud's superhero or superego, superhero. You can call it that too. Freud's superego is a particularly interesting example. Okay, the superego. So the superego in Freud's theory is the harsh inner critic. Okay, it's the internalized voice of parents and society's rules. Like let's say you went to Catholic school or something, whatever they're pounding in, that's your, according to Freud's theory, the harsh inner critic. Jesus is saying it's it's a it's a really striking case of how miscreation operates. Right? The mind makes something unreal, believes in it, and then suffers from it.

SPEAKER_02: 3:08

Isn't that good?

SPEAKER_03: 3:10

So the super ego, that's not uh that's not some neutral observation of conscience. It's a mental structure that actually that's actually built in guilt and punishment and fear. That's what that is. And it seems like you gotta listen to it, but you don't. And that's what I've been seeing all along. Like you don't have to listen to that voice that comes across with even, you know, you could say, you could say, like in working out or something, gosh, I gotta get on the ball. I really gotta like get, you know, that's that's that one. It's like not interesting, it's not important, it just comes from fear. So the superego, it's not a neutral conscience, it's a mental structure that's built on fear and punishment and guilt. So Jesus is show is showing us that Freud, because he was resisting the atonement, you know, even though he was resisting the atonement, he still could glimpse the destructive dynamics of ego. It's just that he misinterpreted those dynamics as inevitable structures. That's where it went awry for him. He saw what was going on as far as there's these destructive dynamics as the ego, and he's recognizing that they're coming from the unconscious, but he's making them as if they're the thing, like they're they're the thing that has to be, it's inevitable. See, let's read the sentence again. Freud's super ear, here it goes again, superhero. Freud's super ego is a particularly interesting example of the real power of miscreation. So the real power, quote, real power of miscreation isn't actual power, it's borrowed power. It's the energy of mind misused under the ego's direction. The ego's a directing it to be uh something that's a that's distorted, it's a distorted view, it's a distorted lens. So the super ego, you guys check this out because this is good. The super ego is a counterfeit voice of authority. Okay, it's just uh it's just acting like it's God. That's what's going on. Instead of the Holy Spirit's gentle voice, it's like this voice is our true authority, it's a parody of divine guidance. Instead of a gentle correction by the Holy Spirit, the superego is condemning, shaming, keeping the mind enslaved in guilt. It masquerades as divine guidance. That's what it's trying to be. It's just that that's not how divine guidance comes. Divine guidance comes from the Holy Spirit's gentle correction. That's why Jesus is calling it an interesting example.

SPEAKER_02: 7:03

He has a sense of humor, that guy.

SPEAKER_03: 7:10

Yeah. The superego is an invention of the mind. It's that this punisher within the mind, which itself is designed to maintain the illusion of sin and keep fear alive. It's a total fabrication, this superego. It is just not necessary, it's not needed at all. Okay. So practically, the way we can use this sentence in our lives is whenever we hear an inner voice that condemns us, shames us, frightens us. This is where we recognize this is not God's voice. It's the ego's super ego, a miscreation.

SPEAKER_04: 8:03

It's all the ego, like the body's the ego, the id's the ego, the super ego's the ego, and then there's the ego trying to manage all of them.

SPEAKER_02: 8:15

Isn't it funny?

SPEAKER_03: 8:20

So you can ask yourself if you're feeling any kind of uncomfortable sense. It's like, would love speak to me this way? You're listening to this voice. That's all it means. You're just listening to this voice that's saying you're something that you're not. You're not that thing. Okay. So the voice for God is always quiet. It's always certain, it's always loving, it's always kind. It's not that it's not real. It's not something that uh actually affects you unless you choose to have it affect you, affect you in the moment. It's not affecting you because of anything else that happened in time, it's affecting you in the moment because you're choosing to be affected by it in the moment. So you might as well just have a laugh at that, right? There's no need to there's no need to be suffering. I love you guys. Thank you. So this is how the spell is broken of the super ego. So you don't have to be at its mercy anymore. You don't have to be fighting. It's a it's a fight that doesn't, and it's not really you that can fight. It's like you're watching a show, you're believing it to be so. So then the superego and the id, they're like in this thing together that no one ever wins, right? No one's ever happy in any of the ego's forms, the superego or the id. So this restores the awareness to your mind when you recognize that this is just a fabricated thing. This is a fabricated voice. This restores awareness to your mind that only love has authority. And add to that, you are only love. So only you have authority. That's what it's really saying. Let's read the sentence one more time before we move on. Freud's superego is a particularly interesting example of the real power of miscreation. All right. Paragraph 19, sentence two. This is page 100 of the complete annotated edition. It is noteworthy throughout the whole development of his, that's Freud's theories that the superego never allied itself with freedom. Okay, I need to read that again. It is noteworthy throughout the wait. All right, it is noteworthy throughout the whole development of his theories that the superego never allied itself with freedom. That is noteworthy throughout all Freud's theories that the superego never allied itself with freedom. Then why would we ally ourselves with it? Right? That makes no sense. It was never for freedom, it was always for control. So here Jesus is highlighting a central flaw in Freud's model, and that's that the superego is always caught up with restriction, repression, guilt. It's never about liber liberation. Because liberation is right now. See, Freud was describing the ego as an internal, the internal, not an internal, the internal voice of authority. Punishing, controlling, demanding. In his system, in Freud's own system, this what he called a moral structure never offered anyone relief. It only increased conflict. This is showing us the nature of miscreation. This is miscreation. It enslaves, it does not free. No illusion that comes from form arises out, or no illusion that comes from fear arises from a sense that something is being threatened can ever ally itself with freedom. Because truly, freedom is only the truth of who you are. That's the freedom. There's no freedom in these illusions. And illusions that arise from fear are already saying there is no freedom. You have to conform. The way of the ego is this conformity. So the superego is basically a counterfeit conscience. It's a jailer masquerading as a protector. Let's read the sentence again. It is noteworthy throughout the whole development of his theories, that's Freud's theories, that the super ego never allied himself with freedom. Wow. You have something to say?

SPEAKER_00: 14:43

Yeah, well, when I hear you talking, I recognize that Christ offered freedom. And psychology and philosophy gave a good understanding of the problem and maybe tweaking it, but they didn't release from the loop like Christ did.

SPEAKER_03: 15:02

Yes, and that's why he's pointing it out so we can see, because our whole way we've been conditioned to see things has been based on this history, you know, that he's showing. Like this is so so we see how we've just been conditioned toward this uh, I guess you can say Freudian way of thinking through the society that we've been conditioned in, and then he's showing us the way to see past that. It's really sweet. So, you know, a practical in in practicality, notice when there's an inner critic speaking that's trying to help you to keep you in line, to prevent mistakes. What about trying to do that to other people too? To keep them in line, to prevent mistakes, always demanding higher standards. You're never good enough, for instance, right? You know, check in with yourself. Say, does this voice ally with freedom or fear? Is this freedom or fear? You don't have to believe or follow any thought that speaks to fear. You are entitled to freedom. If anything you hear, if anything anyone says or anything you hear in your mind that leaves you feeling small or guilty or trapped, that's the superego. You are not trapped either. It's a miscreation, it is not your true guide. I'll tell you, I felt trapped a lot in my experience. That was one of my things. You know, I seem to be trapped in my childhood to the family that I seem to have. I think maybe some of you guys can relate with that. You know, it's like, man, I wish I'd had a better family, you know? And so that trapped feeling kept on projecting throughout, throughout, throughout until I recognized, oh my goodness, that's a voice that I'm listening to that's telling me I'm trapped, and I'm in complete authorship of this right here. And it was like the best realization. It was like, what the heck? This is awesome. I'm in complete authorship of this, only so that I can learn to extend love through this. The thing itself, whatever seems to be happening, isn't even really happening, except it's happening in a symbolic sense, as a symbol of something deeper, as a symbol of uh of an unwillingness and also of a deeper willingness. It's all like that. We're gonna get into this, into it uh when we go deeper into this uh this chapter. I love it, you guys. Thanks for joining. All right. So the correction is really gentle. It's like it's like I release the voice of guilt. I choose the voice that always leads to freedom. I choose the voice that is sweet to me, and sweet toward others as well, because it's the same. It's a simple shift. It's a simple shift. You're just choosing something else, you're choosing something that feels really good. This breaks your identification with this counterfeit conscience. It's saying, Thank you for your service, and you may now leave. And that opens your mind, that leaves the space in your mind for the Holy Spirit's direction, which is truly liberating. That's what we want to hear. We want to hear from the Holy Spirit, which is truly liberating. All right, you guys, I check on you for your hands and questions. No one's asking. I'm just gonna keep on moving on. I love you guys. Thank you for joining. All right, paragraph 19, sentence three, page 100 of the complete annotated edition. The most it could do in this direction was to work out a painful truth. A painful truth, a painful truce. The most it could do in this direction was to work out a painful truce in which both opponents lost. That's what I was talking about earlier. But here's what the footnote says: footnote 148. I.e. the superego and the id. The superego reaches a truce with the id through the mediation of the ego. So the ego becomes the mediator and it mediates between the superego and the id, which it also it which is also part of the ego, really. It's like you got three now.

SPEAKER_02: 20:13

You got a mediator, and you got the one that just wants to have fun, and the one that just wants to fucking go, I'm in control of you.

SPEAKER_03: 20:24

For instance, the one that wants to eat full fat cottage cheese, and the one that says if you eat too much fat, you're gonna get fat, which we found out was a bunch of bullshit, anyways. All right, Freud's model. Okay, so it says the most it could do, that's Freud's model. The most it could do is talking about Freud's model in this direction was to work out a painful truce in which both opponents lost. So Freud's model that set up the psyche, the human psyche, as a battleground. We want those on.

SPEAKER_04: 21:09

Yeah, I'm on camera, that's why. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 21:14

Yeah, I know. She's setting it up so it looks really fucking awesome to her in here. Thank you for doing that.

SPEAKER_04: 21:26

Oh, yeah. For sure. I totally hear you. I get you. Yeah, we're doing awesome. We got this. Oh man, I'm telling you, this kind of this this kind of deep dive, it just like it kind of gets me giddy for sure.

SPEAKER_03: 21:50

It's like it's it really shows what's going on. Karen, I love you, Hope Johnson, and I'm really enjoying hearing your you laugh. Oh, Karen, I love you too. I enjoyed laughing. Thank you. Thank you for listening. I love you so much. Oh, yes, yes, Caitlin. Beautiful and sweet. Yes, like you. I love you. Thank you. All right. So Freud's model set up this battleground. It's a battleground thing. The the id, what he calls the id, which is basically what he's saying is primitive instincts on one side and the superego on the other side. This is a punitive authority, the superego, right? So we've got primitive instincts. This is Freud's model, and and then punitive authority. One side's one and one side's the other. And then the ego is trying to mediate them. That's what he's talking about here. Let's read the sentence again. The most it could do in this direction was to work out a painful truce in which both opponents lost. Okay. So Jesus is noting that the best, the best this system could do was a painful truce. No one even wins. The id remains repressed, the super ego remains condemning, and the ego is in the middle, all exhausted. That shows up in your body.

SPEAKER_02: 23:17

That shows up in and as your body. Isn't that so fun? The exhausted ego in the middle of all this, right? Isn't that so cute? I love to watch that.

SPEAKER_03: 23:32

Uh, so so this is how the ego's thought system operates. And this is how to see through the whole ego thought system. That's what we're showing right here. It offers compromises, it never resolves conflict. It's never about resolving conflict. It it wants the ego wants the mind to stay in a cycle. It's struggling, it's repressing itself, it's feeling guilty. I remember when I used to be a workout chick, what would keep me in line, what I thought was important to keep me in line, was to be looking in the mirror and pointing out flaws about myself. So I would go to the gym and not be a lazy fat fuck, you know, just like these these kinds of ways of relating with myself that really I learned from watching my parents and you know, taking in what the the way they would uh express to me. But most of it is just watching and the example, and then I'm and then I'm learning that this is how it works in life when it does not work like this. It only seems to while while we would be hateful toward ourselves. So this painful truth, which Freud was offering, wasn't healing, it was a perception, it was uh it was this perpetuation of conflict made to look like it was resolution. Somehow, this resolution is coming in the future somewhere. The ego loves this, the ego thrives on this, it loves this dynamic, always keeping the mind trapped between attack and defense, so it never sees peace. It's peace just never seems possible because it's always right between attack and defense, attack and defense, making yourself wrong. So, of course, in miracles is teaching that both the id and the superego are miscreations, they're both symbols of a split mind. Do you see that? Is it making this really clear to you? Now, this is a symbol of a split mind. Now you need one that's just this uh this libido energy that just wants to do everything, and then you've got the super ego that's controlling, right? These are both symbols of a split mind. The Holy Spirit doesn't need you to negotiate between these illusions. Yeah, so it's just about withdrawing belief in either side, both sides, there's just no conflict. See, this truce between these two is the ego's substitute for peace. Because the ego doesn't believe that peace is possible. Neither system needs to be given into. It's just about listening to the Holy Spirit and recognizing that everything is really a miracle impulse in disguise. So notice when you try to manage inner conflict with compromise, giving the ego a little, you might call the ego the one that wants things, giving the conscience. That's what Freud calls the superego, a little bit, this guilty self-conscious, a little bit. Neither guilt nor indulgence defined define you. You can just choose peace. You don't have to choose guilt or indulge, indulging, indulgence. Even the idea of indulgence is guilt in disguise. That's the thing. Why would you want to? Why would you want to go one bit further? It's like you can push it beyond the beyond that joy to go to the other side. Oh, okay. Let me see. I got the I got the definition of indulge. To yield an inclination to desire, allow oneself to follow one's will. See, that's what it's saying. It's following your own will. And if you're just following the Holy Spirit's will for you, which is God's will for you, which is perfect happiness, then you're not indulging, you're just enjoying. And that's peaceful. See, you're just enjoying. It's it's natural, it's normal. Uh, we've been uh we've been taught, I can say that really loosely because I feel like, man, I taught that to myself, and I and it's fun. There's joy in undoing it too. You know, just this sense, like uh, you know, I seem to like to eat ghee all the time. And um, there's this sense people uh will reflect back to me about how being this being so indulgent, especially how I put so much ghe on. Geez, I even fry my berries and ghee before I consider them edible.

SPEAKER_02: 29:15

Yeah. And I like to put whipped cream on them too, you know.

SPEAKER_03: 29:20

Uh, and it's like and it's like it's it doesn't seem like indulgent to me. It just seems natural and normal uh to be enjoying whatever it is that I seem to be eating or doing, or however I seem to be sitting, or whatever task, or whatever I seem to even be thinking about. I like to be juicy with all of my thoughts. You know, even if it seems like a murderous murderous thought, it's like, oh yeah, oh, really? Okay, well, good thing that's not true. You know, good. Thing that's not even part of me. It's part of a dream that I'm projecting. That is way, way, way different. And I'm only projecting because of a mistaken belief. Wow, that's awesome. Love that. I love this movie. It's good. So the Holy Spirit's way is never compromise. It's your full release. Uncompromising release right now. You got it. Yeah, that's been a theme. Uh, me and Thomas have been talking about this uncompromising, uh I guess you could say uncompromising devotion to the truth, right? That's a good way to say it. So whenever we're refusing the ego's interpretation that we have to do this truce, there's some kind of truce to be made, we just choose atonement. That's how we experience the that true freedom. The superego can't never offer that because it's only now. And now the superego is only always a dick. There's no need to listen to him. Let's read that sentence one more time. The most it could do, that's Freud's theory, in this direction was to work out a painful truce in which both opponents lost. No wonder that dude was pissed. He was not a happy camper. At least not according to this. What we're reading here in A Course in Miracles. All right. Looks like you guys are still doing good over here. I love you. Moving on to paragraph 19, sentence four, still on page 100. This perception could not fail to force him to emphasize discontent in his view of civilization. See you guys, I told you he was pissed. This perception could not fail to force him to emphasize discontent in his view of civilization. And this sentence has a footnote attached to it. Footnote 149. In Civilization and its discontents from 1930, that's the name of a paper, I believe, or some kind of document. Freud focused on the inherent friction between the individual's desire to freely express the instincts for sex and aggression. That's the id. And the civilization's need for the individual to repress the same instincts and conform to the group. That's represented by the superego. You guys hear that? Let me know if you need me to read anything again.

SPEAKER_01: 33:01

Read that one again.

SPEAKER_03: 33:02

Read that one again. In civilization and its discontents from 1930, Freud focused on the inherent friction between the individual's desire to freely express and the instincts for sex and aggression. That's the id. And civilization's need for the individual to repress the same instincts and conform to the group that's represented by the superego. Is that sweet or what? So this friction, which gives rise to perpetual discontent, is the same deadlock Jesus is referring to above in that quote, in which both opponents lost. That's the footnote that I just read. So here's the sentence again. This perception could not fail to force him, Freud, to emphasize discontent in his view of civilization. So that's why it referred us back to civilization and its discontents from 1930, which was some kind of document by Freud that focused on this thing. So Freud concluded that civilization inevitably produces frustration, unhappiness because it forces the repression of instinctual drives. So automatically you're looking at it, you're going, shit, that's the best it could be is an unhappy compromise on both sides. So Jesus is noting here that this outcome that Freud came to, he's saying it's inevitable given the framework. Once you're defining the psyche as being an irreconcilable battle between the id and superego, the best you could do is predict discontent in society. How could you do any better than that? If you've already defined your psyche as being in this battle that never ends. Both made up by the ego.

SPEAKER_01: 35:54

So cute. Right. The idea of separation and division.

SPEAKER_03: 36:03

Yep. So Freud's work in civilization and its discontents, his paper, that became a natural extension of his misperception. He was misperceiving. It's magnifying this deadlock that Jesus talked about before, uh, where both opponents lost. That's the deadlock, onto a societal scale. It's like this made discontent seem to be, Freud's model made discontent seem to be the unavoidable fate for humanity. That's what we've been conditioned with. That kind of belief, that it's unavoidable. The best we can do is be divided, be controlled, resentful, anxious, right? So a Course in Miracles is showing us that discontent is not our destiny, it's just the result of believing in separation. It's not even the human condition. You could see, you could say it's the condition in the present moment of believing in separation. It's not really tied to anything. So Freud essentially mistook the problem, which was ego dynamics. It's these ego dynamics as if that's actually reality. So all of his insights that followed that were really just reinforcing that story, the ego story, basically the story that humanity is doomed to be in conflict forever and ever. When we just withdraw this belief in separation, we're like, but the separation never happened. Then both of those dissolve the id and the superego. Like we don't need it. Peace is just restored. So there's no such thing as inevitable discontent. It's only a choice now, it's not the truth. So notice when you just make the assumption, watch your mind. This is what this is about. Notice when you make the assumption that there's conflict, frustration, or discontent, and those are just part of life. That's what the ego says. Those are part of life, it's human nature. That's the Freud's logic playing out still. So, of course, in miracles is saying, refuse this assumption. Conflict is not inevitable. Discontent is not my fate. I choose peace now. So practically, if you ever find yourself normalizing this stuff, discontent, displeasure, remember you're already whole and free. Civilization, these beliefs, they don't bind me. I need to know what they are so I could see them and go, whoa, that's but that's what's been what running the show in my mind. Well, that's where this is where that stuff stops. I'll stop that right now. We don't need that anymore. Thank you for your service, and you may go. You're off duty. Only thing that binds us is our belief in this in separation right now. So this is how you shift from seeing yourself as trapped in the world structures. It could be you think you're trapped in a marriage, or you think you're trapped as a parent, or you think you're trapped in a job, or a certain society, or whatever it seems to be in a relationship. Your mind is free right now. That's what that's saying. Okay, got a comment here from Christina. In a sense, he is coming from fear because of his thoughts of what he feels is true, which has no existence apart from thought. Okay, let me read that again. In a sense, he is coming from fear because of his thoughts. Okay. Okay. So, in a sense, he is coming from fear because of his thoughts of what he feels is true, which has no existence apart from thoughts. So these thoughts present themselves as a reality, like this is just how it is. But Jesus is saying that this feeling has no reality apart from the thought itself. Like let's say anxiety. It has no reality apart from the thought itself. They aren't grounded in God, they have no true foundations, they're miscreations. They seem to have power because the mind invests belief in them. So when a brother acts from fear, what you're seeing is the mind, let's say impersonal mind, holding on to a false belief, mistaking that to be the truth. And the release is in recognizing that. Okay, fear, anxiety, upset, that's not an actual state. It's always a projection of belief in separation right now. Whatever looks like fear-driven behavior, it's a call for love. The mind's caught up in thoughts. It doesn't have none of these things have a real existence to them. So, you know, Jesus is saying, you don't have to take fear at face value, just look past it. This is not the truth of my brother. This is only a thought. It's mistaken for to be reality. So it helps us to shift like that. Or, yeah, Christine, or trapped in a body. In a sense, he is coming from fear because his thoughts of what he feels. Yes, that feeling of trapped in the in a body is coming from thought. Exactly. Yes. Yes. And if I didn't get your your meaning right and you need to uh clarify it, feel free. I check on you guys. And oh, someone wants to talk to me. Okay, awesome. Christina, aloha. Do you want to come on camera or do you like just being uh voice one way or another?

SPEAKER_05: 43:19

But I'm actually my my comment was my thought was that Freud is seeing a horrible earth or a miserable planet because of his thought that it is a miserable place. And yes, that is based on his fear because this is what he believes to be true, right? And you cannot what I got from a course of love is um thought isn't real in the first place, yes, so you cannot bait his his negative outlook is based on the thought that this is a crazy place, and it's because he fears that he doesn't want that, and so but he's not looking past the fear, so there's no other way he can see it. Is that totally confusing? I don't know.

SPEAKER_03: 44:33

No, no, you got it. It you know, he's he's just he's really committed to his theories, and his theories deny the atonement in the first place. They just say that this is the base of our reality, and this is the truth of our reality, is these two things at on a battleground together, fighting each other, and with the ego as the mediator, the ego being the self that we made, it's just like uh exhausted.

SPEAKER_05: 45:02

It gets exhausted, but it is all ultimately based on his thought.

SPEAKER_03: 45:08

That's right. So it's it's not real, it is not real, exactly. Thank you.

SPEAKER_05: 45:15

That's what I was trying to figure. I mean, I get that um thought is is not real because unless it's based on truth, the truth of who we really are.

SPEAKER_03: 45:30

It's true, and even the thoughts based on truth are illusions, but they're pointing to the truth and actually leading to the truth, right? It's just it's it's given us like like God gave us the Holy Spirit with that whole structure of thought to help lead us out of this delusion, this delusional sense. And see, the reason why Jesus is showing us these ego dynamics that are playing out here is so that we can see when these ego dynamics are playing out, because our our mind is largely unwatched. And he's really encouraging us here to watch our mind more so we could see this dynamic playing out, so we could recognize it's not true and actively participate in our awakening by choosing peace.

SPEAKER_05: 46:19

And and a mind-heart connection.

SPEAKER_03: 46:23

That's basically what it is. When you say, when you say heart, which is what you learn from a course in love, it's the same thing as a course in miracles talking about your right mind. Okay, thank you. Okay, so you could put those two together, isn't that fun?

SPEAKER_05: 46:39

Yeah. Integration.

SPEAKER_03: 46:43

Yeah, yeah, because they're both really pointy to the same thing and they are not contradicting each other at all. They are using a little bit of different language.

SPEAKER_05: 46:52

Okay, thank you.

SPEAKER_03: 46:53

Yay, thank you, Christina. I love you. Okay. Um, okay, so I got another question here. So wouldn't, so would it be the superego who is responsible for addictions and compulsions? How do you go about hand handing that over to the Holy Spirit? It's just a matter of thank you for your service. We will not be needing this anymore. We will not be requiring this anymore. And that is just right now, you know. Right now, I'm I'm open to hearing from the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, show me what is the most helpful for myself and for all of my brothers right now. And then be willing to do that. And whatever you seem to do, the way the Holy Spirit looks at that is 100% acceptance. So let's say I like to bring it to an extreme. You're either doing heroin or watching porn.

unknown: 47:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_03: 47:59

In your dream. Remember, this is in your dream. Invite Jesus in. Whatever you seem to be doing, invite Jesus in and show me how I could be helpful within this perception. Because all you're really doing all the time is choosing which thought system you're gonna give credence to in the moment. You're either leaning towards truth or illusion. You're actually like moving in that direction. It's like you're moving in that direction all the time. So you don't have to worry about it in the sense of what's gonna become of me if I keep on uh smoking 20 spliffs every day, for instance. Like, what's gonna become of me if I keep on drinking a gallon of whiskey every night? You know, it's like let this be given to the spirit, make it a ceremony, whatever it is, enjoy it. The superego wants to make it like you need to be controlled because you have this gallon of whiskey a night habit. You need to be controlled because you have this shooting heroin and then uh end up doing sexual favors you didn't want to do, habit. You need to be controlled because you're gonna get in trouble. When you give your body up to be a communication device for bringing yourself and all of your brothers back to sanity and the peace of God, nothing you can find yourself doing is gonna feel wrong to you. So, you know, it's it's a matter of whatever you seem to be uh contributing through this dreamscape. It's a hundred percent helpful a hundred percent of the time, no matter what it looks like. You need to know that because it's only symbolic, it didn't really happen. A symbol of something deeper arose. It's a symbol of something deeper. Be willing to look, get curious. The superego is not one bit curious, it just wants to project that punishment and guilt are actual things that lead to happiness. It's not true. All right, one paragraph in one hour. We're doing great.

SPEAKER_01: 50:26

Deep dive.

SPEAKER_03: 50:27

This is a deep dive. Thank you for joining. Okay, I'm just checking on you guys. I got uh let's see, Substack Peep. I love you. Thank you for joining. You guys are so sweet, and you sweeties on Zoom too. Thank you for your questions. I love you. All right, paragraph 20, sentence one. The Freuden id is really only the more superficial level of the unconscious and not the deepest level at all. That's Jesus' words there from a course in miracles, page 100. And there's a footnote here, footnote 150. In Freudian theory, the id is the unconscious source of primitive instinctive impulses. In the course, the quote, deepest level, unquote, of the unconscious is the miracle level. So Freud believed that the id was the ultimate depth of unconscious, it's a primal reservoir of drives and impulses like hunger, sex, aggression. Jesus is correcting this. He's saying the id is only a surface layer of the unconscious, it's not the death. Beneath that veil, this is a veil here, lies something way more profound. So, a Course in Miracles here is saying that the deepest level of the unconscious is not instinct, it's the miracle level. The memory of God, this call to love, the presence of holiness. It's never touched by these illusions. These illusions are only superficial. So Freud thought instinctual energy was the foundation of the mind. He made that the foundation of the mind. What Jesus is clarifying for us here is that that instinct is just a mask. The foundation of our unconscious mind is pure miracle impulse. Its foundation is in spirit. So the id is just the decoy, it's covering over the miracle impulse. That's what's beneath, that's what's at the foundation of all of this. So the ego wants us to believe that our depth is dark and chaotic and animalistic. That's the id. This is not a reality. This is a make-believe thing. This is what keeps us fearful and not wanting to look inward. We want to try to repress this thing when we're listening to the superego. So the course is revealing when you go past this fear and guilt and instinctual stuff, you see there's not darkness, there's light. It's the miracle. You look deeper than that. This is where the memory of God is. It's always present, it's always available. Let's read the sentence again. The Freudian id is really only the more superficial level of the unconscious and not the deepest level at all. So Jesus is into the deepest level. Imagine that. So here's how you can participate. When you feel this pull, this craving stuff, fear, lust, aggression. Recognize this is not the truth of me. This is not me. I'm not lustful, I'm not aggressive, I'm not fearful. Deeper than that is the miracle. That's the memory of my innocence, the memory of God's love. That's at the deepest level. That's where I truly am. This other stuff, it's superficially imposed over the miracle impulse. I want to see clearly what's really there. I don't want to be afraid of the unconscious. I want to welcome it. I see past that. The Holy Spirit easily, and Jesus in my experience too, easily guide past this superficial superficial layer, which I consider like anything where it seems like something's fearful. Like anyone's mad at me, like I have to figure out how I'm going to pay my bills, like um uh like there's some bad weather coming, even like anything that seems fearful. It's just like, man, that's the that's the unconscious. There's nothing to be afraid of there. The Holy Spirit guides us past all those kinds of thoughts to the miracle level, and that's where true joining occurs. So this is really reframing the unconscious to show us it's not this pit of danger, but it's actually where the miracles are, waiting for us to release them. So every instinctual reaction, let's say it's lust, let it be a doorway, let it uncover and heal that belief in separation. It's like you don't react to the uh to the sensation, to this interpretation of the id as if it's bad or good. Just let it be what it is. Feel it and recognize that it is actually meant to uncover your belief in separation. And just be listening to the Holy Spirit who speaks kindly to you. Like only listen to the Holy Spirit. Don't listen to the ego. There's only now, so it doesn't matter if you were listening to the ego before. Because there isn't really a before like that. So, next sentence, paragraph 20, sentence two. This too was inevitable because Freud could not divorce miracles from magic. So, this is where we're gonna get into miracles and magic, as Jesus is pointing out here. So he's saying, uh, why Freud stopped at the id and missed the true depth of the unconscious. He's this is he's pointing this out right here. He could not divorce miracles from magic. So he wasn't distinguishing miracles, which are expressions of divine love, and magic, which is ego substitutes for healing. So to him, any talk about miracles would uh sound like superstition. Miracles sounded like magic to him, and you know, magic is defined here as ego substitutes for healing. So he confused those things, is what he's saying. Freud dismissed the miracle when he settled for the id as the deepest truth. So he couldn't recognize the miracle level as the foundation of the mind. He couldn't see past, he wouldn't, he wasn't willing to see past that psyche with the conflict drives and the repression. So the reason Jesus is saying here it's inevitable is because once you confuse miracles with magic, you cannot access true healing, you can't access the source. Once you know, you it's inevitable until you change your mind about that. So Freud could have changed his mind, he had the free will to, but he didn't do it. Okay, we got a question here. Does the ego hear the Holy Spirit? Hmm, that is a good question. I like that question. Does the ego hear the Holy Spirit? Um, the ego is naturally afraid of what the Holy Spirit says. So it's like when you consider the Holy Spirit's thoughts, the ego is naturally going to be afraid. Of that. What I notice in my own perception, and here's what it looks like first the ego is afraid of it. Oh, you're going to get in trouble. This is going to be very bad. Um, you're going to uh really screw yourself up. And then once it's demonstrated that it does not screw anything up, that it's actually totally sweet and awesome and leads to beautiful relationships all the way around and uh and a sweet way of being, uh, then the ego calms down. That's what I notice. You know, at first it might flare up and there will be all these illusions produced where the ego's going, see, you haven't changed at all. Nothing has changed. Look how it is. And look at now things are getting screwed up. Look, your relationships are getting messed up. Uh, I mean, when you just first start listening to the spirit, it's like it's like something changes and the ego tries to tempt you with thoughts like, now look how screwed up it is. Look at how you screwed up by listening to the Holy Spirit. Yeah. Oh, yes. You say I would think it would be aware of a challenging presence. Yes, that's right. It is aware of a challenging presence. It's aware of its annihilation. That's why it's afraid of it. And it's right about that. Uh, I believe a Course in Miracles says it's one thing that the ego is right about.

SPEAKER_02: 1:01:26

The one thing that the ego is right about, that it is totally threatened.

SPEAKER_03: 1:01:33

It is totally threatened by the voice of the Holy Spirit. But see, also, and even for the ego, what the ego doesn't even know what actually benefits it because uh the ego is going after uh things that don't actually benefit it. It actually wants to be reunited with its source, just like anything else. It's really only programmed to try to avoid that. It's still psychic energy, it's still miracle impulse. It cannot be anything else. So it's just, you know, it's ready to have that gentle thank you for your service. We won't be needing this one anymore, right? See how gentle that is? It's like it's not even like ego, you're bad.

SPEAKER_02: 1:02:15

It's like, oh wow, I wanted you to do that, and now I don't anymore. Thank you. You know what I mean? That's what you're really saying. That's how it really is. It's like, thank you for your service. You may go.

SPEAKER_03: 1:02:28

And I could feel it like when it goes, too, it goes in joy. Right? I open up my body's energy field to be really transparent towards it, and it's like, ah, it's just it's like a beautiful transformation. Freedom, freedom, freedom. That's what the voice of the spirit does. All right, I love it. So Freud wasn't able to recognize the miracle level. We want to recognize the miracle level. We want to see that. And it's not hard to see, it's only just beneath everything that's uh that's not the miracle level. Anything that says you need repression, control, anything like that, that's just super ego talk. It's not anything, you don't have to listen to it. So let's read the sentence again. This too was inevitable because Freud could not divorce miracles from magic. So this was quote, inevitable. Jesus says, Because once you confuse miracles with magic, you have no access to the healing source. That's an important thing. And see, it's not like you're doomed to this. You just choose again. You decide that you you really are uh just here for miracles, and there really is just a miracle impulse. That's all. In other words, you can't get it wrong. Believing that you can get it wrong makes it seem like you're getting wrong, doing it wrong. You are that miracle. So the ego is deliberately blurring miracles and magic. Why does the ego do that? Because if we can't tell the difference between miracles and magic, we'll just reject miracles. So let's go into miracles and magic a little bit. Magic is the ego attempting to fix problems on the level of form. That's medicine, that's rituals, that's defenses, that's repression, that's block therapy. Okay? Magic. It's not evil. It's not saying it's evil, it's just recognizing that it, these are devices, they cannot bring true healing because they're not addressing the mind. They can definitely be used for that, though, because miracles totally bypass form, they go right to the cause. The cause is what the mind's mistaken belief in separation. That's always what it is. So miracles re restore the truth, they correct perception. Yes, my love.

SPEAKER_00: 1:05:17

Yeah, so Course Miracles um says, as long as we know it's magic, then we're looking at it right. Because then we're not looking at it as salvation.

SPEAKER_03: 1:05:26

That's right. That's beautiful. Thank you for putting it that way. So Thomas was saying, as long as we know it's magic, that's the ego's attempt to fix problems, we're using it right because we're not using it as a substitute for miracles. Now, what I see too is something like, especially like block therapy and really anything. It it's, you know, it's meant to be used as the means for miracles because it's in your perception. Whatever's in your perception can be used and is meant to be used as the means for miracles. That's how I love to use everything. Uh, so and and remember, a miracle is the undoing, it's the correcting, the correcting of perception. It restores the truth to your perception. That's what a miracle is. Magic goes to the level of form, fixing problems at the level of form, which again is not a bad thing. If you're cold outside and you feel like you need a house and you know how to build a fucking house, go ahead and do it. It's just not a miracle, it's magic. That's all. It's just to know the difference. So, a course in miracles is showing miracles are the true power of the mind. That's not magic. It's uh it's it's more like the opposite of magic, it's not the cousin to magic, it's the real underlying reason any magic is playing out, anyways, just so that a miracle and and a huge series of miracles would play out through it. So notice when you find yourself dismissing something that seems super lofty spiritually speaking, like one of them is I'm sustained by the love of God. I am not sustained by money, for instance. Notice how that triggers in you, uh, or if it does trigger in you, something that says that's wishful thinking or that's magical thinking. This is an echo of that Freudian conditioning. Just notice that it's fun. Wouldn't you rather have the miracle right now, though? The miracle is actually allowing yourself to perceive that you're sustained by the love of God right now. Wow, that's awesome. That came out like woo. Seeing that you're sustained by the love of God right now, choosing the love of God over that thought that says, that's wishful thinking that I could possibly be sustained by the love of God. I gotta go to work every day, for instance. You're going to work and seeming to earn money is a magic trick. Recognizing you're sustained by the love of God, that's a miracle. Isn't that fun? So here's another example. Say you're taking a pain pill for pain. So that's magic. That's addressing a symptom and form. Choosing to release guilt and allow love, that's a miracle. That's correcting the mind's cause. You never need to feel any kind of guilty or make any kind of um evaluation of yourself for using magic. Never, never, never. Just in remembering there's a deeper cure. And you know, to me, that just seems obvious. Like I don't even have to try to do that anymore. It's just obvious to me. This is not gonna cure the underlying cause. This is really just gonna help me. Uh, this is really just gonna help me have some temporary relief and another illusion. There's nothing wrong with it. Right? It's it's fun. It's fun to do that stuff. And you know, you could just affirm if you don't feel that within yourself already, just affirm to yourself, I choose the miracle. I I don't choose the substitute. The substitute is blessed, it's great. While it's necessary, I'll use it in joy and appreciation and love, but my healing is in my mind. And love has already been answered, so there's nowhere to go for this. All right, paragraph twenty, sentence three. Now here's the text. It was therefore his constant endeavor, even preoccupation, to keep on thrusting more and more material between consciousness and the real deeper level of the unconscious, so that the latter became increasingly obscured. Okay, let's read that again because that was quite the sentence. It was therefore his constant endeavor, even preoccupation, to keep on thrusting more and more material between consciousness and the real deeper level of the unconscious, so that the latter became increasingly obscured. Paragraph twenty, sentence three, page one hundred. So it was therefore is referring to because Freud confused miracles with magic and mistook the id for the deepest level. Okay, he was left with this inverted map of the mind. So his constant, it was therefore his constant endeavor, even preoccupation, to keep on Jesus uses the word thrusting more and more material between consciousness and the real deeper level of the unconscious. So he's pointing out that Freud became almost obsessed, it seems like here with these words, constant endeavor and preoccupation with layering content, basically. He's saying he's thrusting more and more material, layering content, piling more theories, categories, explanations between the conscious mind and the miracle level of the unconscious. So the more he developed his system, the more the actual source of the miracle was hidden from his view. His psychology essentially became a defense system. Rather than uncovering the truth, it was burying the truth deeper. And you know, Jesus kept on calling to him, but he didn't want to give up his theories. So the insight here is this is how the ego operates in all of us. It just adds more and more layers of thoughts, theories, distractions, interpretations, basically keeping us from the simple truth. Love is all that's real, love is our reality. So Freud's preoccupation was just mirroring, mirroring the ego's own defense strategy. Right? The mind, the the ego does not want the mind to look inward. Because when the mind looks inward, it's going to find the miracle level. So the ego tries to distract the mind with endless materials so it never finds the miracle level. That's what looking inward leads to. So this is why, of course, in miracles says the ego's whole system is based on obscuring. It's always about covering the truth with complexity, analysis, fear. That's what was going on. So the miracle impulse, which is at the bottom of the unconscious, it's the foundation of the unconscious mind. It's always present, always unchanged. So the ego, what the ego is building is this changeful thing, this labyrinth of mental noise to keep the miracle level out of awareness. That's all it is. So, practically speaking, for this sentence, let's let's have the sentence again. It was therefore his constant endeavor, even preoccupation, to keep on thrusting more and more material between consciousness and the real deeper level of the unconscious, so that the latter, the deeper level of the unconscious, became increasingly obscured. That's what the ego wants to do with it. So, practically speaking, notice when you're overanalyzing feelings, motives, relationships. Just notice this is not a judgment on you. Okay, that's the ego just thrusting more material. When you're aware of this, you'll smile at it and then know it's not a big deal. Thrusting more material, more material between your awareness and the miracle. Basically, when you're just aware of this process and you're like, Holy Spirit, show me the truth between all this mental noise. You won't be going deeper into analysis after that. And if you do, you'll just be super aware of it and learning so much. You know, in a smiling way, like, oh, wow, this is what plays out in secret. I'm so glad I get to see it now. Thank goodness it's also not true. The miracle is really direct and clear. It doesn't have any layers. You might even say to yourself, I don't need any more layers. There are more layers being uh being shown to me. I choose to remember the miracle. Even though I'm being offered these layers, I don't really want any more layers. I'm good with layers. So every time you refuse to pile on more ego interpretation and return, like when you just choose to return to quiet presence, you uncover this love that's in the that's never been hidden from you. It's never been hidden from you. It's just in the back of the ego's defenses, it's behind the ego's defenses. Look at it, feel it, smile at it, be willing to return to the quiet presence that you are. Okay, paragraph 20, sentence four. And you guys let me know if you want me to clarify anything or read anything again if you didn't get it. Okay, it looks like I'm caught up with everyone's comments and questions. I love you. Thank you. Sentence four of paragraph 20, page 100. The result was a kind of bedlam in which there was no order, no control, and no sense. So the result, he's saying the result of Freud's system, by thrusting more material, more material from the previous sentence, by thrusting more material between consciousness and the true level of the unconscious, he ended up with this kind of bedlam. Bedlam, let's see. I was like, what is bedlam? Let's check this out. So originally this referred to Bethlehem Royal Hospital in London, notorious for its chaotic conditions. Over time, the word came to mean madness, confusion, and disorder. So that's what that word means. So Jesus said the result was a kind of bedlam in which there was no order, no control, and no sense. So in this context, it's showing how Freud perceived the unconscious as this unruly asylum, like an insane asylum of impulses with no coherence or sanity. That's how he perceived the unconscious. So with the miracle level obscured to him, all Freud could see was a madhouse of these conflicting drives. He's perceiving the mind as inherently chaotic. That's why he was bummed out. So the ego deliberately promotes this image of the mind like a bedlam to keep us from looking inward. That's the whole thing. It's saying, don't go there. All you're gonna find is madness and danger. But the unconscious is not truly chaotic. That's what a Course in Miracles is showing us. Beneath all that noise is perfect order. The miracle level is perfect order. It's actually reflecting the mind's sanity and our union with each other and with God. That's what's at the base of the mind. Let's read that sentence again. The result was a kind of bedlam in which there was no order, no control, and no sense. No sense. So this is an ego mask. It's not the essence of the mind. This is a distortion, this unconscious that's fearful, that seems fearful. Jesus said earlier, it's the source of fright. It's understanding why you would be afraid. It's the source of fright. But you need to see through it. It's just a mask, it's a distortion that's hiding the miracle underneath it. So look, notice when your thoughts feel chaotic, senseless, out of control. Notice when they're just ruminating, they're just going. Don't mistake it for your true nature. That's what this is saying. That's the ego's bedlam. That's not the reality of your mind. You don't have to stay there. You can sink deeper than that. Beneath all of these appearances is perfect order. It's the miracle level in all of us. And whenever we refuse to believe that ego image, giving showing us that our mind is a madhouse, don't accept that your mind is a madhouse. It's not. That's the ego. It's not part of you. That's not your true mind. You get closer to experiencing God's peace by your willingness to go through this false mind that you're propping up. And paragraph 20, sentence five. This was exactly how he felt about it. Talking about Freud. This was exactly how he felt about it. That it was uh a bedlam, no order, no control, no sense. So here Jesus is confirming to us Freud's personal experience. How his own system matched that theory, he genuinely experienced the unconscious as a place of chaos with no sense or order, because that was his theory. So that became his experience. That's why Jesus is saying this. This was exactly how he felt about it. Freud saw in the unconscious mind what he himself felt inside confusion, conflict, he was discontent. Instead of seeing ever seeing the miracle level, his preoccupation with analysis, and in A Course in Miracles, it says, the ego analyzes, the Holy Spirit accepts. So his own preoccupation with analysis led him into ego's chaos. And he mistook that chaos as if it was the ultimate truth. Right? The sentence again, that this was exactly how he felt about it. And the sentence before that, the result was a kind of bedlam in which there was no order, no control, and no sense. That's how Freud felt about it, obviously, because that's what he projected about it. So this is teaching us too that we could just choose love, and the same mind will reveal itself as being orderly and sane and whole and loving. We choose love, that's all. So Freud's struggle with life illustrates to us how it how that happens, how that manifests, because we seek the truth whenever we seek the truth without distinguishing miracles from magic. He's saying we're ending up lost in this labyrinth of the ego, mistaking madness as if it's reality. So this is a sweet foundation for all of us to be able to distinguish miracles from madness. Knowing we want to be making miracles, that that's our function, we're willing to see things differently and not interpret what we perceive in the unconscious mind as if it is really uh a source of danger. It's a source of fear because we made it fearful, but fear can't do anything to us. It's just like it's like we just blow it off, literally. So any chaos you perceive is not you. Your mind is whole, your mind is sane and it's full of miracles. Any chaos in there, that's not you. It's not part of you. It's a very important uh understanding so that you're aware that whatever I see in there. You know, when one time when I went to I went for ayahuasca journey, uh a friend set me up with it and told the shaman, I was her spiritual teacher, and he was like, Man, you've never done ayahuasca. You may be in big trouble because you're gonna see some scary shit come up. And I'm like, shit, bring that shit on. I know it's not part of me. It's only thinking that it's part of me that makes it scary at all. And that's even under the influence of a shitload of uh, what is it called? What I say was ayahuasca, a lot of ayahuasca. You know, he wanted to give me a lot because he wanted to uh have me, you know, have that experience of bringing those things up. And and yeah, I mean, at one point something came up and I was just like, wow, oh, that's not part of me. And I just found myself embracing it and seeing it transformed into a Buddha, like whatever this demonic evil thing presents itself. And I'm just yeah, all of that stuff is just like really obvious to me. If it pops up as anything other than perfect love, what's what it's there for me to do is embrace it in a sense of opening my body's energy to it and being, hey, my mind is whole and sane and full of miracles. Uh, what is this doing here? It must need a hug.

SPEAKER_02: 1:26:47

What else can it be showing up for? Actually.

SPEAKER_03: 1:26:55

So it's like not wrestling with chaos, right? Not uh wrestling with something that seems ugly or threatening or anything like that, but letting the Holy Spirit reinterpret it. So you can see that there's only peace always underneath every perception that would tell you that an illusion is actually true. Yay! We got to two paragraphs, and we're getting to uh paragraph 21 now, sentence one. The later theoretical switch to the primacy of anxiety was an interesting device intended to deny both the instinctive nature of destructiveness and the force of the power of miscreation. Woo! What a sentence! What a sentence that goes from 100 to 101 in the complete annotated edition. So here's a footnote on this. Footnote 151. Freud's 1926 work called Inhibitions, Symptoms, and Anxiety, represented one of his most significant changes of mind on fundamental issues. It set forth his new theory of anxiety, in which he argued that anxiety causes repression, not vice versa. That's the footnote. So this is saying that Freud's 1926 shift was pivotal. Instead of seeing repression as being the cause of anxiety, he he flipped it. He said anxiety is the cause of repression. That was Freud's what Jesus is calling a device. A way Freud unconsciously avoided confronting real issues. What are the real issues? The destructiveness of the ego's instincts, the immense creative force of the mind when misused. Those two things: the destructiveness of the ego's instincts and the immense creative force of the mind when misused or used for miscreation. So by making anxiety the primary thing, he downplayed the destructiveness, is what Jesus is showing here. The ego's attack drive. He downplayed that and sidestep sidestep the truth, the radical truth that the mind itself, not drives, not instincts, not repression, is the source of suffering. He just didn't not want to show, he did not want to see that the mind itself was the only source of suffering. It actually, the theory from the shifts that he did in 1926. Seeing repression, uh, instead of seeing repression as the cause of anxiety, seeing anxiety as the cause of repression. So that shift, 1926 shift, that's what prevented him and protected him from looking too deeply. That way he could explain neurosis and never touch the miracle level or the core uh the core problem of separation. The ego's dream come true. It's an ego's dream come true, basically. So, metaphysical insight here. Anxiety is not the primary cause, it's a symptom of a belief in separation. Notice that anxiety is a symptom of belief in separation, nothing else. So the ego is to always trying to put the symptom ahead of the cause. Okay, so this is the way the mind's real cause, that mistaken choice for separation, isn't brought into question. So it's like he elevated anxiety as a primary cause. That's how he obscured the truth that fear is always coming from the ego's thought system. It's from misusing the mind's creative power. It has no other cause. The decision to believe in separation and the correction. It's a decision between belief in separation and the miracle or the correction of the separation. That's all. So whenever you notice anxiety, don't just stop at the feeling. Notice that the feeling is a signal that you're believing in something right now. It's a false cause. What thought am I holding that makes me feel unsafe, for instance? And then let the Holy Spirit reinterpret that. There is no unsafe for you. You're not something that can feel unsafe. You're projecting an image that feels unsafe and reports back to you what that feels like. Anxiety is not causing repression. Anxiety is like a cover story. It's misbelief. And the misbelief, the mistaken thought, it's already been undone in truth. So you can claim that right now. It's already been undone in truth. So this anxiety, it's just coming from an echo, an echo of a thought that is already healed.

SPEAKER_00: 1:33:03

One time in my life I made the mistake of labeling it as anxiety, that I have anxiety. It labeled it and it made it more real.

SPEAKER_03: 1:33:12

Yes.

SPEAKER_00: 1:33:12

But what you're saying is absolutely true. All it does is point to the separation, and we then we know that that's not true.

SPEAKER_03: 1:33:19

Right. That's not true. Whatever I'm thinking right now that uh that's producing uh an anxious feeling, that's not true. It really helps to know the order of things. It's a thought first, and then a feeling. The thought is the cause, and it has already been undone in truth. So this seeing seeing it this way moves you from being trapped in Freud's cycle of managing yourself, and this is the this is the way to undo the root cause. This actually undoes the root cause in your mind. It's so easy and free. All right, sentence two. We're on page 101 now, paragraph 21, sentence two. By placing the emphasis on the result, the generative nature of the power was minimized. So footnote 152 comes with this. In other words, anxiety is actually the result of the power of miscreation. By emphasizing only this result, Freud inappropriately de-emphasized the power that generates the result. So Freud's theory focused on anxiety, is the problem. But anxiety was really an effect, it was not a cause. The true cause was the power of miscreation. That's the mind's misuse of its creative ability. It's it's a it's the mind believing in separation and guilt. That's what miscreation is, you guys. It's not something that you say, oh, that's a miscreation uh uh in the in the illusion. That's just perception. The miscreation is this misuse of creation creative ability when your mind is believing in separation and guilt. That's what it is. So by centering, by Freud centering his framework on anxiety, he was minimizing the role of the mind's generative power. That's what that's what Jesus says here. It's like dealing with smoke and ignoring the fire. So let's read the sentence again. In other words, oh wait, that's the footnote. That's good too. By placing the emphasis on the result, the generative nature of the power was minimized. So uh the mind being generative, that power of miscreation, it is generative, it generates illusions. So he's saying by emphasizing the result, the generative nature of the power, that power of miscreation was being minimized. So anxiety is actually the result by placing emphasis on the result, which is anxiety. Yeah, that could be fear too. He was just referencing anxiety, yeah, in that particular thing that he was uh he was writing, but it could be any upset feeling. So this is how psychology got left with treating symptoms rather than addressing the root cause, and that's a pattern that still dominates modern therapy. This is all kinds of therapy, even spiritual therapy is doing that kind of stuff because that's how we've been trained. So this is allowing us to have correction for that now. What a blessing. Okay, so a Course in Miracles and Jesus through a Course in Miracles is super precise that thought is the cause, the power of mind, it's always creating. That's either with the Holy Spirit miracles, that's a given. Or it's miscreating, making perceptions. Underneath, even making perception, it's it's always creating, doesn't stop creating. It's just that in your imagined view, miscreation is also possible, which it's not. So anxiety or fear, like you were saying, these are feeling tones. Feeling tones. You can feel them in your body's energy to field. These kinds of feeling tones are the result of using your mind against itself. It's not a cause, it's a signal of what you're doing to yourself right now. The ego loves to keep us focused on effects like anxiety, fear, feeling, whatever feeling it is. Because as long as you're preoccupied with that, you're not going to question the choice that actually produces those feelings. Like, oh shit, I'm separate. And there's all kinds of um extrapolations on the thought of separate, the thought of lack, right? Or there's lack of love, lack of money, lack of sex, lack of food, lack of compassion. Those are what are making a feeling effect. So it's like feel the feeling effect, but go deeper than that. Don't run from the feeling effect. That doesn't allow you to go deeper, but don't get caught up in the feeling effect like you're trying to change it, like I got to get out of this feeling or something. Don't confuse that effect as the cause of anything. It's not the cause of anything. You are not capable of feeling these feelings. That's why you're projecting them onto an imaginary self. It's as if this body is telling you how it felt, how it feels. But really, what you've done is sent out instructions to use something and make you believe that you feel that way. That's not even possible. It's a dream. Jesus is encouraging us to return, return to the mind where it's deciding and decide for the truth. Just decide for the truth. Here's the the sentence by placing the emphasis on the result, in this case, anxiety, the generative nature of the power was minimized. That's the power of miscreation he's talking about there. Power of miscreation. So practically, when you notice anxiety, this is a result. The cause is my belief in separation, which I would release right now. I would like to release that right now. You know why? Because I like to stay in a state of uh of bliss, let's say. It's been being called orgasmic lately. Since my website, hopejohnson.org, we're saying that's short for org for orgasm, right? Okay, what were you gonna say, Thomas?

SPEAKER_00: 1:40:55

Oh, just that anxiety can be looked at as a red flag to remind me that I'm looking at separation.

SPEAKER_03: 1:41:01

Yes, yes, anxiety can be used as a red flag to remind him that he's believing in separation. I love that. That's a great way to do it. It's like, oh, there it is. Oh, this is where it gets good, right? This is where it's getting good.

SPEAKER_02: 1:41:18

Now I'm gonna see some shit. Diana likes that one.

SPEAKER_03: 1:41:25

Okay, so we're shifting, we're being encouraged to shift our focus from the symptom, which is this anxious feeling, to the decision underneath. Look at the decision underneath and then choose again. Do I want to align with the ego or the Holy Spirit? You might you you might affirm to yourself, my anxiety isn't coming from anything in the world. It's coming from my choice for miscreation. If the question is, would I choose again? And it is, then yes, I would. My anxiety comes from me, my joy comes from me, my salvation comes from me. I decide. Here's where Jesus is giving the power back to the mind, where it actually is. So this makes you moves you from trying to manage or suppress your anxiety, which was Freud's way. So the way we're conditioned, most of us are conditioned to do, uh, to actually undoing its cause. That's Jesus' way. Undoing its cause is recognizing that you're making it. It's not coming from the world. I'm projecting this onto myself right now. Why? A fearful ego. I'm aligning, I'm I'm aligning with a fearful ego. All right, paragraph twenty-one, section three, very short sentence. Destructive behavior is instinctual. Nice short sentence with a lot of juice. Destructive behavior is instinctual. So within the ego's framework, destructiveness, you guys can notice this, arises almost automatically as if it's instinct. This doesn't mean that destructiveness is our true nature. That's far from that. Jesus is saying destructive behavior is instinctual. That's you know creative impulse. Yeah, he's saying that that's that's deeper, though. That's deeper. He's saying the creative impulse is deeper. They're not on the same level, is what is what keeps on being taught here. Once the mind accepts separation, attack thinking is like a reflex. What the fuck are you looking at? For instance, it's automatically thinking, it's about me. Attack thinking is just automatic. All right, so the ego bends the mind's creative energy into this destructive energy, making it look like it's built in. It's not destructiveness is not a God-given instinct that you have, it's a distortion, it's an ego distortion. So, what seems instinctual is really the ego's misuse of the mind's power. The sentence again, destructive behavior is instinctual. Instinctual to Jesus, what he said before, that's not a real thing, it's a decoy over the miracle impulse. So recognizing the distinction between the two keeps us from confusing ego reflexes with creation. So, how do we look at this? When destructive thoughts or these impulses arise, how do we look at this? We don't identify with them, we see them as ego reflexes, not as something that touches us. It's not part of us, it's not who we are. This is the reminder, uh, this this sentence, destructive behavior is instinctual. Instincts don't come from us. It's like it's it's like a projection. Well, let's say they come from our uh uh our wayward mind, but they're not actually part of us, they're an effect of wayward thoughts. So a gentle reminder attack is not your nature. When you perceive attack thoughts or perceive attack behavior coming from you or anyone else, that's not your nature. Another way of looking at it is it didn't really happen, it's not of God, it only happened in a symbolic sense to show me that my nature is not attack. I love you, Wayne. Thank you. Thank you, my love. Thank you for following along. Yay.

SPEAKER_00: 1:46:30

Yes, it's dawning on me that instincts are like our five senses. They're from they're in the illusion, they're in the dream state, and we don't want to follow them. They're not they're not our leader, they're not our guide.

SPEAKER_03: 1:46:43

Our five senses, you're talking about sight and taste, and touch, and smell. Okay, so yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 1:46:50

Instincts is like another one, yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 1:46:52

So the the the instinct, what Jesus is saying, that instinct, destructive behavior is instinctual.

SPEAKER_00: 1:47:02

The dream state, right?

SPEAKER_03: 1:47:04

It's not our eternal selves, it's not our eternal selves. That's right. Our senses, even our five senses, are bringing back what we wanted to see. Our body doesn't tell us what we feel, we tell it what to tell us that we feel. Yeah, it's not, it doesn't have any power like that, that the power we give to it. So this brings us to paragraph twenty-one, sentence four. The instinct for creation is not obliterated in miscreation. So even when the ego misuses the mind, uses it for destruction instead of creation, the creative drive always remains untouched. So it's always a creative drive underneath the miscreative drive. Miscreation does not undo the creative drive at all. It can only just cover it up temporarily based on your choice. So beneath any destructive impulse is the same creative energy. It's just it's really just waiting to be uh redirected toward love. And so there's no there's no way the ego is going to ever cancel God's gift of creation. Even every miscreation is pointing to that creative force underneath it, even every miscreation to my mind, and possibly to some of your mind, still proves that the miracle level exists beneath it. Every miscreation creation proves to my mind that the miracle level is there beneath it. So when I perceive destructive behavior in myself and in others, I look past it to the creative impulse. Oh, oh, isn't that so cute? It's like nothing's been destroyed by that, it's just been misdirected. Let's re let's redirect it. Holy Spirit, redirect this to love. What a blessing. What a nice bonding experience. I love you guys. Thank you. Wayne asked, is instinct a knee-jerk response? Yes. Uh, you could say, okay, so the the ego's uh what Jesus is calling instinct is uh what he's saying, it's just expressed automatically, almost like it seems like you can't help it. It's just like, oh, it's like a yeah, what you call knee-jerk reaction. Um and then the spirit impulse, you know, it's at the bottom of the mind, it's the foundation of the mind. So it's like it's more like that still small voice, which through practice, you're automatically going to that still small voice and bypassing the ego's voice because it just makes no sense to you. The more you go on and on, that becomes more of the automatic reaction. At first, it's a matter of almost using some kind of effort. Um, you might even call it warrior effort, to be aware of where you're giving into this knee-jerk reaction and recognize, like this part is saying, um, like it's always a miracle impulse underneath that. So instinct. I just got the definition of instinct, an inborn pattern of activity or tendency to action common to a given biological species, or a natural or innate impulse, inclination or tendency. It could also be a natural aptitude or gift or natural intuitive power. So it could have a lot of meanings. Um, but you know, you can see how Jesus is going here that the instinct hit in this text, the instinct for creation is not obliterated by miscreation. So you you can always choose creation. That's the thing, and nothing's destroyed through uh a perceiving miscreation, it's just misdirected, so it's like let's redirect this back to love. So, yes, I love you, thank you. So, paragraph 21, sentence five, are still on page 101. That is why it is always invested with reality. Okay, so the miscreation, it's always on borrowed reality. The ego can't generate anything on its own, it's only distorting what God gives. It's invested, it's always invested. Miscreation is always invested with reality. That's how it feels powerful because it draws on the real power of creation. It's got no true reality of its own, but it could feel powerful because your all-powerful mind and you have the real power of creation. And when you invest this unreality with reality, which is your power, you give it apparent power. So there's a bear, there's a paradox here. Miscreation seems to have effect because it borrows from reality, but it is unreal in itself. So the creative force is being used for distortion. That's a misuse of the creative force. Whenever you believe that miscreation has real effects, for instance, miracles restore that force to its rightful place. It's love, it's extension, it's truth. So we withdraw the reality we gave to distortion, and we direct it back to its rightful purpose: love, extension, truth. So practically, whenever an illusion seems powerful, they only appear. Remember, they only appear because the power of creation lies beneath them. Okay, so let's look at this practically. When illusions seem powerful, I'll give you some examples. It's as if there's any kind of lack anywhere. As if you're powerless, as if you're limited. That's what it's talking about. I'm just gonna finish this last paragraph. We're really close. It's 5.02 Pacific time now. I'm gonna finish the rest of this, going over the rest of this paragraph, and then we'll close out and we'll have finished through uh paragraph 21. So you can use that recognition that illusions only seem powerful because you gave them creative power. You can use that recognition to turn back toward the truth. You turn back toward the truth yourself. You recognize the power in this miscreation is really the power of God in me. It's just waiting to be released to love. I mean, it's it's as simple as this. I'm perceiving lack in the world. I can bring that to a true thought. I am sustained by the love of God. Everything is being sustained by the love of God. What I'm perceiving as lack is actually symbolic. It's an illusion. It's being presented to me as a symbol. So I can uh demonstrate that I am, in fact, sustained by the love of God. I demonstrate that to the mind that I'm uh I'm projecting, this ego mind. I demonstrate what's actually true. It actually calms down the nervous system in the physical sense. Because then you're not getting attacked. So thanks you guys. I love you. Next time we will proceed. It's amazing that it goes so fast. I mean, to me, to my mind, it's like, wow, that was two hours, apparently. So next time we start on paragraph 22, and we'll get more into the magic miracle confusion and uh and get even clearer on that. And the reason why Jesus goes over these things over and over again is because the ego tends to come in and make these other interpretations, and this is him kind of flushing that out for us. It's really helpful to get into this and see what he's showing so that we can be released from these things that play out normally in secret. He's revealing what gets played out in secret so we can see and actively participate in bringing the sonships mind back to sanity. So what fun, everyone. Thank you for joining. And if you're watching this later on YouTube, uh, follow me on Substack as well. Um, because then you get more information. You get the the written, I don't know, there's a lot of things. I think you're gonna love it. Follow me on Substack. Um, you can go to my website, hopejohnson.org. You might be listening to this on a podcast. There are podcasts. Uh, this is a podcast. If you want to search for it, search for Hope Johnson Wisdom on Spotify or any other podcast station. And you can also search for Hope Johnson ACIM to get my other podcast, which is daily ACIM lessons and commentary. That's on any podcast station. I'm also on Facebook. I believe it's Hope Johnson. You can type in Hope Johnson Wisdom and probably come up with me. Um, then then there's Awesome Hope Johnson on Instagram and Awakening with Hope on Telegram. You can join my channel there and probably other places too. Go to hopejohnson.org.

SPEAKER_02: 1:57:55

There's a shitload of things on there. You can also donate to me, which I freaking love it when you guys do that. Thank you for doing that. Uh all right, Glenn.

SPEAKER_03: 1:58:06

Oh, thank you, Caitlin. Thank you. Oh, I'm glad you're loving the daily lessons too, Wayne. Thank you for that. Yay. Oh, Sid, thank you. I think collapsing time together is super fun too. All right. I'll be back next week. I love you, Bertie. Thank you. I'll be back next week on Monday for wisdom dialogues. And again, I'll be doing ACIM deep dive, picking up where we left off. And I look so forward to joining with everyone again. I love you so much. Mahalo, aloha, and a hooey ho. Woo.