Understanding life is easier from the “big picture.”

Debra (Debi) Yvonne Simmons

10 min read

1. Depression

³Depression or assault must be the theme of every dream (* A “dream” is what A Course in Miracles calls our current experience.), for they are made of fear (* I refer to them as “stories”). ⁴The thin disguise of pleasure and of joy in which they may be wrapped but slightly veils the heavy lump of fear that is their core. (* In other words, we all live in fear.) ⁵And it is this the miracle perceives, and not the wrappings in which it is bound.

(ACIM, T-29.IV.3:3–5)

* The miracle taught by Jesus of Nazareth in A Course in Miracles perceives the fear that humanity traps itself in and brings the witness that God IS to counter the fear and set the Son of God FREE.

3. When you are sad, know this need not be. ²Depression comes from a sense of being deprived of something you want and do not have. ³Remember that you are deprived of nothing except by your own decisions, and then decide otherwise.

* In God we have everything. The body, its fabricated needs and “reality” were manifested to “prove” that the Son had the ability to exist without the Father. That is impossible and the body is only a hypothetical illusion ~ that still has to be maintained in egoland ~ but that has a use in an eternal sense only as a tool of communication.

4. When you are anxious, realize that anxiety comes from the capriciousness of the ego, and know this need not be. ²You can be as vigilant against the ego’s dictates as for them.

* This does not mean to guilt yourself out! Rather, give it to the story, and breathe deeply, and find that inner assurance of Who you ARE.

5. When you feel guilty, remember that the ego has indeed violated the laws of God, but you have not. ²Leave the “sins” of the ego to me (* IE. Jesus, he can adjust the story with the assistance of the Holy Spirit into both the past and the future.). ³That is what Atonement is for. ⁴But until you change your mind about those whom your ego has hurt, the Atonement cannot release you (* Forgive them all by forgiving the belief in the possibility of separation from God in the first place. Let that all go.). ⁵While you feel guilty your ego is in command, because only the ego can experience guilt. ⁶This need not be.

* Guilt is not of God or His Son.

6. Watch your mind for the temptations of the ego, and do not be deceived by it. ²It offers you nothing. ³When you have given up this voluntary dis-spiriting (* Which depresses you.), you will see how your mind can focus and rise above fatigue and heal. ⁴Yet you are not sufficiently vigilant against the demands of the ego to disengage yourself. ⁵This need not be.

* Forgive the entire Sonship and allow the Holy Spirit to help you rise above the mental chatter of the ego to see the light that the witness of God and His Son brings.

(ACIM, T-4.IV.3:1–6:5)

7. The habit of engaging with God and His creations is easily made if you actively refuse to let your mind slip away. ²The problem is not one of concentration; it is the belief that no one, including yourself, is worth consistent effort. ³Side with me consistently against this deception, and do not permit this shabby belief to pull you back. ⁴The disheartened are useless to themselves and to me, but only the ego can be disheartened.

* This is a beautiful promise to me. I want to see God and His creations rather than the ego’s shadows and stories. This does not mean I do not listen to the Spirit and have healthy boundaries.

8. Have you really considered how many opportunities you have had to gladden yourself, and how many of them you have refused? ²There is no limit to the power of a Son of God, but he can limit the expression of his power as much as he chooses. ³Your mind and mine can unite in shining your ego away, releasing the strength of God into everything you think and do. ⁴Do not settle for anything less than this, and refuse to accept anything but this as your goal. ⁵Watch your mind carefully for any beliefs that hinder its accomplishment, and step away from them. ⁶Judge how well you have done this by your own feelings, for this is the one right use of judgment. ⁷Judgment, like any other defense, can be used to attack or protect; to hurt or to heal. ⁸The ego should be brought to judgment and found wanting there. ⁹Without your own allegiance, protection and love, the ego cannot exist. ¹⁰Let it be judged truly and you must withdraw allegiance, protection and love from it.

9. You are a mirror of truth, in which God Himself shines in perfect light. ²To the ego’s dark glass you need but say, “I will not look there because I know these images are not true.” ³Then let the Holy One shine on you in peace, knowing that this and only this must be. ⁴His Mind shone on you in your creation and brought your mind into being. ⁵His Mind still shines on you and must shine through you. ⁶Your ego cannot prevent Him from shining on you, but it can prevent you from letting Him shine through you.

* I hold to this “You are a mirror of truth, in which God Himself shines in perfect light.” I understand that everyone else is as well, though while their ego reigns supreme, I will use caution because the ego seeks to destroy anything that would say that they are beloved and of God.

10. The First Coming of Christ is merely another name for the creation, for Christ is the Son of God. (* That is NOT the birth of Jesus in form or myth.) ²The Second Coming of Christ means nothing more than the end of the ego’s rule and the healing of the mind. (* This YOU are free to partake in right now by accepting the undoing forgiveness of the Atonement.) ³I (Jesus, of Nazareth) was created like you in the First, and I (* Jesus has accepted the Atonement for himself as you may.) have called you to join with me in the Second. ⁴I am in charge of the Second Coming, and my judgment, (* Jesus walks directly with the Holy Spirit and moves only with His direction and guidance. Remember judgment is the Holy Spirit’s responsibility and He guides Jesus.) which is used only for protection, cannot be wrong because it never attacks. (* This is why in the Course Jesus invites us to turn the miracle over to Jesus.) ⁵Yours may be so distorted that you believe I was mistaken in choosing you. (* Jesus directs the Universal Plan and all of its fluent parts along with many other ascended masters.) ⁶I assure you this is a mistake of your ego. ⁷Do not mistake it for humility. ⁸Your ego is trying to convince you that it is real and I am not, because if I am real, I am no more real than you are. ⁹That knowledge, and I assure you that it is knowledge, means that Christ has come into your mind and healed it. (* The Holy Spirit is Who gives you the witness of Christ ~Father and Son UNITED, the Son of God.)

11. I do not attack your ego. ²I do work with your higher mind, the home of the Holy Spirit, whether you are asleep or awake, just as your ego does with your lower mind, which is its home. ³I (* Jesus is a part of us.) am your vigilance in this, because you are too confused to recognize your own hope. ⁴I am not mistaken. ⁵Your mind will elect to join with mine (* Because this is our truth.), and together we are invincible. ⁶You and your brother will yet come together in my name, and your sanity will be restored. ⁷I raised the dead by knowing that life is an eternal attribute of everything that the living God created. ⁸Why do you believe it is harder for me to inspire the dis-spirited or to stabilize the unstable? (* Let Jesus assist you.) ⁹I (Jesus) do not believe that there is an order of difficulty in miracles; you do. ¹⁰I have called and you will answer. (Because we are a part of the God that Jesus listens to. This may refer to the “chosen” in “many are called but few are chosen.” We will each answer eventually because we wish to leave the pain the ego offers us and accept our place within the Mind of God.) ¹¹I understand that miracles are natural, because they are expressions of love. ¹²My calling you is as natural as your answer, and as inevitable. (* I suspect that we “call” to others once we enter the understanding of the Atonement, as well.)

(ACIM, T-4.IV.7:1–11:12)

⁵If you do not extend the Kingdom, you are not thinking with your Creator and creating as He created.

13. In this depressing state the Holy Spirit reminds you gently that you are sad because you are not fulfilling your function as co-creator with God, and are therefore depriving yourself of joy. (ACIM, T-7.VI.12:5–13:1)

⁶When you equate yourself with a body you will always experience depression. (ACIM, T-8.VII.1:6)

8. There is nothing so frustrating to a learner as a curriculum he cannot learn. ²His sense of adequacy suffers, and he must become depressed. ³Being faced with an impossible learning situation is the most depressing thing in the world. ⁴In fact, it is ultimately why the world itself is depressing. ⁵The Holy Spirit’s curriculum is never depressing, because it is a curriculum of joy. ⁶Whenever the reaction to learning is depression, it is because the true goal of the curriculum has been lost sight of. (ACIM, T-8.VII.8:1–6)

13. The opposite of joy is depression. ²When your learning promotes depression instead of joy, you cannot be listening to God’s joyous Teacher and learning His lessons. (ACIM, T-8.VII.13:1–2)

(* In the influence of the ego who denies God and has attempted to take His place;) ²Joy is never permitted, for depression is the sign of allegiance to him. ³Depression means that you have forsworn God. (ACIM, T-10.V.1:2–3)

⁸Depression is isolation, and so it could not have been created. (ACIM, T-10.V.5:8)

12. If God knows His children as wholly sinless, it is blasphemous to perceive them as guilty. ²If God knows His children as wholly without pain, it is blasphemous to perceive suffering anywhere (* as REAL, we still see the affects of ego-mentality until all accept the Atonement.). ³If God knows His children to be wholly joyous, it is blasphemous to feel depressed. (* IF DEPRESSION OCCURS, ACKNOWLEDGE IT AS PART OF THE ROLE AND STORY THAT YOU ARE TO PLAY OUT and NOT AS REAL.) ⁴All of these illusions, and the many other forms that blasphemy may take, are refusals to accept creation as it is. ⁵If God created His Son perfect, that is how you must learn to see him to learn of his reality. ⁶And as part of the Sonship, that is how you must see yourself to learn of yours. (ACIM, T-10.V.12:1–6)

2. The Original Error

3. The idea of orders of need, which follows from the original error that one can be separated from God, requires correction at its own level before the error of perceiving levels at all can be corrected.

(* The Atonement heals the Original Error but the correction of “the idea of orders of need” ~ and eventually, need of any sort must be corrected in the world of form where need is manifested. Then the Holy Spirit will help us remove the idea of levels.)

²You cannot behave effectively while you function on different levels.

(* This suggests to me that we will not create while we believe we are separate from God which is what the level of “spirit” and “body” bring to our understanding.)

³However, while you do, correction must be introduced vertically from the bottom up.

(* “From the bottom up.” Could this mean the basics of existence or the idea that we are separated? I propose that accepting the Atonement which undoes the idea of separation from God and all that is be applied first, as this corrects the Original Error.

Then, walk in life following the promptings of the Holy Spirit while not ignoring our feelings and emotions.

These are what the Holy Spirit uses ~ along with many other things ~to prompt us.

The “corrections” will be made amongst ourselves, as we express these feelings and understand that this is NOT how we want to live.

~~ Rather than by a divine entity telling us what is “right” and what is “wrong.” ~~)

⁴This is because you think you live in space, where concepts such as “up” and “down” are meaningful. ⁵Ultimately, space is as meaningless as time. ⁶Both are merely beliefs. (ACIM, T-1.VI.3:1–6)

⁹Believe this and you will be free. ¹⁰Only God can establish this solution, and this faith is His gift. (ACIM, T-1.VI.5:9–10)

3. Understanding Time

2. “Heaven and earth shall pass away” means that they will not continue to exist as separate states. (ACIM, T-1.III.2:1)

The perpetual NOW that takes place once all accept the Atonement and we dwell unitedly in Heaven will continue to progress or extend but it will NOT CHANGE its CHARACTOR to be that which is not of God as it does now under the influence of the ego which uses time to manifest guilt and fear.

From WITHIN the understanding of the Atonement, we are able to WALK IN ETERNITY right now.

There (or here, rather) we understand that God IS, that All That Is is seen by HIM as His Son and we live in cooperation with All That Is as we recognize that it is a part of ourselves. We would not choose to destroy any part of our physical body IF we were in our Right Mind. Likewise with nature and ALL of creation.

4. His Story ~ the state of confusion brought about by the ego Christ manifested to replace God when he thought separation from Father was possible ~

5. All aspects of fear are untrue because they do not exist at the creative level, and therefore do not exist at all.

²To whatever extent you are willing to submit your beliefs to this test, to that extent are your perceptions corrected.

³In sorting out the false from the true, the miracle proceeds along these lines:

⁴Perfect love casts out fear.
⁵If fear exists, then there is not perfect love.

⁶But:

⁷Only perfect love exists.
⁸If there is fear, it produces a state that does not exist.

⁹Believe this and you will be free.

¹⁰Only God can establish this solution, and this faith is His gift.

(ACIM, T-1.VI.5:1–10)

FAITH is a gift given by God through the Holy Spirit upon things that are TRUE.

Till next time, God bless, debi.