Seeing Through Innocence | A Course in Miracles Deep Dive | May 6, 2026 | Ch. 3, Sect. 3, P.10

If you have ever felt like pain makes you “better,” like sacrifice earns love, or like God must punish someone for the world to make sense, we take that belief apart from the inside. We are reading A Course in Miracles in the section “Atonement Without Sacrifice,” and we follow the thread to a surprisingly practical claim: perception only reflects the state of mind that perceives. When the mind believes in guilt, it will see guilt. When it believes attack is justified, it will find enemies, danger, and proof that fear is rational.

From there we slow down and get usable. We talk about what ACIM means by innocence, not moral superiority, not pretending nothing hurts, but a willingness to be untouched by the belief in evil. That willingness becomes forgiveness in the Course sense: releasing the idea that guilt is even possible, so our vision can clear. We also unpack “defending true perception,” which is not “winning” spiritual arguments, but protecting clarity in our own mind and refusing to build an identity out of judgment, specialness, and victimhood.

We end by naming how sacrifice-thinking shows up everywhere: in relationships, work, health anxiety, scarcity mindset, and the constant story of “not enough.” The line that anchors it all is simple: sacrifice is totally unknown to God, because love does not trade, deprive, or demand payment. If you want a calmer nervous system, cleaner relationships, and a more stable sense of the peace of God, press play and practice along. Subscribe, share with a friend who is tired of “holy suffering,” and leave a review with the biggest insight you are taking today.

Transcript

Welcome And Guided Tune In

SPEAKER_02 0:06

Aloha, and welcome to a Course in Miracles Deep Dive with Hope Johnson. Thank you so much for joining. Yeah. So, today, if you want to get it queued up in your book, it's the new edition of A Course in Miracles. Well, I don't know if it's how new it is now. 2021 edition, purple book, complete annotated edition. And we are in chapter three, section three. We're starting with paragraph 10 after I do a little bit of a summary of what we covered. And paragraph 10 is on page 114 in the book. Yay, we're gonna start with sentence one there. So we'll get started. We're gonna tune in just to get started here. Yay!

SPEAKER_06 1:00

Yay!

SPEAKER_02 1:04

Woo! That's how Billy tunes in. He's having fun. Ah, all right. Yes. Feel into your body's energy field. Notice. This is really where the guidance comes from, so notice.

SPEAKER_03 1:34

Where is it pinching? Where is it holding?

SPEAKER_02 1:42

Physical tension recognizing is a symbol of mental tension. Invite relaxation. Invite flow. Thank you to everyone who joins. Thank you to everyone. Thank you to everyone who seems to incarnate here. For the expansion of our consciousness, the awakening of truth within our mind. Thank you. Thank you to Jesus. Thank you for this beautiful mind training course. Thank you for showing us the way to fully see. See in truth. See without attack. For gently reminding us how to undo the desire for attack without attack. Thank you. Thank you for showing us that God is only love. Thank you for showing us that God does not have any judgment, no punishment, nothing like that in God. Thank you for showing us how free and authentic and loving we are, and how to express that in the world. Thank you to everyone. Thank you for joining. Let's have a beautiful deep dive. Yay! Woo-hoo! Okay. It looks like my live work. Aloha Wayne. I got on live that time easily. I like it like that. All right.

Why Suffering Is Not Holy

SPEAKER_02 3:32

So coming up to paragraph 10, we're still in the same perception. That's the name of the chapter. And the section is called Atonement Without Sacrifice. We're up to chapter 10 in this part, and it's all about getting us free from judgment and attack that we've believed in. So what Jesus has been doing throughout this entire section is dismantling one of the deepest distortions we have in our consciousness. And that's the belief that suffering is holy. So in this chapter, he begins by correcting the misunderstanding, central misunderstanding, collective misunderstanding surrounding the crucifixion. Basically by saying the crucifixion did not establish the atonement, the resurrection did. So that's to me is sort of like the foundation of what we've been covering so far, everything that's been covered here. This single correction, this turns everything. Like if you accept this correction that the crucifixion didn't establish the atonement, it was the resurrection, that changes, that's a that's a change in the mind. And you may not even realize that you could be conditioned with this. It's very, very common because it's in the collective consciousness. So we've had a lot of examples in different ways it comes around, and we're gonna see more of that as we go on. So just to help us undo what we may not be aware that we're carrying. Yeah. Because consciously we might go, that's correct. There is no suffering or punishment in God. No way is suffering holy. But then we'll see how we play the opposite out in our thinking and in the actions that come as a result of our thinking. So the world interpreted the crucifixion. This is the way the ego wanted it to be, as proof that God demands suffering, sacrifice, or some kind of payment. And karma was also talked about here. There's no karma in God. You know, that's an idea that we made up. And that includes like Akashic records, stuff like that. Everything that we made up that's that's really to keep us perpetuating illusions by believing in them. Jesus says this interpretation that the crucifixion is proof that God demands suffering and stuff like that. He said that arose from projection. He specifically said that arose from projection. The ego projected its belief in punishment onto God. And then these religious systems that we see, the mainstream, especially religious systems and even the new age stuff now, is built around this fear of punishment. Even look at the modern manifesting kind of religions. I don't know if they call themselves religions, but you know, it's built around fear. It's like if you get something that you didn't want, like that you didn't pre prefer, it's like you have to manifest harder. You know, you're doing it wrong. You're gonna get the wrong thing. And you know, the way a Course in Miracles teaches it, whatever you get is a given, and it's a means for the Holy Spirit to help you undo the world. So everything that you get is cause for rejoicing, actually. So this is why Jesus was also referring to uh how people uh stopped recognizing God as perfect love, they became afraid based on these teachings. So he's saying this is upside-down thinking, and he's asking, you know, he's he's asking questions in here too, like, would God really punish goodness? He's saying, Christians, please consider this. Would God punish goodness? Would perfect love require suffering? Would the God the Father think in ways he tells his children not to think? Or you could say, if it may if it if it feels more congruent for you, would God the mother punish her children? Right? However, it works for you to get to the obvious answer here, which is no, in case you were wondering. So the section is steadily dismantling every version of sacrificial thinking. So, and here's some different versions of it, okay? That suffering can earn you love, that pain can purify you, that punishment can redeem you. I felt that when I was a kid. I would be glad when I got sick because it felt like something was being purified and I was being redeemed somehow. So I would get sick every year, like clockwork, and like in a way that it's two weeks long, and there's a hospital bit visit and shit like that. My mom was on free fucking medical, so it was just like, oh, you got a sore throat? Let's go to the ER. That's a good experience there. Or that guilt deserves attack. I've I shared with you before, I spent many nights imagining people who I thought attacked me getting attacked. You know, this stuff is this is the kind of stuff that hurts your mind. And eventually, you know, I kind of like felt like I was going insane, you know. Life just seems so hard, so burdensome, you know, and I didn't know why. I didn't realize I was just doing as I was taught. It's total, the ignorance is total innocence, right? Once I realized what was going on, I reversed course. So that's enough of that. Another one is vengeance belongs to God, like in the verse, vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, right? So that's another sacrificial thinking that God's gonna take revenge on people for what they did to you. And I see that come across too in the new age stuff. Don't worry about those people that are mean to you, you know, they're they're in for it.

SPEAKER_05 10:38

That's the beginning of chapter of paragraph five.

SPEAKER_02 10:42

Oh, yeah, where it's where it's vengeance is mine. Beginning of chip paragraph five. Billy's on it, man. The other idea is that fear can protect the truth. So, like, let's say you hear what I'm speaking here, and you know some Christians, and you want to go bust their balls. Leave those fuckers alone. Don't play with their balls. See, all of the all of these projections about that has to do with sacrificial thinking, that's the ego's belief system. So Jesus reframed that one too. Vengeance is mine, saying the Lord, saith the Lord, as a karmic viewpoint projected onto God, not the divine truth. That's not the divine truth, that's a karmic viewpoint. And we've got some of that action in the Bible. We got some karmic viewpoints in there, you know. It's not like uh Jesus himself wrote that down the way it's written right now, the way you see it. Way closer to that is a Course in Miracles, because it's actually being channeled, right? And you can and you can feel the resonance and the consistency all the way through it. So so then the section goes deeper into what the atonement actually is. Okay, it's not symbolic suffering, it's not divine violence, right? That's that's why people are afraid of even the word atonement. People hear atonement and say, I don't want that. Sounds like some kind of suffering and violent violence or payment for the wrongs I've done. But then Jesus said the atonement is pure correction, it radiates only truth because it arises from perfect innocence. And innocence doesn't mean ignorance in the worldly sense. Okay. This innocence, uh, this innocence that Jesus is pointing to here, it means a mind that's untouched by the belief in evil. Okay, so it's still innocence when you're ignorant, but your your mind is being touched by belief in evil. That's as touched as it can be by evil, is your your belief in it. So the mind is touched by the belief in e in it in the in the e in evil, right? In evil in any form. That's that's where we essentially lose, quote, lose our innocence. It's not loss, it's covered up under worldly beliefs, which we're uncovering here. And a line that I just love and totally resonate with innocence is wisdom because it is unaware of evil, which does not exist. See that? So I work on that on myself because I'll see thoughts come up that tell me I know these fuckers are poisoning the population for one. Right? And that's worldly knowledge. And Jesus says innocence is wisdom because it's unaware of evil. So it's like you you might go, okay, well, how do I how do I reconcile that in my mind? If I'm perceiving, uh, you know, Billy, I think Billy probably gets the perception that Trump is doing something, right? And and so it's it's similar kind of thing like that. It's recognizing we're not really making any sense of the world. Okay, you have to come to that because it's really strong, this idea that we know something about the world. And that's what makes the ego feel special. It's like it knows something about the world that other people don't know. That's ego specialness. Actually, we all don't know shit. It's actually one complete trick. It's a trick, right? And for me, like I'm always willing to open up more toward the truth. Once I see where I'm holding on to something that blocks the truth, once I see that, it doesn't matter how long I've been holding on to it, I'm just willing to release it because I know the relief that comes from it. And how could I help my friends too to see that this world is meaningless unless I'm allowing that within myself? So that's definitely been at the forefront of what you could say my focus is of what I'm discovering and undoing. And that's one of the worldly senses, you know, a mind untouched by e by belief in evil means you're not perceiving that anyone's doing anything mean or uh or unkind to anyone anywhere. Okay. So we what we need for that is really, as Jesus has talked about all through this, a little bit of willingness, a nod to God, a motion in that direction, right? To believe to recognize I can't be making sense, actually. I can't even be making sense. What but what we do need to know is that the world itself is an entire trick. And what it's tricking us to do is engage in conflict because that's what keeps it perpetuating. Okay. So here's that line again, which I love. Innocence is wisdom because it is unaware of evil which does not exist. So then Jesus brings up the resurrection, okay? The resurrection uh that demonstrated that truth cannot be destroyed. Basically, the resurrection is like the light, it abolishes the darkness simply by being as it is. It doesn't have to fight or anything. Remember, it says use the word withstand. Light can withstand any form of darkness or something to that effect. So the Son of God remains as God created him, regardless of any appearances. Right? And because of that, you see, regardless of any appearances. So you don't use the appearances. We also went over this last week. We don't use the appearances to tell us who we are, right? It's because of who we are, that separation isn't true, death isn't true, guilt isn't true, fear isn't true. It's because of who we are. So it's not like we look at the perception and see death and see meanness, see unkindness, see conflict, and then believe, use that to believe that we're less than whole. So we have to bring our holiness to the situation, okay? We can't expect it to reflect back to us our holiness without our mind's willingness to see it differently. So then we have uh remembered this perfect integration that the Son of God and God share one mind and one will. There's absolutely no conflict in reality, and that's reality. So this is this is what this course is about. It's teaching us how to undo what we've built against seeing that our mind is shared with God and we also have the same will. Okay, so only the dream of separation is what's making any kind of conflict even seem possible, and that is a seeming effect of thinking. And now let's go to chapter three, section three, paragraph 10.

Only Innocence Can Truly See

SPEAKER_02 18:37

Sentence one. We're gonna find out how true vision can only be perceived through innocence. Samoor.

SPEAKER_03 18:46

Yay!

SPEAKER_02 18:46

Yay, okay. Let's see if anyone had anything, any questions or anything. Looks like you guys are doing good. Thank you for joining, lovelies. I appreciate you. Okay. Chapter three, section three, paragraph ten, set sentence one from the complete annotated edition twenty twenty-one of A Course in Miracles, page 114. Here's the text. But this vision can be perceived only by the truly innocent. So now that he's dismantled the belief that God values suffering and punishment and sacrifice and vengeance and guilt, here's the conclusion he arrives at. Natural conclusions. Conclusion here. Only innocence can truly see. And that's because perception can always only reflect a state of mind that's also perceiving. So if the mind believes in guilt, it will see guilt. So that's what it's telling me. When I get the perception, oh my gosh, they're poisoning. You know, I actually feel pissed when I see it. You know, uh, this day, one of my friends is getting cut on by the fuckers, right? So that gives me uh what what's called a forgiveness opportunity. It's not a challenge. I don't call it a challenge on purpose. That's because, you know, challenge is associated in the mind with something like to overcome. That's different, you know. A challenge is for the ego, opportunity is for you. It's the help you see with perfect innocence. So you bring that feeling. Remember the the feeling, right? I do not like that feeling like one of my friends is getting cut on by this evil fucking medical system, right? I mean, I'm laying it out for you like the ego sees it, right? So so I bring that bringing that to the truth looks like an a willingness to see it different, even though my mind is telling me I fucking know that's what they're doing to her. And you know, I'm I'm also I'm also exaggerating the whole thing right now, just so you guys can see what it is, what it looks like when you're you're hearing from the ego and what it feels like when you're hearing from the ego. It doesn't feel good. I don't want to, I don't want to perceive that. Do I want to keep that? That's a question. Do I want to keep that? Do I want to keep that perception? No, I don't. So it's willingness to see different. Everything's helpful, everything's a means for the Holy Spirit to use for awakening. And, you know, I do see I've it's like it's not like I put a lot of uh Effort into this at all. It's like, even now, bringing it up to you, I haven't even really like thought about talking to you about this before because it's just, it's kind of like it, I there's a knack for it and it just runs in the background. It's like, that doesn't feel good. Would I keep it? No. You know, it's just kind of like put it away. It's like not and not useful. Um, as it's seen, as the thought process is seen, that really puffs up my ego to know something that obviously other stupid ass people don't know. Right? That's that that and I could feel that in my energy field. And that's what I'm willing to be released from. Always gentle with myself, not saying I should be any kind of uh perfection or anything like that, just being gentle with myself in recognizing what I would not keep and offering a little bit of willingness toward that. Because only the only innocence can truly see. And I don't want anything more in the in the world or anywhere than to truly see. If I wanted to keep the world, I'd keep that perception and hold it really tight and hold the world up by it. So perception is always reflecting a state of mind, it's a perceiving state of mind. So acknowledge that. So if the mind believes in guilt, it's gonna see guilt. If it believes it, if it believes attack is justified, it'll interpret things through fear. I noticed that within myself too. It's like, oh, I must believe attack is justified because that seems like attack, right? And in gentleness with that, because it's not really attack, it's always a call for love. So if the mind believes separation is real in any way, the world is gonna appear that it's fragmented, parts of it are dangerous, apparently, competitive, it's unstable. That's not true of the world. That's a perception. We may all be able to agree on that, but we're all misperceiving, right? We may all be able to agree that it's fragmented and dangerous. Look at this world today. What's going on today? Look, I've never seen it at this level of whatever is going on, whatever the ego story is. It's perceiving. You made it, that's why you perceive it. So this is the ego's vision we're talking about. So, and this section we've covered so far has been exposing how deeply humanity is projected and distorted their this perception onto God. So it's projecting and this distorted perception and making it as if God is like that. The ego cannot imagine perfect innocence, okay? The ego's the ego's just not capable. I like where, of course, in miracles, I think it says the ego has one range of feeling, it goes from suspicious to vicious. Skips over the delicious, yeah, yeah, it throws the delicious off to the side. Oh my goodness, thank you, Natalie. That is beautiful. I'm just gonna turn my whole little operation over right now to over here because it'll be more comfortable for me to look at you guys. Yeah, I was gonna, we were gonna have a fire, so I moved it around. Yeah, it's a fire kind of day. Yesterday was a boating day, and today's a fire day. Yeah, we were actually sunbathing. We were awesome.

SPEAKER_03 26:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 26:13

So let's see, where are we? So it's because the ego can't imagine perfect innocence that it invented this God who punishes. Okay, that's that's the ego's imagination. It can't imagine a holy loving God, it can only imagine things in separation, okay? So it does not understand love without sacrifice, it does not understand atonement without sacrifice. This isn't for the ego, this is for you. Uh, I've I've heard it called the eye of self-awareness. And you might say that is the part of yourself, the aspect of yourself that listens to the Holy Spirit. It doesn't, you don't use the ego at all when you listen to the Holy Spirit. It's nowhere on that range between suspicious and vicious, right? So so the ego can't do this. It's it's it's invented these these gods or a god that punishes, right? So it's glorifying, the ego glorifies suffering. That's why we've got Jesus on the cross all over the place, right? It's glorifying suffering. And then, you know, on the opposite end of that, you know, I was going to ACIM meetings in Sedona, and what I heard at the meeting is that you know, they feel upset seeing Jesus on the cross, this huge Jesus on the cross, all you know, battered and bleeding and everything like that. And and I was like, you know, that doesn't need to be the experience because that actually feeds more of the same thing. And before I I heard any of that, I actually went to the church there talking about right under the hugest Jesus on the cross I've ever seen, super lifelike and just large. And I'm standing next, I'm standing under it, and I'm just like, this is fucking awesome. I didn't get anything like, you know, this is wrong or anything like that. Yes, I know religion glorifies the truth, the crucifixion. I know that's the case, but it doesn't mean that it's it's for us to accuse and uh and and put a burden, put any kind of burden on it. Everyone, we don't need anyone to catch up fast. Everyone is learning in their own time, and then once they've learned what it takes to undo the illusion, they're discovering more in their own time. So all teaching just comes through enjoyment, it really comes through exuberance, you know, being enjoyed. That's how the Holy Spirit is very exuberant and joyful and calm too. Okay, ego cannot comprehend harmlessness, so that's why there's karma. That's why we have something like that. We have something like God punishing or karma punishing. So this is where Jesus is undoing all of this stuff because vision is not about what the body sees. It's clarity of mind. It's like, oh, I can appreciate everything as the means to undoing the thought of separation. I don't have to project the thought of separation over to the other people who are worshiping the crucifixion and then try to fix them. Right? It's just noticing, oh, this is how the mind is unfolding. It's all an on an unfolding and it's all guided too. So everyone's fucking awesome, even when they tell you you're going to hell. And then you just go, my friends are gonna be there too.

SPEAKER_01 30:10

That's funny.

SPEAKER_02 30:11

Uh yeah, and it's not even like you know, when I grew up with the rock music, my mom was really afraid about the lyrics being demonic and leading us to hell and everything like that. But really, it's our mind that interprets everything. If we, you know, if we're like, oh yeah, fuck yeah, I want to go to hell, right? We're envisioning, yeah, burning in a lake of fire sounds fucking awesome. Me and all my friends screaming our asses off, right? Like, that's great too, because that trajectory, that train of thought is gonna get reversed. No one wants to go to hell, and you know, hell is what what we made. It's of course it's imaginary, there's no place like that. Um, but we can definitely make it seem like that's what it is, definitely. So it's the perception itself that gets healed of this wanting to attack, thinking attack is is somehow helpful. Okay, and that healing, healing of attack requires innocence. Again, this is you, you're the innocence. What you've uh the part of your mind that's been touched by belief in evil is still active, even if it might be covered up, and that's really the voice for God is speaking to you to through that aspect of your mind that knows your innocence. That's why it's even understandable to you. You know your innocence. Maybe it's only remotely understandable to you at first. So, and of course, this kind of innocence, it's not moral superiority at all. This kind of innocence just sees innocence, it's not like I am innocent and you are not. This is awareness uh that's only willing to see innocence, only willing to see innocence, right? Okay, it's not like I'm morally superior, but it's absent of any condemnation. It's absent of condemnation. So it's not like you're like trying to, you know, make it, oh, make excuses, you know, it's like the perception, perception is showing you uh, hey, that's something that it that seems harmful, then like like like say it's a fire, right? You're not just gonna stick your hand in the fire, right? It's like notice that what as while we believe that the world that the the world is here, while we believe we want this world, that's why we seem to see it here, our mind is being released from condemnation. And as much as we're willing to have it released, that's what all the experiences are for. So that's why A Course in Miracles places this enormous emphasis on forgiveness, right? Forgiveness is not overlooking any kind of real sin, it's actually releasing the belief in your mind that guilt is possible at all. That's what clears up the vision, and that's why Jesus says this vision can only be perceived by the truly innocent, the ego literally cannot perceive it because the ego's thought system depends on judgment, comparison, fear, specialness, stuff like that. So when your innocence begins to return to your awareness, a different perception starts to dawn. You know, I I've heard from people, one woman wrote today that she's uh on day 11 of a Course in Miracles, and she's noticing how her thoughts are completely different. Right? It's like, whoa, this is like it's it is like that at first. It was for me, anyways. You know, I was already saying those same kind of things all the time, but just to have it confirmed like that was like boom in the body's energy feels. Like, ooh, alertness, this is good, right? And then I'm like, let's see what this guy has for a course here. Let's try this shit out for a few years. So the mind just stops looking through this lens of attack. So it starts stops seeing attack. So for me, even when I perceive attack, like I perceived attack last week when someone was just like seems be like they were being so mean to me. They had a whole idea of who I was based on a foundation of thought that has nothing to do with the way I think. Right. And then there was all these attack thoughts. So what I was doing with these attack thoughts is I was willing to see them as calls for love rather than attack thoughts. So as I'm going through the uh the perception of seemingly communicating and stuff like that, I'm in the background, like the innocent self that I am, is in the background of all this stuff happening, noticing what I want. What do I want? The peace of God. How do I get it? Be willing to see uh what looks like attack as what it actually is, a call for love, and then be willing to answer that call, right? So we just approach, we're not trying to get any particular outcome or anything like that. We just approach all of our interactions like that because the purpose is to unwind our attraction to separation. That's what we want. So not seeing through the lens of attack comes through forgiveness, through the particulars, through relationship, through your interactions with everyone. And this is how we begin. Our mind is begins to recognize harmlessness everywhere. That's what we want. We want to see harmlessness everywhere and know our own harmlessness because there's an underlying belief that we have been terribly harmful. We've destroyed creation and destroyed our brothers and sisters. So, in no way is Jesus describing any kind of spiritual elitism with this sentence. Okay, let's look at the sentence one more time over here. But this vision can be perceived only by the truly innocent. Let's look at the previous sentence. We say, we'll see what this vision is. Okay, I'll go two sentences back from sentence five of paragraph nine. There is no confusion within its levels. That's talking about the Trinity. There is no confusion within the Trinity's levels because they are of one mind and one will. This single purpose creates perfect integration and establishes the reign of the peace of God. So that's the vision Jesus is referring to when he says, but this vision can be perceived only by the truly innocent. That's you when your mind is untouched by the belief in evil. Okay. And you know, he's he's not saying only perfected beings qualify as being innocent. Okay, this is you. You're the innocent that he's talking about. But your mind, if you're perceiving any evil anywhere, I know I do. I perceive, I'm gonna say, I perceive evil. That so that gives me, what does that give? What does that give me when I perceive evil? Uh opportunity to have a different interpretation, right? It doesn't mean I'm wrong, it doesn't mean I have more to learn. I already know what to do with every perception. It's one generalization, right? I have more to discover, yes, because it's undoing the thought of separation, and I'm giving the means for that just naturally. I don't have to try to get it. It I'm automatically given the means. So now I'm just cruising. I'm just on a cruise, just willing to do the same thing with everything, give it the same one generalization. So Jesus is is not trying to say that you have to get perfected first to qualify, right? It's just that he's describing what happens when we stop trying to make guilt real, right? And and what what happens as we're undoing through forgiveness, as we're undoing this thought of separation, we start to uh release the release attack thoughts in our mind, and we start to get the vision. So the vision is dawning on our mind, it's just not complete yet. It will be because we're given the means for specifically that, and uh our success is guaranteed. That's the Holy Spirit's function to make sure we fucking make it. Yeah, yay. So every instance where we're willing to release attack, every time we're choosing peace instead of the ego's interpretation, that is listening to the voice for God. I've heard from a couple Course in Miracles people today saying that they have they're frustrated because they've been studying a Course in Miracles for years and they still do not hear the voice for God. Meanwhile, they're saying they've been practicing forgiveness. It's like you're hearing the voice for God, you're just denying that it's the voice for God. Well, it's now you can rejoice that you've been hearing the voice for God for your whole life, actually. Yeah, it's just the ego coming and saying, that's not the voice for God. It that is the voice for God. If you're listening to a thought that tells you to forgive something, that's the voice for God. You've heard it. Whether it's the ego's voice or the voice for God, it sounds like your own voice in your mind.

SPEAKER_01 41:04

Isn't that fun? So, you for you to be able to decipher which voice it is, you gotta know how it feels, right?

SPEAKER_02 41:15

Until until you're just like you have a total knack for it. You're just like, oh, I know that one, you know, but you gotta know how it feels. Check into how it feels. Does it feel does there is there contraction with that thought? You know, some high spiritual concepts may be too lofty for you that they'd actually make you contract. So you're not ready for that one yet. It's okay. You will be, you will be, yeah. But you know, it's even even the thought you will be may cause some contraction. So that's why I I like to say, leave those fuckers alone. It's like the it's like the story from when I was a kid. Bag the live ones, bag the live ones, leave the dead ones lay. They're already dead in Christ, right? They're not, they're not awake, they're not alive, right? Once they're alive, that's when that's when it's like, oh, you're alive. All right, let's have a conversation. Welcome. So our vision gets less and less obstructed, uh, obstructed as we're willing to see with this perfect innocence, recognizing that we're when we're not seeing with perfect innocence, not to condemn ourselves, but just to recognize if it looks evil, if it looks unkind, that's a call for love in your own mind, asking for you to express that toward yourself, because it's all yourself. So even if it seems like you're giving it to someone else, you're actually expressing it toward yourself, this willingness to be released from a burden that's making this uh world of separation be a persistent perception. So the sentence again, sentence one, paragraph ten. But this vision, that's the reign of the peace of God, can be perceived only by the truly innocent. All right, so I'm going on to sentence two, unless anyone

Defending True Perception

SPEAKER_02 43:26

has any questions. I'm checking you guys out. Thank you for joining. Uh, let's go to sentence two because their hearts are pure, they defend true perception instead of defending themselves against it. Right now, Jesus has said before the truth doesn't need to be defended, right? The truth needs no defense, right? So he's taught what he's talking about there is just what I was. Talking about where you go try to bust people's balls because they don't see it like you do, and you want to truth them. I'm gonna give them the truth, right? Here, the way he's framing it, they defend true perception. That's like a protective way you are with your own mind. Like, let's say, when that guy was trying to convince me that I'm uh so I don't know, I couldn't even tell what he was trying to convince me. I was, he was un, I couldn't understand him. He was so angry, it seemed like. So it's it's like the true perception, true perception looks like this. You are perfectly unaffected by perceived lack of love, whether it seems to be coming from someone else to you, from you to yourself, from you to someone else, you are perfectly unaffected. So, in willingness to recognize that, that's that's what Jesus is talking about. That's defending true perception. I'm not telling him this, I'm recognizing it within myself, right? So I'm defending what the true perception is there in the way Jesus is talking about right there. So you're not being defensive with another person. That's not what that means. It means you're actually guarding your mind against going down a path believing in evil, right? Believing that something went wrong even. Because their hearts are pure. This is the innocent that he's talking about here. Because their hearts are pure, they defend true perception instead of defending against it. So when we become defensive with a person because their beliefs don't match ours, that is uh that's that's like uh that's basically fair. It's defending against the truth. It's it's defending against the truth as you're feeling like and trying to defend the truth. You're actually defending against it when you're becoming defensive with a person like that. So we're talking about defending true perception here. So the ego doesn't this is why it's really important about defending true perception, because the ego doesn't just fail to recognize true perception, it's active in defending against it. See, that's so so that's why you're you know what Jesus is saying, defend they defend the innocent, defend true perception. Why? Because true perception threatens the entire ego foundation, and most people don't like that, they don't like that to be defended. So if perception were healed, there would be no need for the ego because there would be no guilt that would disappear, specialness would completely collapse, attack would completely have no purpose at all, no one would see a purpose in attack, fear would be meaningless, no one would would give into that. Separation, not real, right? So the ego is protecting its identity hard by resisting vision, it actively resists vision. That's why Jesus is talking about how the innocents defend true perception. But first, he says, because their hearts are pure. So because their hearts are pure, they defend true perception. That's just natural when the heart is pure. Of course, you're gonna defend true perception, that's what's real. So the ego wants to keep this vision out of your mind, this vision of the reign of the peace of God. That's why you find people defend their suffering. They defend, they get defensive about their judgments. I asked one friend last week who just got done complaining to me about five different people about how they're ruining his life. I said, Okay, so you know, there's a way to have way, way gentler relationships with everyone. I go, would you be interested in that? And he goes, No, I love what I'm doing, which is a bunch of projections. I'm like, uh, well, I'm I'm sure that's perfect for you, right? And and then, you know, he wants to have a bunch more conversations with me, and that doesn't really like go down, you know. There's no, there's no uh there's no desire. Once there's a desire, like I won't even uh I won't even know. I'll just be on the phone with him, connecting with him. So it's like there's a little bit of a desire and attraction toward what I'm sharing, but then like, no, no, no, that's for other people. That's not for me. So people defend victimhood. That's what that uh that person was doing, defending victimhood, defending fear, defending, you know, I want to be afraid. I I want peace, but I also want to be afraid. And this is what people are doing all the time. They're consciously saying they want peace, but then they want to keep the idea, right? So one example would be to constantly say, I want peace, but Trump is making war, right? So it's like, can I hold on to the idea that Trump is making war and out and also have peace? No, I have to see that the war that I perceive is actually coming from my projection along with Trump. I cannot be the truly innocent as Jesus is describing, while I have an illusion of evil that I want to keep, right? You are already that, but you can't see that you are that, let's say. You are the truly innocent because the touching that the ego does with these beliefs in ego, with the beliefs in evil, is uh is a touch made out of belief, which is really not anything. So you haven't changed. So the pure in heart do something entirely different. Okay, the ego perceives this true perception as really dangerous, but the pure in heart do something entirely different, they stop defending against the truth and they defend their true perception instead. This is what purity means here. It's not a moral perfection, it's not something that anyone else gives you by their reflection and says, Oh, you're so pure or something like that. Or you're so impure. Either way, it just doesn't really matter. There's no, it's not about morality. This is non-conflict within your own being. When your heart doesn't feel like it's invested in this distortion, it's just receptive to truly seeing. And notice this wording really carefully that Jesus uses. They defend true perception. This doesn't mean attacking people in the name of truth, right? It means protecting the clarity of your mind instead of protecting illusions. So the ego, when the ego thinks of protecting, it protects identities. When the spirit thinks of protecting, it's protecting awareness. So the ego defends your interpretations, right? And someone has a question about your interpretation, and you have a something about, you know, well, because of this and this and this and this. That's the ego. Protect this concept at all costs.

SPEAKER_03 51:59

Spirit protects your willingness to see.

SPEAKER_00 52:15

Like it's um an important part to like when we're fabricating a self. Um a lot of what goes into that is we look up to heroes, yes, uh-huh. That we're responsible for creating, right? Um yeah, I just think like yeah, again, there's a holy way to because there's something truthful about that where it's like, oh, there's something heroic that I can look up to.

SPEAKER_02 52:46

Yeah, well, it's it's a distortion, it's really a distortion because it is, you know, it is kind of like it's not really a hero, but you're the only one making the whole dream. So it's like different from a hero in that respect because you're the one that's undoing the separation that's making the dream look like a nightmare. But it's not in the way it's presented, like you go out and physically save the world. That's the that's the distortion that the world gives us. Like, like if you were to be capable of saving the world, let's say, you'd have to have the superhuman strength and do all this flying around the world and protecting all these people. But really, what's protective is when you undo attack thoughts because that makes less and less and less in your perception. And so this is a bunch of perceptions meeting that's why there's a ripple effect, and it affects all mine. That's why I'm not alone in experiencing the effects of my seeing or my thoughts. So spirit protects your willingness to see, and this is why a course in miracles continually asks us to question our interpretations, right? Because we do not see correctly since we're seeing bodies. This needs to be corrected. The moment we're getting defensive toward correction, that's what blocks our vision. We'll talk more about correction too in this session and how it comes and how you can recognize it too. I think it'll be in this section, in this session, if we get to it. So the pure in heart, what Jesus is calling the pure in heart here, they're willing to let perception be healed, even when it's difficult. It seems difficult. It's dismantling your old identities, it's dismantling your narratives, right? I mean, the belief that there's an evil cabal in the world with a medical system that's killing people, and I'm seeing evidence of it all over the place. It's like that's dismantling my identity to say I'm willing to see that differently, right? Because it it looks so plain to me. It's like, how does how are people so fucking stupid that they don't see it actually? You know what I mean? So that's how, like, when something like that comes up, it's like that's how you know, okay, I've made something, I've interpreted something and made that a fact. And I'm holding on to it. And if I let go of this, I'm gonna lose some identity and have more of the peace of God. So that's why, you know, there's incentive to do this. Yes. So emotional investment, way. Another thing is, it seems like a way of keeping myself safe. I'm not going in there. I didn't get the COVID shot. I don't go in for checkups, I don't go get radiation shot into my titties to check for cancer. Right? So it's like, man, if I don't have that to the ego, it seems like if I don't have that understanding of the world, how am I gonna be safe? How am I gonna be safe from these creeps, right? But we actually don't need that because it really is all a call for love, and there's and there's no safety in the body, anyways. So the willingness is what opens the way to this vision of being perfectly I mean a perfectly innocent mind, and that's what Jesus was doing. He's had a had a perfectly innocent mind. That's why he's saying there was no suffering for him during the crucifixion, right? So Jesus referenced see, but this vision can be be can be perceived only by the truly innocent. So this is something really beautiful, you know. He's like he's referencing something beautiful here, and in the Bible, there's another reference that's similar. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God, right? There's a similar reference like that. And it's not because God is trying to keep himself away from impure people, it's because conflict distorts our perception we can't see God, right? God's not saying you're not allowed to see me, it's just that this distorts our perception. So purity of heart is absence of opposition to the truth, really. That's where the heart is pure. So that's the that's the goal, and that's the um trajectory we're all on. It just keeps on unwinding until the sight is completely healed, and we know our creation when we see it. It's like we remember our creation. Wayne said most people don't care about peace. Yes, I see that. They enjoy their perception, their projections, they seem to like they they like the charge. Yes, I see that.

SPEAKER_03 58:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 58:41

But I have friends who are different, like different from that. So that's fun.

SPEAKER_01 58:47

Happy about that.

SPEAKER_02 58:50

Yay, for mighty companions. Thank you. Okay, paragraph 10, sentence three. Unless anyone nope, you guys are doing great. Thank you for joining. What you got?

SPEAKER_00 59:04

So, yeah, like we're doing a mind training, and it takes time and our willingness. And then a lot of us are getting the perception that there's a world full of people who are willing to devote so much time to uh training their mind or letting their mind be trained in the opposite way. Yeah. Like TV and media and all of the things. Um why, yeah, why it's that there's um such will like willingness to devote so much time.

SPEAKER_02 59:41

Yeah, because it's distraction. Yeah, but we don't need to like shake them out of their distraction. It's like just recognizing, oh, that's distraction is enough, right? Knowing that the Holy Spirit's got them, recognizing, you know, it's it's like a it's like a coping mechanism. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:07

For the most part, leave those fuckers alone.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:12

I mean, you just meet them with kindness, but it's like you don't have to go deep with them. You don't have to become best friends, you don't have to start going to lunch all the time or anything like that. You know, it's just like you can be just just be open to whatever's flowing in the moment, and you'll see. You're not spending a lot of time with people who are more willing to feed themselves a bunch of fear porn. All right. Sentence three, paragraph 10.

Atonement Ends The Will To Attack

SPEAKER_02 1:00:46

Understanding the lesson of the atonement, they, that's the innocent again, are without the will to attack, and therefore they see truly. That's the innocent. The innocent are without the will to attack because they understand the lesson of the atonement, and therefore they see truly. So Jesus is giving us the why here. Why innocence restores vision. And that's because the atonement undoes the desire to attack. There's a desire to attack. This is one of the deepest themes running through, of course, in miracles, that attack is a defense against the truth, right? The ego attacks because it believes guilt is real, believes separation, believes loss is possible. So it's trying to protect against losing something, it's losing identity, really, that vulnerability is real, and that it needs to protect its false identity, your false identity. So attack is an attempt to preserve the false self. But atonement is teaching the opposite of that. Nothing has been harmed or can be harmed or can be threatened. Uh the separation didn't even occur. That's another one. That the atonement is showing. The separation didn't even occur. And when that's dawning on the mind, your motivation for attack naturally dissolves. See why you don't have to be in charge of your curriculum here. Your desire to attack is naturally dissolving. So for the question, uh, the question that you have that you brought up, Natalie, you know, people wanting to do the do their um distractions and feed their mind in the opposite direction, the opposite of the Holy Spirit's teaching, because you're aware of that and you're aware that you're projecting it, that becomes your opportunity in the moment. See that? So your mind is subtly attacking so much, all of us, mine included, without noticing. So what we're doing is we're able to see more and more and more about how it and when it does that. So we can stop it from doing that. Basically, and it's and and the way I just said it, stop it from doing that, that's not quite clear because it actually dissolves naturally through your desire to see things differently. When, you know, when your your true vision is dawning on your mind at the same time, your desire, your motivation for attack is dissolving all by itself. It's not discipline, it's not about discipline, it's not even about being spiritual. Really, if you're willing to see this, you'll see it. It's just because attack no longer makes sense to you. Right? And I keep on seeing ways that I go, oh, that's a subtle attack. And I want to see the ways that they're subtle attack, and I expect to see ways they're subtle attack because I'm perceiving bodies. Right? I'm perceiving bodies that seem to be in decay. So that's why I know there's attack thoughts, and I know I'm given the means. So this moment, this instant, this is the holy instant, every instant where I'm aware of this, that I don't want to attack. It doesn't serve anything. You know, the ego thinking that guilt is real justifies attacking yourself and others. It's like, why would I need to? I don't need any defense against love. It's all love coming my way. Why reinforce any separation if separation is actually the illusion? That's why Jesus says in this line, they are without the will to attack. He doesn't merely say they don't attack, he says the will to attack is gone. The desire weakened because the underlying belief system that justified the desire to attack has been undone. And the direct result, further on in the line, therefore they see truly. That's the result. So vision is distorted by attack because attack comes from misperception. Soon as you perceive attack, your vision is distorted. Any form of attack, your vision is distorted. If that war that is going on over there doesn't just look like an illusion to you, it looks real, it feels real. That's how you know. There's heaviness, there's contraction. That's an opportunity. You want to undo that. So the mind first believes in separation before it perceives through separation. True perception is not able to coexist with this mind that believes in separation, with the mind that believes that condemning is valuable. As long as attack or condemnation is valuable to you, your perception is organizing itself around fear. So that is incentive right there. That's why forgiveness is the essential teaching in a Course in Miracles. It doesn't make us better than anyone. It's not like, oh, I I've seen this too. Course in Miracles, people, right? Oh, they don't definitely don't have forgiveness over there. Maybe I can go tell them something about letting see the error in their ways. So the miracle is actually healing perception by removing the purpose for you that you thought attack served. And that's how vision just becomes natural for you. It's not like mystical or dramatic, it's just really clear, it's simple. The mind's not trying to make guilt real anymore, so it doesn't need a world to reflect guilt back to it. And then what remains is a harmless world. What remains is truth in your mind rather than defensiveness. Sentence three, one more time. Understanding the lesson of the atonement, they, the innocent, you are without the will to attack, and therefore they see truly. This is you, this is your mind when it's no longer touched by the belief in evil. And that was sentence three, paragraph ten. Titties in decay, hooray. I guess you guys know who said that. Thank you, Glenn.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:49

Fucking awesome.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:53

Oh man, that is so good. Titties in decay.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:02

And hooray. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:12

So I checked on you guys. Yeah, did I get substacked? Yes, you guys are doing awesome. Thank you for being here. I love you. Sentence four, paragraph ten.

Reinterpreting Seeing God As Presence

SPEAKER_02 1:09:29

This is what the Bible means when it says, and when he shall appear, and then it says, or be perceived in parentheses, we shall be like him, capital H, for we shall see him, capital again, as he, capital is. All right. This is what the Bible means when it says, and when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Those are capitalized H's. And then it says, or be perceived. So appear is meaning or be perceived here. That's the way it speaks to me, too. And there's a footnote. John, first John 3:2 of the King James Version. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And then a note from those who compile the Course in Miracles, the Course reinterprets this as being about seeing the ever-present divine rather than seeing Jesus when he comes again. Okay, so that's good to know. So this sentence has something been something that Jesus has been building on tour or building toward in this sentence, in this section. He's explaining how true perception restores recognition of what's true. He's explaining how uh true perception lets you see that God is not distant at all. God is not a future event, God is actually the reality right now. And notice the clarification being inserted where it says appear, it says or be perceived. So Jesus isn't speaking about God suddenly arriving someday in a form, he's talking about perception being healed. The divine does not become present. God does not become present. The mind becomes willing to perceive that God is always present. See? This so the way this verse in the Bible has been interpreted is that someone's coming out of the sky to come get you. God's not present now, and he's gonna be present later when he comes down from the sky, right? But really, that's why this is a just this distortion is even here to distract us from being aware that it's our willingness that allows us to see and know the presence of God. God is not absent from this world. That's not the case. So this course is constantly emphasizing that this revelation isn't about acquiring some truth, it's removing the blocks. That's different. You don't really acquire truth, it's removing the blocks to your awareness of truth. You remember your awareness of the truth, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:04

Right from the get-go. I mean, that was that's the that was within the first couple paragraphs of Course Miracles, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:13:11

They're like you to get that's right. That from the get-go, this is what we're doing, right? Right from the beginning of A Course in Miracles, is saying this is not gonna define love for you, it's gonna remove a remove the blocks from your awareness of love really early on, and that's it's so saying this is what we're doing. So part of this line is we shall be like him, and that's not not saying that we become God, like we effort and then become God, it's that false, our false identification falls away, and we know ourselves and our true creation. There's no question about it. So, this identity that's built from attack and fear and guilt and separation and limitation and scarcity, and the perception is heals, is healed, all of those dissolve. And I know, like just speaking from my perception, there's just so many thoughts that I would have pursued that I don't pursue, and it just allows all the space. It is so sweet. I love it. Uh so it just dissolves all these distortions. I could see the light, and you know, it it comes on dimly at first, but it's like you can see the light in these things, you can see that they are the means to my undoing. Nothing's keeping me from the truth, it's all the means for me to see more clearly, offer more willingness. So after all the distortions are gone, what remains is just the nature of God, and that's who you are. You are the nature of God, you can say, the essence of God. This is why, of course, in miracles says stuff like only love is real, only truth is true, only what God created exists.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:14

So true perception is revealing your divinity, the divinity of all, which has been blocked by attack by attack thoughts.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:30

So, in the same line, the same sentence, then Jesus says, For we shall see him as he is. So those two parts of it go together really nice. It says, and when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is, and appear is perceived. So this is a really clear sentence here that perception reflects identity. See that? This is what the Bible means when it says, and when he shall appear or be perceived, we shall be like him, for we shall see him. And the previous sentence, understanding the lesson of the atonement, they, the inner the innocent, are without the will to attack, and therefore they see truly. So that's what the Bible's talking about when it says, and when he shall appear or be perceived, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And as long as the mind values attack, it cannot perceive God truly because it is trying to see through fear, it wants to see through fear, it wants a punishing, demanding, sacrificial, distant, and conditional God. And as we said before, these are projections of an ego thought system. This is helping us to clear perception and stop interpreting God through fear. He is seen, when he is seen as he is. What does as he is mean? That's purely loving. Then when he's seen, when he's perceived as he is, pure love, pure innocence, absolute harmlessness, right? When he is seen as he is, we shall be like him because we see him as he is, we shall be like him because of that. So it's we know we are like him, but we don't know it. That's what that Bible verse is saying. Once we see him as he is, we shall be like him, and they're using capital H's in all of this. All right, that was, believe it or not, one whole paragraph. There were only a few sentences, but it was rich. Those were some rich sentences. We had four sentences in paragraph 10. That was lovely. Thank you for joining me. So we'll go on to paragraph 11. See how far we get in there in the next 40 minutes or so. All right, first sentence of paragraph 11.

Sacrifice Is Unknown To God

SPEAKER_02 1:18:39

Sacrifice is a notion totally unknown to God. Sacrifice. We're in atonement without sacrifice section right now. Sacrifice is a notion totally unknown to God. So this is the this is like it's kind of like striking toward the ego's most protective beliefs here. That love requires sacrifice. The world is teaching this constantly, right? Sacrifice your happiness for others, right? Don't we need to sacrifice for our children, right? Sacrifice yourself to be good. Yeah, to be good, right? What happens when what happens when Casey has an expectation of you? Right?

SPEAKER_04 1:19:29

I try to be good.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:30

Yeah, you try to be good, don't you? Yeah. So it's like it's like we can relate without these distortions, right? It's like this is really common in male-female relationships. I was doing this with my husband too. I would actually tell him, because you know how I like to take everything to the extreme, I would always tell him, good boy. Right? So he'd be trying to live up to that. That actually doesn't help anyone. It doesn't help either of us. You know, it doesn't, it doesn't make the relationship more passionate, that's for sure. So it's sacrifice truth for approval. That's a common one, right? Uh sacrificing peace for survival, all right. You might not have a you might not have a lot of peace doing this job, for instance, where you're working 80 hours a week, but you're gonna survive. All right, and see, this is mental. It's not what you're doing. You could still be working eight out 80 hours a week. This is a mental thing. This is where you're looking at it. Listen to how people talk. I've got to do this in a voice that sounds victimized. That's sacrifice. See the different ways this comes off comes out, and I started watching that myself many years ago, where I would notice the tone change when I talked about something I believed I had to do. And just my being aware of that changed it. I don't talk like that. It's a it's like I just really don't talk like that. It's like there's things that I would like to do. Okay, this would be good, but it's not like I don't, and really, I'm not talking to myself like that because this is building up really a depressive mindset. I'd hear that so much when I lived down in Lower Pune. When someone was going to Hilo, I gotta go to Hilo. I'm like, oh, you get to go to Hilo. There's some cool shit that I like over there. Like, you know, like, damn, are you just always like that? Yeah. All right, I'll take you in small doses. Fine, I get it. So sacrifice freedom for love. This is such a common thing in relationships, too, right? So to sacrifice freedom for love, you can't. It's it's not you it's Billy's looking at me like, how the fuck does that make sense? It doesn't. That's why I'm saying it. I'm talking about things that don't make sense at the moment. Um, because I'm giving examples of sacrifice. So, you know, we've been on this chapter now. We're on chat, we're on uh paragraph 11 of the chapter now, and that's what the whole chapter's been about been about. So here's some examples of how we just uh automatically engage in sacrificial thinking, right? And to see it, not to point it out in other people, it's fine. You you notice it, okay. You know, I I heard I heard one uh spiritual person say something, I don't know, but but it touched me a lot. Uh because it was like if anyone else wants to be angry or anything or or see it that way, perfectly fine. But for me, not fine. Because I only want the peace of God. That doesn't mean I want other people to want the peace of God, because that's already losing it. Sacrifice now and sacrifice now and get the rewards later. Basically, uh, basically give your body over in exchange for money. My son's been recognizing that. He's only 24 years old. He's like, I gotta get out of this thing. I see, I see what's happening here. I'm basically giving away my health in exchange for money. And that's the sacrifice the world says that you're required to make, unless you're born into money. But see, what I'm saying is it's a mental movement. You that's not in the action. The action can be there. Where you're working 80 hours a week, let's say. Let's say you're you're saving up for something in the field or something like that. But when you wake up in the morning and you're going to that job and you get the sense that you're doing sacrifice, that's where there's an opportunity to see that sacrifice will never get you anything you want, doesn't even exist. So to see that it's not going anywhere, just spinning your wheels. The more you see that, the more your thinking is changing. So you're you stop believing that you have to sacrifice. That's how I got out of real estate so fast. I recognize holy shit, this has been sacrificial. And it's kind of been like kind of like fuck you to my husband, too. You're not fucking supporting me. I gotta go fucking give you a real estate agent, right? So when I saw that, I go, no, I don't. I don't have to sacrifice. See? And what really helped me see that too is my husband took a picture of me. And my my daughter saw the picture on his phone. He's like, and she goes, Oh my god, mom, you look so pissed in this picture. It was a picture right after I took my real estate exam. The whole night before, there were all kinds of thoughts about him.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:18

Go to work, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:25:25

That's and and I saw how it was affecting my face, and I was just like, no fucking way, I am not a victim. But you don't see it until you see it, and there's a lot buried, so it's there's layers and layers, so it's just gonna come up and give us opportunities. Do not use that to determine how spiritual you are. That will not go well for you because you're gonna keep seeing yourself doing and thinking stupid ass shit. And then once you recognize that's what it is, you stop doing that, but you're gonna do that. It's okay. It's the fear of looking that's the issue, it's the fear of seeing it, it's the issue. Okay, it's not that you that you follow thought patterns that are denying you the peace of God. You just you it's your fear of looking at that that's the issue, because it's not getting undone that way. So the entire ecosystem is built on loss. That's why sacrifice is such a huge part of it. Even people going, that's the farmer's market, especially. I'm barely making any money off of this. I'm doing this for you, selling this for you, and barely, barely getting by, right? Sacrificial. You know, it's like, shit. I'd rather, I'd rather support with with money with giving money to someone who feels like, fuck yeah, I made this and I'm selling it for a price that feels good. It's a fair price. You know, it doesn't feel good to overcharge it, it doesn't feel good to undercharge it. There's actually a feeling that goes along with the price point. It's fun. So, you know, we don't have to, we don't have to keep on uh perpetuating thoughts that make this belief in loss real to us. There's no loss, there's no need to sacrifice. It it assumes that if you were to gain something, the only way to gain something is to surrender something. That's what a capitalistic uh society is built on, too, isn't it? You got to give something to get something. You gotta earn. You know, there has to be uh some kind of justification for you getting anything. So Jesus says this idea is totally it's unknown to God. This idea that you have to, and it in order to gain something, you have to give anything up. You know, even when you're undoing uh false beliefs, you're you may seem like you're giving up ego beliefs, but that's nothing. You're not you're not you're asked to surrender nothingness for everything, really. There's songs about this. So Jesus says this idea that there has to be some kind of exchange that's unknown to God. It's not like uh it's not like it's disliked, he's not saying it's disliked, it's not reluctantly tolerated by God, right? It's actually unknown. So it's kind of like, you know, if we're if we have one mind with God and we perceive any kind of evil, it's like this is not known to me either. This is known to an ego that's talking. This is actually, it can't be known to me because my mind is one with God. And God, you know, being unknown to God is not like disliking something. That's the ego. The ego goes, dislike, war, dislike, I'm against that. What does God do about war? It's completely unknown to him, doesn't do shit. It's unknown, right? Because it's not really going on, and we want to see that it is not actually there. And you know, why is it not known to God? Why is this stuff not known to God? There's no scarcity in God's mind. All this, all this stuff, attack, sacrifice, everything we've been talking about that the ego does, it's based on scarcity. If there's no scarcity, none of this stuff happens.

SPEAKER_05 1:29:41

You have what I want.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:43

Yeah. That is I I heard uh uh or or or saw mostly I see these things because I'll surf the uh I'll surf my uh Facebook wall, see what my friends are posting. Uh a friend that's normally like really like posting about musical stuff and sweet and everything like that. All of a sudden, one morning she woke up concerned that there's not going to be enough water. Like that's just uh it's just scarcity. I'm like, whoa, that's interesting. It's and but to the ego and other people who are commenting, you know, they're having they're having the same kind of um perception. I don't even know what or need to know or anything what where this perception even comes from, that there's we we could run out of water, uh, as far as I've ever known, that it doesn't go anywhere. Where the fuck is it going? Like it can't leave. But but you know, it it's self-cleansing, apparently, but uh but it's just scarcity, whether the sky is falling really big or it's this tiny sense of loss, so you lost ten dollars, scarcity. That's all it is.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:52

I swear this happens to every seems like just when you're getting close to like ah, like really experiencing a whole bunch of peace with God. Then it seems like the ego gets even quicker with like, oh, well, you know, concepts that you're turning away. Oh, yeah, and you might be really about to really choose against the ego. Oh yeah, for the final topic. I know it'll get even more of a throwing way more things to distract.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:21

I got a full-on sexual relationship out of it. Afterwards, I'm like, what's the wow? Wow, the peace of God. All right, yeah. So she so Natalie's talking about doesn't the ego just come up and try to distract you as soon as you're like really making a turn, and that was like a major transition to me, too. Where that relationship

Distraction, Specialness, And Relationships

SPEAKER_02 1:31:50

arose, it was like in this space where there was like this major transition. I was seeing that I'm sustained by the love of God at that time. That was when I was just letting everything fall away and and and just feeling really free. But the thing is, it may have caused like a little bit of a delay, which is of course okay, not uh not ideal, you could say, because we want to go as quickly as possible. But I knew that even the delay was the means. See, that's how it is. It's like even if something seems to delay, that's the means for the Holy Spirit to use. So then I just started getting a lot more info, like as far as how we're playing out patterns in the sexual relationships. Yeah. And and undoing that within myself. So yes, it does. And don't take it as uh don't take the event itself or the things that seem to be arising in the field as something that's going wrong or you're being sidetracked. If you don't take it like that, it's not like that. That's what was going on within myself. Like, you know, all of a sudden I'd get a huge fear like, oh my God, what the fuck am I doing? You know, and it's like, that's the ego. This is the means that I asked for. I asked for the quickest undoing. This is the means that I asked for. This is not the ego's making it into something that's like harrowing. This is not a big deal. I'm just boning up with cute little fucking dude.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:37

Oh man.

SPEAKER_05 1:33:40

I just had an ego.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:42

You had an ego thing?

SPEAKER_05 1:33:44

Ego, like uh somehow for some reason I flashed on the I didn't start smoking the black cod earlier today. Oh, I know I better get up and do that. Oh, I better go do it right now.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:56

You're too late.

SPEAKER_05 1:33:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:59

Okay, good. We know we're not having bat black cod for dinner. Thank you. Thank you, Billy. I'm glad we got that straight now. I forgot all about the black cod. We're good.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:14

Yeah, it tastes so good. Like you literally only need to broil it for 11 minutes.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:20

It's so easy. Yeah, yeah. It's great, it's great in the oven too.

SPEAKER_05 1:34:25

Yeah, I I just I used to have a friend that smoked it all the time up in Alaska, and I just was really looking forward to repeating that anyway.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:34

We'll do it before I leave, I'm sure. Yeah, we'll get back to the store. Okay, oh Sam, aloha, Sam. This is great. I'm watching with your mom, with my mom.

SPEAKER_01 1:34:44

Yay! Aloha, mama. We love mamas. Yeah, I met her before too on the big island.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:52

She came visiting.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:54

His own mom or your mom?

SPEAKER_02 1:34:56

Oh, it's it's her mom. It's it's my friend Samantha's mom. Yeah, my mom's not on. She's she uh decided that since Jesus didn't die for our sins, that she can't listen to me anymore.

SPEAKER_01 1:35:11

She was into it until that. Like, no.

SPEAKER_02 1:35:14

I'm like, okay, well, you know, it's not really that important that you switch your belief over to that, you know, and we had a really sweet conversation about it. But there's just that that conditioning that no, you're talking a bent against God if you don't say Jesus died for our sins. And I'm teaching a course in miracles, so I'm definitely saying the opposite of that.

SPEAKER_01 1:35:37

Yeah, I'm like, sorry, mom, I love you. And you're listening with your mama too. Oh, Durga, I love you, Constance and Durga. Yay, thank you, sweetheart. Uh, so I'm so glad you're here. Okay, let's go back to what we were doing here. What were we doing? We

Scarcity Mindset And Safety Projections

SPEAKER_01 1:36:00

were on uh, let's see.

SPEAKER_02 1:36:03

So the thing about love and sacrifice, love doesn't get diminished by giving. Love just gives. It does not get diminished that way, right? So there's no sense, like sometimes people have asked me, how do you I've sat in one spot without peeing or pooing or having any food for like six hours talking to people who are interested in hearing what I had to share. Someone's like, How do you even do that? Right? It's like, man, when love is ex is extending, there's just so much energy in that. And it's just it's it's not, it's like it doesn't get diminished. I don't get diminished by extending it. A lot of the times people ask me, like after wisdom dialogues or an ACIM deep dive, like, do you need a rest or anything? I'm like, no, I'm pumped up, you know, I'm all jacked up. I'm good.

SPEAKER_01 1:36:56

What do we want to do? All right. I'm usually like, yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:37:04

So love can't be diminished by giving it away. That's why that's never a sacrifice. And that's when it seems to be sacrifice, that is where you're blocking your awareness of love. Let's say it's all love. I'm not gonna say it's not love. You could say it's love or a call for love. It's all coming from love. A call for love also comes from love. So what you're perceiving as attack is coming from love as a call for love, actually, which you give to yourself because you're the one who needs it. Okay, so scarcity. Let's let's just go over a few things that come up as uh that are actually scarcity consciousness when it seems like there's not enough love. Uh, for instance, heard hear it all the time. There's no good people to date around here. Uh, not for here. I haven't heard that for here, but Lower Pune. I know, I haven't heard anyone say that here, actually. Good luck dating in Lower Puna, okay? Scarcity consciousness. That's what that is. Not enough time. So whenever you feel hurried, like rushed against the clock, not enough time. That's scarcity consciousness, not enough value, right? Not enough value. A lot of people are putting value on their body. Is it fit enough to get the kind of love that you want? Um, do you have enough money? Do you have it's all scarcity consciousness? All of these interactions are being re are being orchestrated. You don't need anything, no matter even if someone else projects to you that you're not good enough because such and such and such. That's not true. Um, not enough safety, like we're lacking safety, and we get these perceptions. Look at how the safety thing goes all the time. You know, you we get these perceptions that something terrible happens, and all of a sudden there's guardrails. Like, you know, what happened to the trampoline where you can actually jump off the trampoline, you know, you could or you could have it set up next to your pool and jump right in the pool from it. Right. If you aim right. Uh, but you know, and Billy was sharing with me this week, he's saying he was talking about, I think you were talking about driving or motorcycle. No, you're talking about going down that hill on your bike, that big hill in Alabama Street. Yeah. So um, you know, he he said, he he said, it's amazing I didn't get I didn't get uh badly injured or something like that. And immediately in my mind, it's like obviously you didn't, you know, it's like, yeah, it's like it's it's that's the ego coming up with scarcity, the scarcity fallacy, right? You have memories of never even getting hurt going down this steep ass hill super, super fast on a bike. But now that you're an adult and you have all this knowledge, right? It's amazing I didn't kill myself. That's also so so see how it's just in our language, right? It's just totally in our language because that's the way it's programmed. So these opportunities that we're being given here is to actually see what the programming is. When we see it, we automatically undo it. It's like immediately, like, uh like I didn't even say anything to Billy about it. I just noticed that I just noticed that that was scarcity fallacy. He doesn't need correction or anything. I just noticed that's scarcity fallacy. And I'm like, of course he didn't get injured. Right? Yeah, it's like if you look at it, if you look at it from the ego's point of view, how the fuck are all the cars on the road just not crashing into each other all the time? That is so rare. And look at all these cars driving around, the fucking minds, insane minds driving the fuckers, right? And they're merrily running into each other, right? It's a lot safer than it seems. And the lack of safety that we perceive is also our own projection. So the more we perceive lack of safety, the more we become fire marshal bill looking for all the dangers in the world, the more dangers we see, the more effects we see. Oh, they shouldn't have been doing that. Those drunk drivers, for instance, that's another one. That's ridiculous. Shouldn't be driving around curves, driving around passing. Right, it's all the sense that there's not wholeness. See, in wholeness, everything is it's just uh of course, that's of course they're in safety, right? It's perfect, and you know what I saw too for the people who ride their bikes, because you know, when I saw the people riding their bikes on the road, I was like, what the fuck? There is not room for bikes on this road. There's no bike lane, it's up against the cliff and a mountain. It's like where are they going? So, anyways, I saw that and immediately I go, Whoa, that's that's intense. I know the experience is intense. They've got cars coming beside them. Are they gonna run into the wall? Are they gonna fall off the cliff? That's something people fucking like, you know, that's why they're on the road. They're getting that probably just about every time a car passes them. They're having a good ass time.

SPEAKER_04 1:42:26

Pucker factor.

SPEAKER_02 1:42:31

Oh, you're talking, yeah. I hear I hear you. Yeah, and this is the kind of this is the kind of thing when we don't see it too. It's like it makes us old. It's a trip. It's like it when we don't see that our mind is constantly trying to make meaning as if something we know what should be there and stuff like that, and we believe it. This is what makes us like old and crotchety and grumpy. It's that you're grumpy because the things that you believe are sad. The things that you believe would make anyone grumpy. God just doesn't do anything through deprivation, no teaching nothing, and no deprivation at all. So when we extend, there's no loss at all. There's only gain for everyone. We extend love, we're not we're we're not being diminished by that. If if what you sense is sacrifice, that's likely that you're not extending love. I say likely because there are times when forgiveness feels like sacrifice, but you just know it's right. Because you're so tied to the idea. Like I can tell you that one about the medical system poisoning people and shit like that. I can see that. Like it feels like do I have to really, you know? But then, but then you see, I want the peace of God. So the truth is not exchanged through hurting anyone, like the crucifixion. Truth is not strengthened through anyone going through pain, let's say, even what looks like pain. So that that's that's an interpretation that the ego makes automatically, and it's scarcity thinking, it believes if someone gains, someone else loses. But God doesn't know it like that.

SPEAKER_03 1:44:39

God only knows perfect loving extensions.

SPEAKER_02 1:44:48

So this has really uh uh enormous, you could say, implications spiritual spiritually speaking, because people are unconsciously relating to each other through sacrifice, sacrificing pleasure, sacrificing individuality, which is we what we do in relationships a lot. Uh, we sacrifice individuality for pleasure in relationships, uh, sacrificing even even sacrificing relationships, even sacrificial relationships. I know this person treats me in a way I don't like to be treated, but they need me. Sacrificing things in the world, sacrificing like I'm not gonna touch any money. I mean, that's fine if it's not sacrificial in the heart, right? Sacrificing desires. The course, a course in miracles is not teaching loss. This is all gain, it's all teaching all gain, and that's that gain is in the recognition that nothing can be lost, right? That's the gain. It's like you recognizing that nothing can be lost. That's truth. So the ego experiences awakening as a sacrifice because the ego is itself built from illusion, and if it can keep you in sacrificial uh uh awakening longer, you can you can help the ego out with its illusory life. It doesn't mean anything. So the course is teaching this recognition to us, it's teaching us how to see this that nothing can be lost, nothing that's real can be lost. So the experiences of awakening as sacrifice is totally for the ego to keep you in that sacrificial mindset, believing that you're awakening from it. But when these illusions of sacrifice dissolve, it actually feels like loss to part of the mind that's invested in those things. That's why I'm saying, yeah, you know, it's like there's certain ones where you actually feel like it's a sacrifice because it's an ego thing that you're giving up that you're attracted to. But you're also recognizing the deeper sense that you want the peace of God, you do not want what this illusion seems like it might bring you. And this is an attack thought, basically.

SPEAKER_00 1:47:33

Well, the offerings of the special relationship are very enticing.

SPEAKER_02 1:47:38

The offerings of the special relationship are very enticing. And here's the thing about the special relationship, too. This of course in miracles isn't saying don't get into special relationships, it does not say that anywhere in a Course in Miracles. What it's saying is that the Holy Spirit uses your special relationships as a means, okay? The holy relationship is an effect, again, of this guiltless mind, which is our goal, right? So the so all we're capable of, it says some in some way like that, is special relationships. So use them as they're meant to be used by giving them over to the Holy Spirit. And that's what happened for me. Like when that sexual relationship came on, my mind was going to Holy Spirit, use this as a mean, as a means. I don't want anything from this, use this as a means. And I tried to engage my partner too with that. I'm like, hey, we have to use this for the Holy Spirit's function. As long as we use it for the Holy Spirit's function, everything's gonna be, and and you know, he's like, he was kind of like done listening to anything like that because it's because there was a desire to see it as something unwanted. Uh something's wrong, something went wrong, you know, and that's that's how the ego, uh the ego's ego is with anything. It's like that I screw up, did I really screw up? What if this doesn't work out? Right? So if you're looking at things as a means, you're gonna use everything as a means, even the idea that you're having a an inappropriate sexual relationship that's probably not gonna work out. Right? The spirit's not gonna perceive this as sacrifice. It's like basically I'm uh I'm sacrificing to the ego's perception, the whole relationship to whatever the Holy Spirit wants. But for me, this doesn't feel like sacrifice at all. I already know. I'm like, I already know if I if I'm trying to take it, if I'm trying to be in charge and say what I want it to become and not listening to the Holy Spirit and not accepting how things are. Unfolding, then it hurts. And you know, that's that's not what God wants. You know, Jesus is saying that there's no need to learn through pain. And the only reason we ever learn through pain is because we try to get what we think we want, and oftentimes it's what we don't want, actually, in disguise. Right. And that's another thing in a Course in Miracles. You don't know what you want. That's why you listen to the Holy Spirit so you always get what you want. Right? This this could be manifesting 101. Listen to the Holy Spirit so you always get what you want. Right? Listen now, always get what you want. So atonement, this is why atonement is completely without sacrifice. The spirit doesn't even perceive sacrifice. So atone, the atonement itself is helping you to perceive truly, like it's saying in the I go back to this sentence here. Well, I'm going to the earlier sentence from the end of paragraph 10 where it says, and when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And the sentence we're on right now is the first sentence of set of chapter or paragraph 11. Sacrifice is a notion totally unknown to God. Totally unknown to God. So I think we've covered that. We've, if you need any more examples, you have any questions, I'm looking at you now, people. Oh, okay. Uh BBC for diner. BBC for diner. I'm okay. I know that's a joke because it comes from Glenn, but I don't know what it means. Okay, Constance wrote, My beauty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep. The more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite. And that's from uh Shakespeare. It's Juliet said that of Romeo and Juliet. Thank you for that. I appreciate that, Constance. That's beautiful. And you know, you just take that out of the romantic context, and you can see what a spiritual statement that is. I'll I'll give it to you guys one more time. My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep. The more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite. That beautiful. Okay, three minutes to go.

Closing, Schedule, And How To Support

SPEAKER_02 1:53:06

I'm not gonna start on another sentence right now. Um, to next next time I come, which will be three weeks from now, because I'm taking two weeks off. It'll be the 27th that I'll be back. We will start on paragraph 11, sentence two. Yay! Put a little up, I'll do a review so you guys won't will know where we are. Last week I didn't do a review, I just dove right in, but it was it seemed to be more self-explanatory without a review. So I'm going back to Hawaii. I'm leaving on the 14th. Super stoked about that. Um, super stoked for staying with Billy too. I've already been with him almost a week. I got about another week with him. We've been having so much fun. We've been going boating, hanging out together. He's totally sold on Yoga Nidra now.

SPEAKER_01 1:54:00

He's he's a yogi now. He does yoga nidra. Um, I and and you know, yoga nidra is so sweet. You can go to sleep.

SPEAKER_02 1:54:10

No problem. Yeah, it's it's kind of like it reminds me of Course in Miracles that way, right? How she's just like, yeah, whatever happens, it's perfect for you, right? You go to sleep, you go out of body, you just get deeper relaxed, all good. You know, you you jump up in in anxiety. I'm making I'm throwing that one. That's also good. I had to throw that one in there because you know, it's like the ego always wants to see things a certain way. And, you know, if you'll apply this was last week's that one generalization to everything. Remember, we talked about the one generalization. You apply that one generalization to everything, and you're seeing things quickly and having a beautiful time connecting with people, being in the moment, uh, not uh performing this loss dance that people do. Nothing's wrong. I love I love getting the idea that something is wrong, though, because I know what it's for. So I'm happy to see it come. I'm not trying to resist it. I'm not trying to pretend to myself that it's not showing up. I want to know when it shows up. It's great. So, yay, go to my website for more, hopejohnson.org. I've arranged it. Go to the front page. You'll be able to get on my two different podcasts. You'll be able to get on these videos, you'll be able to sign up for Zoom really easy. So you can join me live if you want. If you preferred Substack, that's on there. You could get my book and there's donate tab there. This is totally funded off donations. And not only is it my time, but I'm also paying for um different services.

SPEAKER_01 1:56:03

So if you feel like donating and you you appreciate what I'm sharing here and you like it, you like it to continue and stuff like that, consider making a donation on my website.

SPEAKER_02 1:56:13

Uh, hopejohnson.org. There's a donate tab, and you can also set up recurring donations. So you're just automatically supporting wisdom dialogues and ACIM deep dives going forward. Apparently, I've got about 10 more years to do before I'm through the whole book. So undetermined, it's fun. Yay. Big black cod. Okay, okay, Glenn. Thank you for sharing. Oh, that's what BBC is. Big black cod. Oh, I see. Okay, thanks, Glenn. Thanks for catching me up on that. It's a great joke.

SPEAKER_01 1:56:59

All right. Um, I hope everyone had so much fun. I love you. Oh, wait, is there anything? No, okay. Until next time, mahalo, aloha, and a hoo-e-ho.

SPEAKER_03 1:57:11

Yay.