A Course in Miracles Monk

Dear everyone-of-me,

I want to write about a life-altering idea that left me feeling ecstatic last night: There is only one of us here.

A common question Course students ask is, ‘So… am I in your dream, or are you in mine? Who is the dreamer of the dream, me or you?’ The answer is me, because I’m me and I’m you. Or, stated another way, the answer is you. You are you, but I’m also you. We are all the same mind hidden behind the masks of different looking bodies. Everything I see is me, and everything you see is you, but there’s only one mind, and it’s both of us.

Most people in the world don’t consciously perceive each other in this way, due to a perception based on separation. But the unconscious mind knows there is only one mind, and only one of us here. What this means is that whenever we’ve judged ’someone else’, we’ve unwittingly sent a clear message straight to our powerful unconscious mind that we are worthy of condemnation. Every judgment or attack we’ve ever made, has been made on ourselves.

When I judge someone, this is how it sounds to my unconscious: ‘Hey Jamie, you are worthy of judgment and condemnation. You suck!’ This is the message I am sending to myself over and over as I judge anyone or anything. The next time you judge anyone or anything, stop for a moment and imagine saying those things directly to yourself. A Course in Miracles teaches, “There is a very simple way to find the door to true forgiveness, and perceive it open wide in welcome. When you feel that you are tempted to accuse someone of sin in any form, do not allow your mind to dwell on what you think he did, for that is self-deception. Ask instead, ‘Would I accuse myself of doing this?’ Thus will you see alternatives for choice in terms that render choosing meaningful, and keep your mind as free of guilt and pain as God Himself intended it to be, and as it is in truth.” (Workbook, Lesson 134.)

With only one of us here, we cannot escape our own judgment because all judgment must then be self-judgment. But neither can we escape peace and happiness when we forgive!

This is what Jesus meant when he said, ‘Judge not that ye be not judged’, and what he means in the course when he teaches, ‘All gifts I give my brother are my own’, and ‘It can be but myself I crucify.’

Right now we are in need of mind training because the dynamic of attack has been so long-entrenched and well-learned that it is automatic at the unconscious level. In order to experience peace, we must learn to forgive automatically.

The way we do this, is by forgiving everyone we see.

If I forgive ‘them’, then that is how I will come to feel about myself. I will then experience myself as holy. That is how I will come to know myself!

It is not difficult to get in touch with your subconscious; look around you. It’s in plain sight right before your eyes. What you see is a process of your mind, showing you what you’ve chosen to identify with – innocence or guilt. Forgive what you see and you will heal your unconscious guilt in your mind.

Before now, having seen everyone as apart from us, we have attacked (’cause’) the idea of our shared identity or oneness, and thus have condemned ourselves to the seeming effects of that kind of perception. Fortunately, A Course in Miracles teaches us that what is not real can have no effects, and this seeming attack cannot be real because there can be no cause outside of God, who is Cause. Oneness, being a distinguishing aspect of Truth, means attack is impossible simply because there is nothing to attack – no subject/object relationship in which to execute, or give cause to an attack. Where there is no cause, the idea ‘forgive your brother for what he did not do’ becomes meaningful and relevant. Reinterpreted, it states: Forgive yourself for what you did not do (separate from God), by forgiving your brother for what he did not do. Our holy brother is where we place forgiveness that it may alight upon us, because it is in our brother that we see the symbol of separation and try to hide our resulting guilt. It only makes sense that the way home, the way to heal our faulty perception, is to now see in him oneness and innocence. Where we once projected guilt, we now embrace and forgive.

The simple answer then, is for us to see everyone as innocent and holy. It is the shortcut the course refers to as the holy relationship, in which it offers us the counsel, ‘I need do nothing’. It elaborates: ‘This is the special means this course is using to save you time. You are not making use of the course if you insist on using means which have served others well, neglecting what was made for you. Save time for me by only this one preparation, and practice doing nothing else.’

It means I do not need to perform some action to earn my salvation. I do not need to do penance to placate God’s supposed judgment of me. I do not need to fast and meditate under a tree for 100 years. I do not need to fight against sin or try and detach myself from the body. I need do nothing. My only need is to perceive my brother as innocent for just a single instant, and I ‘will accomplish more than is given to a century of contemplation, or of struggle against temptation.’

“Here is the ultimate release which everyone will one day find in his own way, at his own time. You do not need this time. Time has been saved for you because you and your brother are together.” (Text, p.389)

The holy relationship is the perception that most closely resembles Knowledge, or the oneness of Heaven. This integrated, unifying, healed perception, takes us as far as perception can take us… to the happy dream, onto the real world, and finally into the waiting arms of God.

A Course in Miracles teaches, in many different ways, the concept of there only being one of us, so that we can recognize it in a way we might easily understand. Each of these workbook lessons have the same content and meaning:

- I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my thoughts
- I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my seeing
- When I am healed, I am not healed alone
- I trust my brothers, who are one with me
- It can be but myself I crucify
- It can be but my gratitude I earn
- Only my condemnation injures me
- All gifts I give my brother are my own
- All gifts my brother gives belong to me
- Forgiveness lets me know minds are joined
- I can attack but my own sinlessness
- My sinless brother is MY GUIDE TO PEACE; my sinful brother is my guide to pain; and which I choose to see I will behold
- Peace be to me, the Holy Son of God; peace to my brother who is one with me
- Today I learn THE LAW OF LOVE; that what I give my brother is my gift to me

Think about the magnitude of what these lessons offer us! They are our guide to peace! They teach us the law of love! What could be more important, or more powerful? Or simpler?

“To perceive the healing of your brother as the healing of yourself is… the way to remember God.” (Text, p.218)

While it is true that A Course in Miracles is a theological and psychological masterpiece, it is not complicated. It dangles the keys to the Kingdom right in front of our eyes with this teaching! In fact, it places the key to salvation’s door squarely in the palm of our hand. The course proclaims again and again that our sinless brother is our guide to salvation. Forgive him, and the gift he returns will be the keys to the Kingdom. No wonder our brother is due our gratitude! He becomes the symbol of Christ that allows us to free our minds from the bondage of illusion. The decision to see our brother as sinless is our whole way out, because in our sinlessness does our salvation lie. As we begin to choose this perception, we finally begin to turn the key and unlock the long-barred door to the cell of our self-imprisonment.

Now we can see that every encounter is a holy encounter. Now we can see that when we ask in each situation, ‘What is it for?’… that the answer is: ‘To choose his (our) sinlessness.’ To choose union. Now, finally, we can be free! We make this choice with Love, or the Holy Spirit, or Jesus, or Christ, or true perception, or true vision, or the right mind. Whatever your preference, they are all the same.

It is one thing to accept this idea intellectually, but stop for a moment and experience it. It is truly life-altering! The teachings of A Course in Miracles are not just for the mind, but definitely for the heart as well. Try this exercise for a moment:

First, choose the person you love the most in the world, the person you see as the most loving, and thus the most innocent (and when you’re done, do it again with the person you most struggle to love). Imagine looking at this person with total love and adoration. See her looking back at you with soft eyes, returning your love and adoration. She is glowing and radiant – a bright, holy angel. Beautiful, golden light shines through and all around her, cascading from her in pulsing waves. It extends to warmly wrap itself all around you as she gently smiles at you with complete love. Your heart melts in her endlessly loving presence. Now look at the millions – billions! – of different people behind her, and surrounding you in every direction… and watch as they all morph into perfect replications of her, serenely smiling back at you, embracing and encompassing you in their love, for as far as you can see, and as deeply as you can feel. Then look again and see her, and all the replications of her, morph into you… and see yourself smiling back at you, loving you. Glowing. Beaming. Then watch as all the figures morph into Jesus, who continues smiling back at you, His Light enveloping everyone and everything. You glance in a nearby mirror, and even in the mirror Jesus is there smiling back at you with perfect peace, acceptance and love. You slowly close your eyes and surrender to the infinite Love of God.

You are a holy child of God, each of you.

I love everyone-of-me,
You