THE GIFTS OF GOD — Sondra Ray and Markus Ray on A Course in Miracles

The sickness of "separation" cannot be healed in isolation. We imagined this separation to be true, and it made us "sick," both mentally and physically. Undoing our false sense of separation is the healing, and this cannot be done alone. Our healing is what everyone else is waiting for, so we can all ascend into our highest potentials and be healthy and free...together.

This Lesson lets us know that the mind rules the body in all instances. And the mind in union with its Divine Creator results in pure joy. Sicknesses we “make up” and play out in the body are defenses against these facts. The truth is that our true Self is never “sick.” We are asked to live from that Self all of the time.

"If I defend myself I am attacked." This is a totally new perspective on the subject of defenses. When I defend myself with my own plans, I am not trusting on the Peace of God to keep me safe. I am not allowing my mind to embrace the care of the Universe to provide for me. This subtle form of defense invites attack and for things to run amuck. God's plan for me results in perfect happiness when I am really with it, without my ego's plans. 

Let us perceive forgiveness as it is. This Lesson is without a doubt a challenge to apply. It is hard to forgive people we really feel have “done wrong.” Yet we are asked to forgive what is false, not what is true. The false does not exist. But, what about very physical infractions and “crimes” that “demand punishment?” This discussion goes into a deep and pivotal process that is put forth in A Course in Miracles.

What is valuable? This is the theme of this Lesson. Will our choices lead us to Heaven or to hell? This is the question. Only what lasts forever has value. Only what is good for all has value. Only the innocent has value. This lesson helps us distinguish the valuable from the valueless.

The world is merely a projection of our thoughts we impose upon it. All of its troubles we made up. There is a spiritual reality in which we remove these projections. This is the subject of this Lesson. Can we change our mind and stop projecting our negative thoughts onto the world? This is up to us. It is the only may we can make a fundamental change, and make contact with the “perfect happiness” of our reality.

We are all seeking something. This Lesson #131 tells us we cannot fail in our search for the truth. Heaven is here for us when we give up all of the other futile searches for improvement in the places that have not yielded happiness. There is a place within us that is the perfect resolution of this issue of seeking a better world. We can go there in this Lesson.

We cannot see two worlds. We either look through the eyes of the ego, or we look through the eyes of the Holy Spirit that has let go and forgiven the world of the ego. We have a decision to make. Can we make it is the question.

Beyond this world there is a world I want. The Lesson says there is a Light within the darkness of the world that is beyond what the body’s eyes can “see.” Our Divine Connection is the “Light” that does not rely on the thoughts and visions of living in this world we made up. We are asked to make this other connection now, and to not delay in leaving behind the “world” of thoughts the ego has manufactured. Let’s give it the attention today, to make contact with this holy space of our true Identity in God.

What is the “world” according to A Course in Miracles? These next three lessons examine the world and our attachment to it. Can we let go of our interpretation and attachment to our conditioning about the world. It holds nothing that we want, the Lesson says. Can we step outside of this conditioning, is the question?