God Is Not a Symbol | A Course in Miracles Deep Dive | April 22, 2026 | Ch.3, Sect.3, P7, S1-9

If you’ve ever felt like spiritual growth requires suffering, this one will challenge that belief at the root. We’re deep in A Course in Miracles Chapter 3, “Sane Perception,” and we keep circling a single correction that changes everything: God does not demand sacrifice, and the atonement is not a story you interpret. It’s a present, living correction that restores the mind to what’s already true.

We slow down on two lines that hit like lightning: “God Himself is not symbolic, He is fact,” and “The atonement too is totally without symbolism.” When God becomes an idea, an image, or a concept we manage, the ego can make Him loving one moment and punishing the next. But if God is fact, truth isn’t something we negotiate with, earn, or figure out. From there we explore “light” as knowledge beyond perception, why confusion never comes from truth, and how willingness, not effort, is what removes the shroud.

Then we bring it into real life: bodily symptoms, nervous system stories, heartbreak, and the fear that inner work will expose something shameful. ACIM’s answer is blunt and strangely relieving: the atonement radiates only truth, epitomizes harmlessness, and sheds only blessing because it arises from perfect innocence. We end by unpacking the reversal that the world hates: innocence isn’t naïve, it’s wisdom, because evil has no real existence, and innocence stays perfectly aware of everything that is true.

Subscribe for more ACIM deep dives, share this with someone stuck in the “pain equals progress” loop, and leave a review with the line that challenged you most.

Transcript

Welcome And Settling In

SPEAKER_02 0:03

Aloha and welcome to a course in miracles deep dive with Hope Johnson coming to you from Lake Wacom, Washington. Yay! Yay! Hmm. So we're gonna go into chapter three, part three, and we're at paragraph eight. No, we're at paragraph seven. We're doing seven and eight today. Let me tell you what page number that is. That is page one thirteen. So want to get that set up. Yeah. And let's start with tuning in.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Mmm. Mmm. Yes. Sensure. Spirit body. Part that's not physical. But it pretends to be bound by it. Notice that.

SPEAKER_02 1:19

There's ecstasy in it, actually.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

When you're not resisting the sensations. Thank you, Jesus, for this beautiful poetic channeling that is also a course. A guide to awakening the mind. Thank you for being with us and showing us how to interpret these words. Thank you for coming anytime we call.

SPEAKER_02 2:02

Straightening out misperceptions according to how willing we are. Thank you. And for waiting for us to be willing. For giving us any clues we would accept. Thank you to everyone who joins for joining with an open heart and willingness to see things differently so you could live in the happiness that God promises.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

So you could live in the now.

SPEAKER_02 2:33

You can be playful and joyful and frolicking as you undo the world of separation, the world of suffering. Thank you. Thank you for joining. Thank you for practicing. Thank you for your openness and willingness.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

Yay. Ah, let's begin. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 3:04

My live people uh are gonna miss that one because I just went back over there and I wasn't really live live. Live started now. But you guys got it. All right.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

Ah doesn't matter. Let's begin.

SPEAKER_02 3:31

All right.

Atonement Without Sacrifice Overview

SPEAKER_02 3:32

So what I'm gonna do first is a little summary of chapter three, part three, up until this point. Okay, I'm just covering a summary of this uh part that we're in, and the part is called Atonement Without Sacrifice. That's within the container of the chapter called Sane Perception. So the main underlying idea, you can say the theme of this is the crucifixion did not establish the atonement, the resurrection did. Remember that back there in paragraph one or two? So the idea that God required any suffering or sacrifice is a misinterpretation. And I hear this all the time. For one, thinking that sickness is getting you anything, whether it's a detoxified body or more clarity or something like that. It's as if this is gonna help us in some way. It's not helping, it's only a signal that you're you could say it's helping as a signal. I mean, that's one way to look at it. It's helping as a signal, but a signal doesn't need to stay. See, these thoughts that sacrifice and suffering is required by God, which is basically hardwired into everyone because it came through religion. So it's like when you are experiencing one of these uh dream illusions as a dream body, that dream body comes with specific programming. And that programming is that God requires suffering and sacrifice. So that's what we're undoing here, all right. That's what we're undoing in this uh this chapter or this um what would you call it? This is the section. This particular section in chapter three is for undoing that idea that God requires suffering or sacrifice, because when that belief is placed, God is frightening. That's why Jesus is talking a lot about fear of God, and really fear of illusion is the same as fear of God, you know, it's just projected onto something that you want to keep the world in place. That's all. So to justify another idea in the first paragraphs, the earlier paragraphs one through six, is that to justify a punishing God, your mind has to completely reverse reality. Your mind has to reverse it. So now uh pain is really love and sacrifice is really salvation, and that's really the way people have been trained to perceive the world. Not knowing it, of course. You know, you wouldn't knowingly do that. Uh, mistake pain for love and sacrifice for salvation, but this distortion is showing up everywhere. Uh, look at the familiar idea from you know some of our childhoods. This hurts me more than it hurts you. Right? That's one of the that's that's one of the phrases that Jesus gave as an example. He said, Would God really think this way? And that answer is no, of course. God does not punish. That idea, uh vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. That was another thing that he clarified. Uh, God is not vengeful, God doesn't hold anything against anyone, God doesn't hold anything against you, God doesn't believe in karmic retribution, retribution. That was another part of it. He is saying that entire framework comes from the ego, not God. So this section is already clearing one thing up. Nothing real has gone wrong. Nothing real needs to be paid for. See, nothing's if nothing's gone wrong, what would you need sacrifice or pain for? You see that? What would you need any suffering? What would you need any sacrifice for? Nothing real has gone wrong. So it's a belief that you need it that's bringing it. That's what we've covered so far. So without this clarity, Jesus is saying the atonement is misunderstood. And the reason the atonement is misunderstood is because it's holy benign. What is holy? That's with a W-H-O-L-L-Y. Benign, what is that? Well, holy benign means it teaches only the truth and it reflects only love. So that cannot include any kind of anger, violence, punishment, anything like that. The atonement is wholly benign. Another thing to know from the first six paragraphs. All right. So let's go. Unless anyone has any questions, uh, let's

Body Programming And Fear Of God

SPEAKER_02 9:13

see. What about the suffering non-Christian who knows nothing of the crucifixion story? Well, okay, so that's why I was saying, you know, when you have one of these lifetimes where you uh volunteer, you could say, choose to limit your awareness to the borders of a body that comes with programming. So you don't have to know anything, it automatically comes with programming. And you know, my interpretation of the the Jesus saying in the Bible that everyone is born in sin is that basically we are born into this programming that's separate from God, you know, it's propped up as being separate from God. So I, you know, my interpretation of that scripture is that's the born in sin thing. So we're automatically programmed until we actually see the programming and undo the programming. That's what's really exciting about this because after probably millions of lifetimes, we're now well, this is the lifetime where we're seeing how to undo the programming. So and we're doing it. We're undoing it. So this is so fun. Thank you for your question. All right, so let's look at paragraph seven sec paragraph seven, sentence one.

God Is Fact Not Symbol

SPEAKER_02 11:00

Yay. Here's the sentence. God himself is not symbolic, he is fact. God himself is not symbolic, he is fact. So looking at what Jesus is doing here, undoing, let's say, he's undoing the instinct, which it's not really an instinct. Uh you could say what we call instinct is that patterning. We're calling it it's that patterning, it's that programming. So undoing the programming, that's a better word, to make God a symbol. Okay, so almost everyone, almost I'm gonna say almost everyone, you know, maybe there's some bloodlines that don't have that conditioning. Almost everyone, even very sincere, a course in miracles students. This is so common and deeply ingrained, it relate we're relating to God symbolically without realizing it. See, whenever we treat God as something we interpret or imagine or assign meaning to, you know, even the term loving presence when you're doing a like a description of what God is, it could still be a concept that you're holding. So this is what this sentence is cutting through. God Himself is not symbolic, he is fact. There's no layer between God and reality. He doesn't stand for truth, he's not a symbol for the truth, he is the truth. This is helping to see what God really is, you know, past the concepts. So this matters that, you know, you recognize that God isn't symbolic because if you interpret what follows through that lens, he's going to be interpreted differently than what Jesus means. He could be misunderstood. He could appear to be loving sometimes and then punishing other times.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

And that's exactly what the ego has done. Look at the crucifixion.

SPEAKER_02 13:59

See the ego has used the crucifixion, what what the ego perceives the crucifixion is pain, loss, death, and use them as symbols about what God is. So this line is ending that. Like God is not revealed through those things.

SPEAKER_01 14:26

Nothing in the world can be used to define God. Right? He said, God is fact.

SPEAKER_02 14:36

That means God's not your perception in your perception somewhere, God's not belief. And what does that mean when he said says God is fact? That means not dependent on your perception, not subject to being changed, not influenced by anyone's belief.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

Because God's not a construct of mind. So you're not getting to God through interpretation.

SPEAKER_02 15:21

He is what he is, God is what he is, she is what he is, she is, whatever you want to say, regardless of what anyone thinks. So if God is fact, then any confusion about God must come from somewhere else. It must not be coming from God. It must not be coming from the truth. See, the ego's trying to perceive God through a distorted framework that the ego made. So whenever anyone's afraid, afraid of God, afraid of illusion, or feels judged by God or judged by others, or believes God demands sacrifice, that's a projection onto God.

SPEAKER_01 16:33

So this line is also removing the idea that we're trying to figure God out. Instead, it's saying truth has been established.

SPEAKER_02 16:51

And what's being undone is our misinterpretation. That's what's being undone. Not even undoing a world, we're undoing a misinterpretation of what the world is. So God is not something to interpret, interpret correctly, interpret incorrectly, whatever. God just is. God is untouched by any interpretation. So this is meant to shift your whole movement, you know, like your movement toward enlightenment, let's say, from seeking to just recognizing what's already present, from figuring things out to just letting things pass away. See? All right, let me give you an example of something like that. Um, let's say, well, I have one that's a personal example I can use right now, so I'll use that one.

Stop Seeking And Return To Peace

SPEAKER_02 18:09

Uh, let's say last week I looked in the mirror and I noticed, oh my goodness, I have a coating on my tongue. Immediately when I noticed that was the case, I recognized the upset feeling in my body's energy field, right? And recognized instead of seeking something to feel better, recognizing that peace is here now. That upset feeling is not about what I just saw in the mirror on my tongue, it's not really about that, it's the other way around. Okay, there's a there's an upset feeling that is you can say propping up the world in the unconscious mind, and it's projecting something to give it some something to get that feeling and be able to blame it on that thing, to be able to blame it on the tongue in this case. So you're recognizing that there's nothing to fix here, nothing's gone wrong, there's no problem. Okay. Figuring it out, you go from trying to figure it out to just letting the distortion fall away. Now, a few minutes later, I found myself taking a picture of the tongue and posting it uh to Chat GBT and going, you know, tell me what's going on here, according to Ayurvedic and uh Chinese medicine, right? Now it's not in that movement on the surface. That's not saying that, you know, I didn't do it, I didn't uh uh I didn't extend forgiveness in the situation, I didn't see it, I didn't see it's it's just it's just the illusion is going to continue to play according to patterns, but you interrupt these patterns in the moment where you're feeling a reaction. And instead of seeking something, even seeking in your mind to go, what am I thinking that's making myself have uh some coating on my tongue? Um, you just stop seeking and recognize that the feeling, I'm not upset for the reason I think. I'm not upset because of what I see. I'm upset because I'm seeing a world, a whole world that's not there due to the thought of separation. See, so since God never changes and no illusion changes that, since God is the fact, I can do that same thing no matter what I'm perceiving. That's the thing, you know. That's what, and that's what Jesus is getting it to getting us to, to where we generalize all experiences into one kind of thing, right? So we stop seeking and we recognize what's going on, whether in the midst of any kind of turmoil or something like that, it's just a matter of holding the truth, holding the truth and bringing everything, let everything just come to the truth. Okay, yes, the truth is true, still true. God is still the fact. So whatever seems to be arising, it is met with a uh distinct and healing peace. It's way different than trying to seek for solutions in the world. Now, the solutions in the world even may or may not work. It doesn't even matter, right? It's like you know when you've uh you know when you've seen through an illusion when it just doesn't matter to you, right? And the thing, the thing that you thought, oh my goodness, oh I gotta check into this. Notice how. Often, when you go to seeking, even seeking God, right? If I just know better, that's always future thinking, but where it's really just right now in the moment, but you where you don't seek and you recognize the presence of God. You're open to it, you're willing to see. And through that openness, gradually over time, you're just given more and more and more until you're completely certain that you are not affected by any illusions. You are not something that can be affected by illusions. And when you know that, that becomes the way you relate.

Heartbreak Stories And Letting Go

SPEAKER_02 23:53

Right. That's also something it talks about in the Bible. I don't know the exact one because I'm not I'm not so up on it. But as you some of you guys know, I was raised a Christian missionary. So I actually integrated the concepts uh through memorization as a child. I don't have the direct memorization anymore, but I kind of integrated the concepts where um Jesus was, I think it was Jesus who was saying in the Bible how everything is under your command in this world and that it serves you. And of course, when you see that, it's a very light, loving feeling. And, you know, when it comes to anything, uh relationships, you know, I've talked to a couple people this week that are just so distraught with heartbreak, you know, and and it's it's plain for me to see what's making them sad is the story. But there's this refusal to give up the story. See, because it's as if, and and this is the fear of punishment from God too, because it's as if, wow, if I give up this story and then I'm and then I still want to hold this sadness, I'm in trouble. It's like, no, you know, you give up the story, you can't hold the sadness. And, you know, that's something that is fearful for people. Right? Because it's like, oh, this person, they were just so uh, you know, I felt, and you know, one of the men I was talking to told me I felt like she was Mary Magdalene. I'm like, shit, I I get you. I got the I got the sense that uh that my friend was Shiva. It's hardcore, dude. It's like your fucking heart's being ripped out. But you know what? When you know what it is, that hard, even that hardcore, you can it you can actually connect to that that which is laughing and joyful behind it because of what everything is for. These relationships are not real in the sense that the world assigns, they're not like that. They're only showing up so that we can demonstrate what's true. And what's true is that we are holy and worthy of the best, most loving kind of treatment you can imagine. Right? And you know, if you if if you and I and all of us, you know, I definitely do my best on all this stuff because I just, you know, I I know I know where it leads. I'm certain where it leads. So it that's incentive, you know. Uh, but it if we're if we're holding our relationships in this way, like we're we just want to use them to heal. There's no possession, there's no problem when someone says they're uh they're not interested in connecting with you anymore. There's no problem, you know, you're gonna feel certain feelings and you may see certain relational dynamics. In fact, the more you're willing to see that all of your upset feelings are coming from the thought of separation, the more of the relational patterns you'll be able to see because you're looking without judgment. See, when you see a pattern where someone's strategizing to extract something from you, that's not a reason to be mad at them. Right? You may not be interested in relating with them in that kind of way anymore. So what? It wasn't for keeping. And then when they're not interested in relating with you anymore and you feel torn by that, all that's showing you is that you thought your completion was in whatever you were projecting over there. You thought that was completion for you. I know this from experience, kind of recent experience. You got the sense that that was Shiva, Shakti, fucking Mary Magdalene, whatever it is. And then there was fear of losing that connection. See? So it's all it's it's all part of the same uh the same thought of separation, just set in motions, set in motion and extrapolating out to different illusions. We put them all into one box, stop seeking, and just recognize what God is, what God Himself is. That's not something we can uh we can really say, but we can allow the blocks to knowing what God is to be removed. So without even knowing what God is, and Jesus is saying God Himself is not symbolic, okay, that means he's not changed by anything, he is fact, and taking into consideration everything else Jesus was saying about there being no sacrifice and there's no purpose for pain and things like that. If God is not symbolic and God's will for me is perfect happiness, do I feel perfectly happy right now? Okay, then that's uh that's actually set up as an error, that's a denial of God. Okay, so so it's like if God is a fact and I don't feel perfectly happy right now, that means I'm believing something that's against God. See, just being aware of that is plenty, and you'll be guided to see and um use the art of thought more and more as you progress. All right, are there any questions on sentence one? Guys are looking good, everyone's sitting pretty. All right, thank you, lovelies. All right, let's go to sentence two of paragraph seven, chapter three, section three. Here's the text. The atonement to is totally without symbolism. So we just talked about how God is not symbolic, and now atonement too is totally not symbolic, totally without symbolism are Jesus' words. Okay, so he's extending that, what we just establish about God. He just said God is not symbolic. Now he's extending that to the atonement, too. So what this means is that what comes from God shares God's nature. So the atonement isn't a ritual, it's not a story, it's not a process you interpret. It is a process, but it's not a process you interpret. It's not a symbolic act, it's not a payment, it's not redemption, it's not suffering, it's not something that represents healing. See, that's what something symbolic would do, it would represent healing. It actually is the atonement, actually is the correction of your mind. So correction of insanity insanity. Remember, this chapter is called The Sane Perception.

SPEAKER_01 32:24

So this is undoing the way we've been taught to think about atonement.

SPEAKER_02 32:31

So most people, when they hear the word atonement, I know this is me too. This is how I've heard the word atonement, thinking about it as symbolic. Jesus died for our sins. The cross means something about God, right?

SPEAKER_01 32:48

The cross suffering gets interpreted, it gets interpreted as redemptive, then.

SPEAKER_02 33:00

So all that's good is how the atonement is treated as a symbolic message to be interpreted. So the atonement is not a symbol pointing to the truth, the atonement's actually undoing the error. And why would the ego want it to be symbolic? Because if it's symbolic, for one, you can debate it, right? You can debate what the atonement is, you can interpret it differently, you can interpret it your own way, you can accept some parts of it, like these people can be forgiven, but not these guys. See that all the time. It's it's so fun. One woman has been telling me how certain people are going to be rejected from the great mother. I'm like, wow, okay, I'm not gonna touch that. So this is keeps it, keeps the atonement abstract, really. The remember, the atonement is perfect innocence, holy benign.

SPEAKER_01 34:11

It can only extend truth, it can only speak love. Just like God, only truth, only love.

SPEAKER_02 34:27

It's not something you analyze, it's something that applies to everything you experience. It means apply here's what it means. When you apply the atonement to everything you experience, it means the error did not occur. Separation has no real effects. You remain as God created you, no interpretation required.

SPEAKER_01 34:56

You are that you don't need a story about what happened, right? This is a big shift. The atonement is not explaining some past thing that happened. It's that nothing real has been changed.

SPEAKER_02 35:20

So instead of giving meaning to dreaming, it undoes the need for meaning in the dream. So if the atonement is symbolic, like God, you can keep it as a at a distance, like God. If it's not symbolic, then it's saying something immediate right now. There's no guilt in you. Nothing has ever been lost, nothing needs to be paid for. See, if your mind's invested in a story, like let's say the one I, you know, she was my whatever, she was the real one. I lost her because she wants another man. Nothing real has been lost, is gonna feel very disorienting because you're invested in that story. But that's okay. Let yourself feel disoriented. That's what's gonna happen because the truth uh cannot reconcile with your story, you can't keep your story and also have release from heartbreak. Can you see that? If she if she's unavailable now because she's with someone else, and she's rightfully yours at the same time, there's no way you can be released from the heartbreak. And that's what you really want. So, you know, it's a process for for most people getting to the point where you're willing to see it that way. And I'll tell you, you know, my own experience, and I have a lot of experience applying these things, that was definitely uh a good one. I was like, a good one. That's that's intense. I see what people are talking about now when they uh when they tell me they're going through something like that. I'm like, wow, yeah, I know what you're going through. And if you didn't have that kind of background, you got to be losing your F and mind. Right?

SPEAKER_01 37:44

As if people are just like going mad, feeling so lost.

SPEAKER_02 37:56

So that should encourage you to do a Course in Miracles. I don't know. All right. So look at it like this. What if the atonement isn't even a message that you need to understand? What if it's just a fact about you that's already true? Right? What if it's what if that's what it really is? It's a fact about you. You know, he said that God is fact, right? He says that you're God's son, you must also be fact. So the atonement is just that this fact about you is already true. So that moves the atonement from being a concept to you as reality right now.

SPEAKER_01 38:48

You don't have to have it as a belief, you could have it as recognition right now. That'll be fun. And that was sentence two.

SPEAKER_02 39:06

Unless anyone has questions, I'm going on to sentence three. Remember, let me know if you want any examples of anything. I'm happy to help with anything like that. And if you want to give me your scenario, that's fine too. All righty, chapter three, section three, paragraph seven, sentence three. Here's the text.

Atonement Exists In Light

SPEAKER_02 39:35

It is perfectly clear because it exists in light. What is what is it in this sentence? Let's see. It is perfectly clear. The atonement, right? It is perfectly clear. The atonement is perfectly clear because it exists in light. Perfectly clear. That means not partially or later on. He's not saying the atonement becomes clear or that it will be clear once you understand the atonement enough. He's saying it is perfectly clear. So any experience of confusion is not coming from the atonement. The atonement is perfectly clear. If you're confused, that's not where it's coming from. And this is a really big correction. This is a really, really big correction if you see it. Okay, because the mind tends to assume I don't understand yet. See, I need more time, more insight, more practice, more pieces. But this is saying there's nothing unclear about the truth. Why is it clear? Because it exists in light, it exists in light, so that's inherent. It's not something that becomes, doesn't become that way. It's inherent, it exists that way. Okay, now what is light in ACIM terms, right? Because you know, you hear it exists in light. Okay, what the fuck does that mean? All right, in ACIM terms, light is knowledge, not perception. So it's knowledge beyond perception. Okay, it's direct knowing, it's the absence of doubt, the absence of distortion. Light is no separation between what is and what is known. So look at it like that. The atonement exists in the space of no separation between what is and what is known. So something in the light that does not need interpretation. Things that are interpreted are shadowy things, shadowy inner images. Those need a different interpretation. God and the atonement do not need a different interpretation, they are what they are. It doesn't need to be processed, it just needs to be known as it is. How do you know it as it is? You let the blocks to it be removed because it is what you are. So let's look at. Check on you guys to see if you're doing good. Okay, you're doing good. I love you.

SPEAKER_01 42:50

Thank you for joining. I appreciate you. Okay, let's look at the difference between light and perception.

SPEAKER_02 43:02

So, perception is the world, it's the body, it's the mind's interpretation. It includes this filtering that goes on. Okay, partial awareness, distortion. That's the world. That's why perception can never be perfectly clear because it's not in a light. Uh, but the atonement, it's not existing in the perception. Okay, it's not, it does not exist in the perception. It can be used in the perception and must be used in the perception, but it exists in light. You might even say you're not even using it in the perception, you're using it on the perception. That's the that's what it seems like to me. It's like you're using it on the perception. Because like there's the perception, and it's telling you basically that God isn't what he is, you aren't what you are. That's what an upset feeling is. So it's like, that uh it's like you're putting the uh the you're using the atonement on it you're going okay that's telling me that i'm not who i am and god is not who i am i can't believe that basically i can't believe that i can't make that reasonable i can't change my whole uh frame of reference to take that as something that i need to be upset about see so it's not if it exists in the light it's really not subject to misunderstanding the misunderstanding isn't even about the atonement it's not even it it's not you're not even it's not something that can be misunderstood it can't be uh misinterpreted confused the misinterpretation and the or the confusion isn't even coming from that it's not coming from the atonement because it's only seen in light just like God same way so the atonement is perfectly clear then the confusion must be coming from thoughts in the mind looking at it and not from the atonement so the it the issue isn't why is the truth so unclear and the truth is unclear to you if you have any kind of upset feeling even concern a little bit of worry doesn't matter what it is the truth is unclear whether that's a small feeling or a large feeling really doesn't matter it just even just recognizing oh the truth must be unclear to me right now is huge any little bit of willingness that you can give it really helps so it's not really why is the truth unclear but why am I experiencing it as if it is unclear and that answer would be because of resistance unwillingness desire to keep something worldly recognizing that with compassion with sweetness non-judgment so instead of I need this to be clearer to me you know I've had I've definitely done that I've had that I mean I consumed so many books until I got onto a course in miracles and when I found a course in miracles I read that thing so fast and then I just read it again I was consuming right it's a phase nothing wrong with it this is just an invitation to see something this is what you do this is your habit thinking that you can learn more consume more and get to your goal but the truth is already clear and knowing that the truth is clear and knowing that you're just somehow not willing to see it then you're gonna start to become aware of that unwillingness so that it could be replaced with willingness. Yeah so it's like you're going from learning this this phase of learning to this phase of just uncovering what's true constantly coming to the truth phase where you're you've been efforting to this phase of surrender and willingness so what if nothing about the truth is even confusing what about what if any confusion I feel is something I've been adding to the truth and this isn't meant to put pressure on you look for the relief in this because it means clarity is not something you have to manufacture it's just available right now it seems like this awakening is speeding up so much I think you guys have a lot of wind beneath your sails as you're willing to do this. And

Willingness Versus The World’s Shroud

SPEAKER_02 48:39

who knows when you're watching this whatever time that is it's the most awesome time to apply this to every aspect of your life all right lovelies if there are no questions I'm going on to the next sentence and that's sentence four of paragraph seven chapter three section three here's the text only the world's attempts to shroud it in darkness it again is atonement only the world's attempts to shroud it in darkness have made it the atonement inacceptable inaccessible to the unwilling and ambiguous to the partly willing so I'll read that again I'm going to replace it with the atonement only the world's attempts to shroud the atonement in darkness have made the atonement inaccessible to the unwilling and ambiguous to the partly willing okay so one thing that sticks out is only the first word is only only ruling out every other cause that's precise only one thing one thing to block clarity not something complex not my lack of intelligence not time not lack of teaching only the world's attempts to shroud it in darkness so the problem is not with the truth which is the atonement it's the overlay that's placed on it the world's attempts what does this mean the world's attempts okay so in ACIM the world is not a place it's a thought system it's a way of thinking it values perception over knowledge right it makes symbols instead of recognizing what's true notice God has become a symbol and so has the atonement that's what the world does makes everything into a symbol the world a worldly thought system builds meaning out of illusion and it protects separation that's what Jesus is saying when he says the world okay so the world's attempts so the attempts are reinterpretations they're belief systems they're stories of guilt and sacrifice and fear and they're all trying to cover what's already clear that's the atonement standing in the light so shrouded in darkness not destroy it you know why because the world can't destroy it the world can never change the atonement all they can all the world can do is shroud it worldly thoughts so it covers it up covers the atonement the world covers the atonement the world obscures it makes it seem like it's a fantasy see with this shrouding it gets so thick you've probably heard the saying you repeat a lie enough it becomes true for people right so this shrouding makes it seem like the shrouding itself is the reality and the truth is a fantasy but the light is still unchanged the light of truth remains unchanged so the next part of the sentence this is a longer sentence let's see only the world's attempts to shroud the atonement in darkness have made the atonement inaccessible to the unwilling okay inaccessible to the unwilling so now you know it seems kind of personal who's unwilling all right inaccessible is not saying it's far away from you if you're unwilling but because of unwillingness to let go of guilt right what is this unwillingness anyways let go of guilt release release the belief in sin release the belief in separation release the belief in harming and being harmed giving up the idea that something real can be lost or damaged unwillingness to stop identifying with a story because of unwillingness inaccessible is what he says so let's see inaccessible to the unwilling the shroud the shrouding in the darkness that the world did made it inaccessible to the unwilling so the atonement is not being withheld from the unwilling it's just not accepted right it's like closed off chains on the door there's no way the atonement is getting in there they have free will and they're not willing see and then the other part of the sentence is ambiguous to the party willing that's us or to the partly willing that's us the partly willing because if we're a hundred percent willing we're not perceiving a world okay so the rec remember or let's say a world of separation remember we're going for complete willingness which is resurrection so this is Jesus being perfectly honest with us most people are not fully unwilling but not fully willing either so this is how the truth tends to feel unclear uncertain open to a different interpretation right so once you're uh a hundred percent certain clear all of that it's like there's nothing tying you there's no limitations tying you to anything you can just move things as will pop in and out whatever you want it's just that there's this unwillingness that's uh making it seem like we're even limited like we have any limits like we need to go to the bathroom we need to go to sleep we need to take an airplane to get somewhere instead of just popping in like that see that's limitations. So the truth you know is not uh again not ambiguous at all but the mind is still divided part of the mind wants the truth and part of the mind wants to keep something else and you know it's just like being honest about that I just notice when a part of my mind wants something else and not try to change it. See the it's like once the ego once okay you have no use for the ego anymore okay great okay once that occurs there's still the patterns that play to help you undo the unseen unwillingness in your mind to let go of illusions see so it's not a sign that you've gone backward or something like that because you're perceiving a pattern or even if you're reacting or even if you're acting you're reacting in a way which you would think is bad. You know the best is just this full on acceptance of whatever seems to be arising because of what you can use it for right now. Okay part of the mind when part of the mind wants the truth and the other part wants to keep something else you're not seeing it that way. So great that's an opportunity to recognize that your mind needs to be corrected and can be corrected right now and you can have instantaneous release it's been called I think grace or the glory of God you know it's like you're instantaneously just released from whatever it was that had your mind spinning so this sentence it's flipping this usual assumption that I need to understand more clearly like people have you know told me I need to understand I need to understand like you understand right so instead of that it's more like you know and I've shared with people before it's like one thing that I notice that is different about me is that I am really really willing to see my innocence my own innocence that's what I notice whatever I do whatever I seem to do I don't do anything I know I don't do anything whatever I seem to do I know it's a hundred percent helpful so if someone's telling me that wasn't helpful at all that fucked me up I'm gonna be getting a reaction to that because it's not true right I'm gonna be I'm gonna be reacting that I'm gonna be feeling a reaction in my body's energy because energy field because it's not true and yet a part of me still wants to believe it is true. That's why there's the reacting so this doesn't make me uncompassionate toward the person who's saying that I fucked up or something like that. It actually makes me more compassionate because I am allowing compassion for myself first. See I'm noticing the reaction I'm noticing that I'm perceiving an illusion you could say we're me and this person are perceiving an illusion together. It's not my job to tell that person that it's an illusion unless we have some kind of relationship that's like that. But it's uh it's definitely an opportunity it's giving me an opportunity to see that I'm I'm just afraid of that kind of perception like someone's telling me I screwed him up I what if they said hey hope you fucking ran over my kid and killed my kid you know I like to play with scenarios like this because these things are in are buried in the unconscious mind like oh my God I'm so scared I hope I never do anything like that and I hope I never have to experience anything like that. So what I'm doing is I'm taking the edge off of it by going okay look at you know like like what if you fucking perceived because you could perceive anything this this perception like accidentally running over someone's kid right and you're and you're recognizing uh like even just in imagining it's potent you're recognizing the reaction that's arising and I used to do this with anything that see I seem to be afraid of I would just like bring it in bring it on let me get that perception and feeling right now and bring that in it's gonna seem really real um because the mind doesn't really distinguish between what you're imagining and what's actually occurring. So it's really cool in this way too because you can undo a guilt associated with uh some kind of dynamic like this without going through it. You can have guilt undone without going through that actually going through that experience because your mind takes something that you imagine and it's because it's all imagined but I'm just explaining this way the mind takes what you imagine and also what you perceive as the same right so looking at it like this like someone's like you just man I hate you you just ran over my kid or whatever and you're getting a major reaction in the body's energy field and you hold that energy you hold that with the energy of compassion letting it flow to you because what you're perceiving and what this section is telling us is an error it's an error it's not really true right it's not it's not even not only is it not really true it's not even one bit true atonement stands in the light the light is talking truth the light is is uh clarity and certainty of your innocence so holding the upset feeling oh my god I just killed someone's kid alongside of that it resolves the underlying cause of it and that's the only reason we're perceiving anything and perceptions can get fucking wild so when you're uh when you're just prepared for any perception before it arises even before it arises it's like I'm in forgiveness state of mind before any perception arises so for me forgiveness is not a question it's not even a question it's already forgiven before it pops up and that's something you know that uh occurs in our minds it's like first we're practicing forgiveness with everything and then eventually it's like everything's forgiven there's nothing to do here there's nothing even to do so basically all you're all you're doing at that point is just giving response to whatever it is that arises you're experiencing the fluctuations but not taking them personally so it it goes from I need to understand this book let's say a Course in Miracles more clearly it becomes am I willing to see what's clear can how can I be more willing to see what's actually clear already because this is stuff that you already know what you're do what you're actually doing is removing the blocks to love that doesn't really come from consuming a lot of information but it's like you know taking information at a pace that feels joyful and your teachings actually come through the particulars of your life through your relationships that that's what allows you to do the undoing that's through the relationships it's not really through trying so hard to understand things thank you for joining lovelies thank you I love you so the truth isn't hidden from you and you know clarity really isn't missing and the light is not dim. It's only the desire for something else that you're identifying with that makes it seem like that it's the desire for something other than truth that's what this world is it is for it's a reflect desires for what's other than truth so you could deny meaning to it that's the atonement you deny meaning to it because God is fact right God is not symbolic. So you could deny meaning to anything everything is symbolic in the world so this is this comes back to levels again. Remember in chapter two we were doing level confusion and it's like illusions are on one level and God is above all of those illusions just being the fact. So it doesn't matter what illusions play in the field the fact that God is God remains the truth. So everything that's perceived gets used that way. When you're using everything that you perceive that way, you're stoked. You're really stoked you're feeling great. Okay? That's how that works. But you know I I will say though, there will be instances where it won't feel so great just because you know you need to do what you need to do, which is forgiveness, but you really feel like you don't want to give up that illusion. Right? So in that case, you're holding both of those energies together and you know which one is gonna win. It's the atonement because it's on a completely different level and it dissolves illusions. So you can invite this recognition really gently. Where am I still wanting a story to be true? Where am I still asking to see the truth, but holding on to a story at the same time that's actually blocking what's true? This is where the ambiguity is really coming from. It's not coming from the text itself or the truth itself. So hooray for that. That was another sentence. So let's see. We are now paragraph seven, sentence five.

Atonement Radiates Only Truth

SPEAKER_02 1:07:19

The atonement itself radiates nothing but truth. Ah, it radiates. So this is removing fear from what the atonement will reveal. See, there's naturally this fear of what atonement's going to reveal about us. If I really let light in, what will it show me? I don't want it to reveal all these shadows, right? Something needs to be corrected or paid for in me. But no, the atonement itself radiates nothing but truth. So whatever you're afraid of having revealed, it's just really not there. It's actually not there, it's not gonna be exposed by the atonement. That's not what the atonement does. It radiates, it doesn't search, it just shines. It shines, radiating like the sun. This is not something that investigates you. It's radiating, it's not investigative. It doesn't say it's probing, it doesn't say it's analyzing or digging, it's shining. So it's not coming at you, it's not looking for error in you, it's not inspecting you, it's not inspecting your mind. It's just radiating like a constant outflow of what's really true.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:03

Nothing but truth, no mixture, absolute, not mostly the truth with a little bit of punishment over here for them. Not truth with a little bit of sacrifice, not truth plus exposure of your sins.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:27

The atonement is nothing but the truth. Doesn't do anything with guilt or sin or accusation or any records that you have of errors, it just overlooks them, it radiates right through them. Shame, judgment, that is not the atonement that's being uh spoken of here when you're talking about shame or judgment. That is a different thing, it has nothing to do with the atonement. That atonement that the world teaches is symbolic. This atonement that Jesus is talking about is not contained in symbolism. So, what does this mean about you? What does this mean about your identity if the atonement radiates only the truth?

SPEAKER_01 1:10:18

What does that reveal about you?

SPEAKER_02 1:10:26

And you must be what God created, you must be what is ever what has never even changed, what's still whole and innocent. Only that everything else you believe, you only believe about yourself. It doesn't even appear there. See, the atonement is really, it's only for revealing what's actually there, not what you made up and you think is there within yourself.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:02

The atonement is revealing again what God created.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:07

The you, the self that God created, the you that has not changed, the you that remains whole and innocent. That's what the atonement reveals. Whatever else, shame, guilt, mistakes, not even there to look at.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:28

Because it radiates.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:40

So you can look at these things, shame and guilt, as shadows, and when atonement radiates through them, it reveals that they're not there. Isn't that so fun?

SPEAKER_01 1:11:57

They're not even there. I love it. All right, why does the ego resist this?

SPEAKER_02 1:12:10

Why does the ego resist the fact that the atonement radiates nothing but truth?

SPEAKER_01 1:12:22

The ego survives on guilt.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:26

If the atonement radiates truth, only truth, and that truth is innocence, then guilt has nowhere to stand, meaning the ego has nowhere to stand. So the ego needs to reinterpret the atonement as harsh or corrective. You know, something you do when you're really ready to sacrifice. Something that's exposing, something that's demanding, something that you should be afraid of. That's how the ego keeps you away from the very thing that would actually free you from dreaming, free you from limitation. So look at it like this the light of God, which of the atonement is, could only show me what's true, and nothing I fear about myself or about anything can survive in that light.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:36

The light of atonement that radiates only.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:41

And it's not because it's forgiven, it's because it wasn't there in the first place. So Jesus is encouraging us to go from being afraid to look in the unconscious mind to I'm only afraid of what isn't real being undone. See, that's it, knowing all I could possibly be afraid of is having what isn't real be undone.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:32

So the atonement itself radiates nothing but truth. See that?

SPEAKER_02 1:14:42

If you're afraid of the atonement, you're really afraid of having your illusions undone.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:49

You're not really afraid of the atonement.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:56

All right, if there are not any questions, I will move on to the next sentence.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:02

Thank you for coming with me on this adventure. Chapter three, section three, paragraph seven, sentence six.

Harmlessness And Perfect Innocence

SPEAKER_02 1:15:17

It therefore, okay, the atonement again, the atonement, therefore epitomizes harmlessness and sheds only blessing. Therefore, so this is a conclusion. Jesus is saying, okay, this is what I've been building here, right? He's building this up logically because the atonement is not symbolic, it exists in the light, it's perfectly clear, it radiates nothing but truth. Therefore, it can only have one effect. Basically, what's going on here? It therefore epitomizes harmlessness and sheds only blessing. So epitomizes harmlessness. Sounds like an uh expression of zero attack, epitomizes harmlessness. To epitomize, in case you're not aware, uh, to epitomize means to be the perfect example of something. So the atonement isn't just harmless, it's the standard. It's the perfect example of harmlessness, meaning it's it can't attack, it can't expose in a way that harms anyone, and it's not capable of diminishing you or demanding any payment from you. There's nothing in the atonement that can harm you in any way. The epitome of harmlessness, the standard of harmlessness, you could say. So, why does this have to be true? It has to be true, must be true. Well, if the atonement radiates only truth, and truth contains no guilt or sin or attack, then there's nothing in it that could correct you through pain or heal you through suffering. You hear that? Nothing can be corrected through pain or healed through suffering or taught to you through loss. Because none of none of these things are real. How could you be taught by something that isn't real? You're taught through willingness to see that it's not real. First, you're taught that you have that choice. All of the world is gonna see this. This is so exciting. It's just becoming more and more clear.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:10

Whatever comes from your belief in error isn't real.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:13

So the cause of whatever comes from belief in error is belief in error. So that's where it gets undone as at the cause. The atonement shares no erroneous thoughts with you, erroneous beliefs with you. See, the world would say everything that comes from belief in error is actually real. The atonement does not share that. All right, it also says sheds only blessing. Ooh, I love that. It therefore epitomizes harmlessness and sheds only blessing. Ah, consistently sheds only blessing, sheds. That's kind of like the same idea as radiates, isn't it? It's not selective, it doesn't give blessings sometimes and something else another time. It just gives blessings. Even the correction that the Holy Spirit gives is blessing, right? Even the correction that you get from applying the atonement is blessing. You want that correction because what you were holding on to was hurting, and the correction is the release. So every true encounter with the atonement brings relief. It brings a sense of gentleness and softness and a sense of being safe. That's really what it is. Because something false is not being imposed anymore. That's why the Holy Spirit isn't adding anything, atonement isn't adding anything to the situation, it just stops what's false from being imposed on you. Let me know if you have any questions, as always. I go back and check. So a simple way to check it out. If something feels like pressure, fear, exposure, shame, any kind of harshness, that's not the atonement. Because why is it not the atonement? Well, we just heard the sentence the atonement epitomizes harmlessness and sheds only blessing. So instead of expecting, and this is a common thing I see with people selling courses too. My gosh, instead of expecting truth to be confronting or painful for someone, people must love pain because they're selling these expensive ass courses, telling people that they need to be confronted with their pain and go through a bunch of shit. Um, and instead of you doing that, instead of expecting that the truth is going to be something painful or confronting, this is inviting you to trust in this being gentle. All that's making is it painful is your unwillingness to let go of stories, really. There's nothing there. But it's not gentle because it avoids clarity. No, it's perfectly clear. We just read that, but it's gentle because there's nothing in you that's needs to be attacked. There's nothing there for attacking, and the atonement isn't set up to be attacking anything, it can't. It's holy benign.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:55

That means it's only true and loving. Holy benign.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:16

So correction of our minds can only be a blessing. And they cannot possibly hurt us. They can only be helpful, they can only feel loving, they can only be awesome.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:30

So this is beginning to undo the fear of letting the truth in.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:38

And if there are no questions, we will go to the next sentence. I'm checking on you guys. All right. Chapter three, section three, paragraph seven, sentence seven. Three, three, seven, seven. What fun. Here's the text. It could not do this if it arose from anything other than perfect innocence. Now it's referring back here to harmlessness and blessing. That's what it could not do. It could not do this, right? Harmlessness and blessing. What did it say in that last sentence? It therefore epitomizes harmlessness and sheds only blessing.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:30

So he's still speaking about those same effects.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:36

Now he's just explaining why this is true. The source of it determines the effect. The source is the atonement. See, this is a fundamental principle in a Course in Miracles. What something comes from determines what it is. If the atonement were coming from a belief in sin, I need to correct or anything like that, need to correct error as if it's real, you know, that kind of correction where they're slapping your knuckles or something, or a desire to fix something, then it can't be completely harmless. It would carry judgment, right? It would um be a contrast to what's actually true. It's gonna be implying guilt. That's how a traditional religion is. Or I don't know if you call it traditional, mainstream religion is right, it's implying guilt. For me, it was always kind of like a ooh, I don't like that. Ooh, I don't like that feeling. Anything other than perfect innocent, any anything other than perfect innocence. So here's the sentence again. It could not do this if it arose from anything other than perfect innocence, it could not epitomize harmlessness or shed only blessing if it arose from anything other than perfect innocence. So this is not awareness of sin or wrongdoing or anything, it's just perfect innocence. It's no uh guilty conscience, no belief that anything actually went wrong. Their stories, like they look like things went wrong. They didn't go wrong, nothing went wrong. Everything is always a perfect interpretation, a perfect reflection of a psyche that you could say has gone wrong. So the the atonement isn't coming from something actually happened and we need to fix it. It actually comes from nothing real ever happened. Nothing happened. That's really where it comes from. And here's why it guarantees harmlessness. Because if the source is perfect innocence, then the effect has to be perfect innocence too. So it can't be harmful. Well, you know, the perfectly innocent aren't going to be treated in a harmful way. Of course, in miracles has uh has uh taught that in many parts about how the guilty mind or the guiltless mind cannot suffer. So the atonement isn't gonna correct you by showing uh your sins in the world, it's gonna correct you by showing an error in thought and with compassion so you can choose not to hold on to it anymore.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:39

Oh, it's not gonna heal you by confrontation like you did this wrong.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:59

So most spiritual traditions are holding this assumption that you are flawed, but you can be corrected, and that's what I notice on advertising too, right? I I don't I don't watch TV. Uh only place I see advertising really is online, like Facebook. Um, if I'm surfing some website or something like that. And yeah, something's wrong with you, but if you buy this thing, you can correct it. So this is removing that idea, saying that the atonement epitomizes harmlessness and sheds only blessing. And it could not be like that if it arose from anything other than perfect innocence. See, the source is perfect innocence. It's not you are flawed, but you can be corrected. It's you think you flaw, you think you are flawed and you never left perfection. So the atonement isn't even coming from a premise like it's dealing with anything that's flawed. See that? It's not dealing with something that's flawed. It doesn't even, it doesn't even relate with it that way. So instead of I need to be healed because something's wrong with me. Okay, I'll give you a really good example

Healing Without The Fixing Mind

SPEAKER_02 1:28:28

of this. I just got a few minutes before I went on today. A friend of mine told me, I know this trauma is stuck in my body. That's an example of this. Okay. How many of you have thought that? The trauma, it's my nervous system, it's this, it's that. I'm like, hey, I'm all for relaxing the nervous system. I love shit like that. But saying that, you know, you're you're basically something's wrong with you and it needs to be fixed, it's never going to be fixed. That's the thing. Because healing actually reveals that none of that shit is true. Okay, I'll give you another example. I seemed to have a headache the other night, and uh thoughts were coming to me. One of them was maybe I don't get enough hugs. All I do is smile at these things. Right? I'm always getting exactly what I need. I know that. Um so as these patterns play themselves out, they're gonna be projecting thoughts that are familiar. Thoughts of something's wrong, something needs to shift. Maybe I'm not drinking enough water, maybe this, maybe this, maybe this. I'm I'm just basically smiling and recognizing that I'm projecting the pain. I'm just projecting the pain. So healing is what reveal is really reveals nothing is ever wrong with me. Um yeah. And it was interesting because I noticed a shift in that too. I noticed that I noticed the moment where there was a shift, like kind of like some pressure relief off my head. And then a few minutes later, I was asleep. And then when I woke up the next morning, there was not a headache. Okay, there's a little tinge of something that reminded me that there was a headache, which none of this is really true. It's just dream. It's really dream. So the tr the tinge of something that reminds me of a headache, again, it gets, I'm only projecting that now. It's just, and it doesn't have to come out as a complete sentence, it's just an awareness. So the source of your healing, the atonement, never believe that you were guilty, never believe that for a second. That's what makes it so safe. That's what makes it so harmless, and that's why it's always only blessing. It only sheds blessing. What was that sentence again? I love it. It epitomizes it epitomizes harmlessness and sheds only blessing. Beautiful. So the sentence that we just deep dove into is sentence seven. And that follows the sentence I just read. I'm gonna read six and seven together because I like them together. Sentence six, it therefore epitomizes harmlessness and sheds only blessing, talking about the atonement. Sentence seven, it could not do this if it arose from anything other than perfect innocence. So perfect innocence is the source of the atonement. Anyone have any questions? Anyone like to add anything? I love you. Thank you so much for joining you, sweeties. All right, we're going on to sentence eight. For those who just joined, we are in A Course in Miracles 2021 Complete Annotated Edition. We're in chapter three, section three, paragraph seven, sentence eight, and this is on page 113.

Innocence Is Wisdom Without Evil

SPEAKER_02 1:32:16

So here's the text innocence is wisdom because it is unaware of evil which does not exist. One of my favorite sentences in A Course in Miracles. Let's read it again. Let this sink in. Innocence is wisdom because it is unaware of evil which does not exist. So this refined redefines innocence, doesn't it? The world hears innocence and thinks of it and thinks of it as naive, unaware. I get that reflection from people from from time to time, you know, because I'm unbothered by the things that people are bothered by, right? I'm I'm not even bothered. Uh you know, it's like, ah, this is happening and this is happening and this is happening. And you know what the funny thing is? I can actually interact with all these kinds of things because I'm not bothered. And I could see a dynamic being playing out, played out where there's a government scenario trying their darndest to control the people. Okay. So it's like, wow, it's like you you can still see the scenario, but you know there's no evil, it doesn't exist. Right? It just really that's the wisdom. It does not exist. Here's the scenario. So now you're not dealing with any fear about it. You're not going out trying to convince everyone, right? You're just, oh, there's a scenario. Okay, there's what I've been given to play with. It's really similar to this. You know, when I was growing up, my mom told me all men cheat. You know, they're only good for about three months and then they start looking around. I believe that was the case, right? I believe that was the case. The way I looked at it, oh, that's what I got to play with. Okay, right? So it doesn't become this fearful thing. It's not something you have to resist, it's not something you have to try to turn a blind eye to. It's like, no, I want to see the world's patterns so they can be exposed. I don't see, I don't look at it as someone's guilty. Someone's doing something evil. Is it evil? Yes, it is. Is someone guilty? No, it's not. They're not. Simple like that. Yeah. It's like, it's like, it's an it's it's like, look, uh unaware of evil. It's like you're unaware of evil, meaning you can look on something that looks like evil and recognize it as innocence, right? Ignorant, innocent, but innocence nonetheless, right? When you recognize it like that, there's nothing to be afraid of. It's like, oh, okay, that's the game board. That's the game board I've been given to play on, right? That's the scenario, that's the illusion I've been given to heal the cause of separation and suffering.

SPEAKER_01 1:35:28

Yay. All right.

SPEAKER_02 1:35:35

Innocence, yes, innocence is wisdom because it is unaware of evil which does not exist. So the world thinks innocence is like lacking experience, easily misled, naive. Jesus is saying it's not lack of awareness, it is right awareness. Yes, to the ego, it looks like lack of awareness. You know, sometimes people even like to ridicule me, not too often, once in a while. Uh, but you know, I look at that and I go, oh, I love it. Thank you. Thanks for playing. You know, I'll laugh along with them. I don't mind laughing at myself. I think it's hilarious. I'm not anyone's authority. Okay, this is saying innocence is wisdom. So that's a reversal. The world says wisdom comes from knowing good and evil, doesn't it? Learning through experience, understanding the darkness. But here, what Jesus is saying is that wisdom doesn't come from being deceived by what is not real.

SPEAKER_01 1:36:44

So innocence is wisdom because it doesn't grant reality to illusion. Okay, it says in there, because it is unaware of evil.

SPEAKER_02 1:37:01

Unaware does not mean denying what you see. A lot of people get into that, okay? Pretending things don't seem to happen, being blind to people's behavior, right? It means you're not recognizing evil as real, you're not granting it any existence. That's the foundation of this sentence. Let's read it again because it's right at the end of the sentence. Innocence is wisdom because it is unaware of evil, which does not exist. That's a key point. Which does not exist. Okay, evil exists. It's not it's not saying evil exists and innocence ignores it, is it? See that it's saying he's saying evil does not exist. So innocence is not avoiding truth, it's aligned with the truth. What the ego calls seeing clearly is recognizing evil everywhere and making it real. That's actually a misperception. And here's why it's it's wisdom. Because if you believe evil's real, you will fear, you will defend, you will attack, you will try to correct through force. But if evil has no real existence, no existence in reality, then there's nothing to fear, there's nothing to fight, there's nothing to fix. See, these things can still arise, you guys. Fighting could still happen. Uh, you could be fixing some kind of thing in the field, your body or or something on your house, or anything like that. But see, this is a mental movement. This is really a mental movement. That's where it is. Notice this is showing us there's not anything to be afraid of. So innocence sees truly because it only recognizes what is. All right. Whatever is whatever is in the illusory field is not recognized as real. That doesn't mean it's not recognized for the play in the field, but it's not recognized as reality. And the ego is gonna object to this. I put a post about uh about how violence is never justified or helpful on an ACIM group and actually had a person come on and say, no, violence is very helpful. We need it in a lot of circumstances. And I'm just like, okay, the ego immediately is like, look at the world. We need violence, right? But this teaching isn't denying your experience. That let's say, you know, the experience is the world is run by pedophiles and satanic people who are eating people. Okay. Uh the ego would say, look at that. Should I just like ignore that? It's like, no, that's not what a course in miracles is saying. The teaching is not denying the experience, it's correcting interpretation. So you're able to look at it as what it is. You're seeing a projection of a belief system, not a reality. Uh, and because it's a projection of a belief system, you have power, huge power in that, to undo the police, the belief system that makes these kinds of illusions. But if you're afraid of the illusions themselves, you're never gonna see this. You're never gonna see this power that you have until you're ready to relinquish the fear, which will happen. It's just a matter of when. It could be a long ass time with a lot of suffering in between. So that's why it's like, hmm, if I'm if I want to see through, then I want to look. Just look in the direction gently. Don't get all we're just going over that. Don't get all I gotta learn this real fast. I gotta uh you can if you want. It's just a phase, it'll pass. It takes a little longer while you're in that. Uh, I've been through it. You don't have to go through it, okay? You don't have to unless you want to go through that thing where you're just like, I gotta learn so much so fast. This is gonna correct your interpretation just by your openness to hearing this. It's gonna, it's gonna like it starts a process of correction. So what you're seeing when you see anything like what I just described, atrocities or anything, it's a projection of a belief system. Innocence doesn't validate that projection of a belief system as if it's the truth.

SPEAKER_01 1:42:03

So here's how you can invite the shift within yourself if you're seeing evil anywhere.

SPEAKER_02 1:42:10

Um you know, look at it and go, what if this isn't really clarity? What if seeing evil is never clarity, but it's actually error? That would be very helpful. That means you could still look on the thing, the apparent thing, but you're now you're seeing it differently. And what if wisdom is just not being fooled by what isn't really there?

unknown 1:42:38

Right?

SPEAKER_02 1:42:39

What if that's wisdom, just not being fooled by what isn't actually there? Because when we start to see evil as error instead of reality, we stop being afraid of it. And only then are we given the clarity, and not really given, because it's already there, it just covered up. Only then do we uncover the clarity required to stop participating in error. See, when we're afraid of it, we're actually participating in it. When we're condemning it, we're actually participating in it. It's amazing how that works, and it's so simple to undo it.

SPEAKER_01 1:43:21

It really is simple. Let's move on to sentence nine.

SPEAKER_02 1:43:29

So now we're at chapter three, section three, paragraph seven, sentence nine. I had a feeling I was not gonna get to paragraph eight. We are just gonna do sentence nine of paragraph seven, and that will be the end of today's. I'll be back again next week. Okay, so sentence nine. I'm just gonna read the whole paragraph seven for context, and then we'll get to nine. So, sentence one, God Himself is not symbolic, he is fact. Two, the atonement too is totally without symbolism. Three, it, meaning the atonement, is perfectly clear because it exists in light. Four, only the world's attempt to shroud the atonement in darkness have made it inaccessible to the unwilling and ambiguous to the partly willing. Five, the atonement itself radiates nothing but truth. Six, it therefore epitomizes harmlessness and sheds only blessing. It could not do this if it arose from anything other than perfect innocence. Innocence is wisdom because it is unaware of evil which does not exist. Which brings us to sentence nine and the final sentence of paragraph seven.

Perfect Awareness Of Only Truth

SPEAKER_02 1:45:16

It is, however, perfectly aware of everything that is true, and we're still on the atonement. It is, however, perfectly aware of everything. Wait, no, we're not on the atonement. We are on innocence. Last sentence, innocence is wisdom because it is unaware of evil which does not exist. It is, innocence is, however, perfectly aware of everything that is true. It is innocence is, however, perfectly aware of everything that is true. So this is correcting a possible misunderstanding for the listener. After saying innocence is unaware of evil, there could be a subtle misinterpretation. Sounds someone could take it as that sounds like blindness, that sounds like not seeing, that sounds like not looking. So Jesus immediately corrects that it is, however, perfectly aware. See, innocence is not lacking in and not lacking in awareness, it is complete awareness, but only of that which is real. That's what complete awareness is. It's awareness of only that which is real. And then there's the word perfectly unaware, perfectly or perfectly aware, not perfectly unaware, perfectly aware of everything that is true. That means nothing's missing, not partially aware, not selectively aware, not growing into awareness, perfectly that's innocence. That's innocence. Innocence is perfectly aware, so it's not less informed, like the world says, right? Uh, you must be. I've had people think that I've lived some kind of a magical have everything handed to me kind of life because I could be so what people perceive as positive. I'm actually not positive or negative. I'm neither of those things. I'm I'm just allowing the the beliefs that block what's true in me, that innocence is very happy. You're not less perceptive. You know, that's another one. People will assume I'm less perceptive. I don't see what's going on. I must not know. Um, had a really good conversation with one woman where she was like, she she assumed that I wasn't aware of the Jeffrey Epstein stuff. I'm like, oh no, I know about that stuff. Yeah, it's nothing to be afraid of. She's like, what? Oh, oh. It's like, oh shit, there's another way of looking at this. Yeah, exactly. That's why I'm here. Part of the sentence, uh, perfectly aware of everything that is true. So that completes this kind of a little definition of innocence, huh? Innocence, not dividing attention between truth and illusion. It's not dividing between reality and misperception, it knows only what's true. So its awareness isn't being distorted, it's not in conflict about anything. So the ego thinks to be wise, I must understand good and evil, right? That's the world. That's worldly thinking. What Jesus is saying is to be wise is to know only truth. Because what's true is not something to be understood. We've just gone over that. It's something it's you know, it's not something, it's like, it's like this. It's like it's the untruth is something that never even existed. So the truth being true just reveals that to your awareness. Uh oh, it never even existed. Why does this matter for your own perception? If you believe it's real, you're gonna try to interpret it, explain it, manage it. Notice how that moves away from innocence. If you recognize that only the truth is real, you stop trying to interpret illusion. It's just like it reveals itself to you. I mean, like I in my consciousness, I'm watching the whole patriarchy dynamic collapsing. It's amazing. And and I don't have to do anything. Just enjoy the show. You just stop investing into interpreting things. Oh, this is so bad, this is so horrible. It's like, you know what? This is nothing.

SPEAKER_01 1:50:32

It doesn't even mean anything.

SPEAKER_02 1:50:38

So innocence is unaware of evil because evil isn't real. And innocence is perfectly aware of truth because the truth is real. So innocence isn't narrowing the awareness, it's a purification of awareness. Remember, I was talking about earlier, I think that verse in the Bible that says everyone is born in sin is referring to when we take on a body in a world, we're taking on programming. And that programming is basically anti-Christ or anti-you. It's against you, it's against God's creation. So purification of awareness, yeah. Yeah, that's the release. So nothing real is ever is ever being hidden from you. It's only what isn't real that occupies a lot of your attention, and that's what's getting undone. So this is a way of seeing that your attention can just shift back to truth in any instant without needing to fight any illusions. You don't need to fix anything first. It's just boom, straight back to the truth. Oh, yeah, that's an illusion. Okay, straight back to what's actually true. And feel the release. The more you feel the release, the more you get tuned into. Oh, I love doing that. I want to do that some more. And the more you do it, the more you'll love it, the more you'll see, the more you'll undo, the more innocent and free and ecstatic you're gonna feel. All right. Uh let's see, where are we? Sentence, oh, we did it. We did it. We got through paragraph seven. Uh, and oh wow, that was beautiful.

Schedule, Donations, Final Wrap

SPEAKER_02 1:52:31

Almost two hours for paragraph seven. It was quite a few sentences. Um, so next time we come back, which is gonna be next week, I know some of you just joined. Um, we're gonna be back for another ACIM, a course in miracles deep dive next week. Same time, three to five Pacific time. And I'll be back on Monday for wisdom dialogue, or was Monday? I'm so used to saying Monday. Sunday, 3 to 5 p.m. for wisdom dialogues. And I haven't had one of those in a couple weeks, and I was supposed to go on a trip that I didn't go on, apparently. There's no really supposed to. Um, it's it seemed like I was gonna, and I'll definitely be playing with that a little bit and uh just sharing with you guys how that kind of stuff plays out in uh in a let's say a mind that loves everything that arises. Yay! It's gonna be fun to share. So make sure you come back on Sunday or just watch it later. Either way works for me. And this this ACIM deep dives, plus the wisdom dialogues, plus different things that I do. I post a lot on Facebook recently, also having conversations with people in different spiritual groups, um, bringing awareness. This is all done on donation, and my website is a good place to go and donate if you'd like to. You could go to hopejohnson.org, press the donate tab. Also, I'm open to any kind of donations in terms of technical support. And you can also go to my website to find all of my awesome free resources. Yeah. All right. Thank you for joining. Does anyone have any questions before we go? Yay, we did it. Yes, I love that you're saying we did it because that's another thing that's been coming to my mind recently that I'm super stoked about. We are accomplished. There's nothing to accomplish. Okay. It's like once we're once we're we're willing to recognize, okay, this story of non-accomplishment is only layered over what's true. Am I willing to accept, no matter what I perceive about myself, that I'm actually already accomplished right now, just right now. Right? You don't have to convince anyone about this. This is that's not it. It's not, you know, you don't have to like look at your actions and go, well, let me see by what I do and how I be, how accomplished I really am. No, that's not where it's at. You were never unaccomplished. So it's accepting that you are actually accomplished right now. And you could say accomplished the same thing as innocence, which we've been talking about today. And that's what the atonement does. It brings you back to what's true right now. It only radiates what's actually true, it only sheds blessings and it's not capable of anything else. So if there's some reason why you feel afraid of the atonement, uh, you can be released from that right now. And I'm telling you, any reason that that the ego comes up with for being afraid of the atonement has nothing to do with the atonement. It's a total misinterpretation of the atonement. Whenever I hear people uh try to tell me why I'm wrong, because I see it in innocence, it's always a mis, they'll sometimes use a course in miracles because they know I teach a course in miracles. It's just taking concepts from the from the course and completely misinterpreting them. So it's like it's it's like if you want to see it like that, you will. If you want to see how to be released from fear and suffering and be healed and not bothered by things that occur in the world, then you will use it in that way as well. It could be just like anything, a course in miracles could be used by the ego for controversy, or it could be used by your innocent and true heart, or you might say uh the self of I am. You know, you it's it's all that's all the same. It might be used by that aspect of you that's open and willing to be released from all this suffering, to surrender whatever it is that's holding you back from feeling the complete joy of oneness with God. See, that's what the atonement is. It's such a it's such a joy. It's a joy to apply the atonement anywhere. It really is. And whatever is making you feel afraid of applying it is just nonsense. There's nothing here in this world. I don't care. People have told me this week someone told me about kids. Uh, am I supposed to just ignore the fact that my kids aren't with me and just imagine peace? This is another interpretation of a corporate course in miracles, right? And I'm like, no. Of course, you're gonna feel upset about it that your kids aren't there because you still believe that you have a body. You still believe that the that this body is real. Jesus isn't condemning that. He's saying to hold that sense that it's something should be different and bring it to the truth. The truth is that you don't give a shit about this world. You actually don't care one fucking iota iota about it. That's a trick. You don't care about it because it's not real. See, that's innocence. Innocence can just play in anything, it knows its own reality. This that we're that we're perceiving is not real. It's meant to deny innocence, and it's meant to be the means for recognizing the truth, actually demonstrating what's true to your mind. Isn't that so fun? I love it. I'm having a great time, and I love all of you. Uh, what did you say here, uh Bone her? Which I think is Glenn. I'm pretty sure about that. Rest in that awesome, thank you. Oh, I love you, thank you, thank you, Dorga. I love you too. Thank you for joining so much. So until next time, Mahalo, aloha, and a hoo-e ho. Yay!