ACIM Preface xi
The world we see merely reflects our own internal frame of reference - the dominant ideas, wishes and emotions in our minds. "Projection makes perception." We look inside first, decide the kind of world we want to see and then project that world outside, making it the truth as we see it. We make it true by our interpretations of what it is we are seeing. If we are using perception to justify our own mistakes - our anger, our impulses to attack, our lack of love in whatever form it may take - we will see a world of evil, destruction, malice, envy, and despair. All this we must learn to forgive, not because we are being "good" and "charitable," but because what we are seeing is not true. We have distorted the world by our twisted defenses, and are therefore seeing what is not there. As we learn to recognize our perceptual errors, we also learn to look past them or "forgive." At the same time we are forgiving ourselves, looking past our distorted self-concepts to the Self That God created in us and as us.
ACIM T445 (21:1:1-9)
Projection makes perception. The world you see is what you gave it, nothing more than that. But though it is no more than that, it is not less. Therefore, to you it is important. It is the witness to your state of mind, the outside picture of an inward condition. As a man thinketh, so does he perceive. Therefore, seek not to change the world, but choose to change your mind about the world. Perception is a result and not a cause. And that is why order of difficulty in miracles is meaningless.
ACIM T38 (3:II:2)
Innocence is not a partial attribute. It is not real until it is total. The partly innocent are apt to be quite foolish at times. It is not until their innocence becomes a viewpoint with universal application that it becomes wisdom. Innocent or true perception means that you never misperceive and always see truly. More simply, it means that you never see what does not exist, and always see what does.
DU p 112
Gary: Are you saying I'm gonna have to see everyone, no matter what, as being totally innocent?
Pursah: That is correct. Once again, don't expect it to happen right way.
Gary: I don't know. How can a man like Hitler be innocent?
Pursah: That's a typical question, and the answer doesn't have anything to do with Hitler. As one who remembers my Jewish lifetimes very well, I'm not exactly a fan of the Nazis, skinheads, the KKK, or any of the other mentally injured groups. The reason they are innocent has nothing to do with the level of form. Hitler and everyone else in the world, including you, are equally innocent because what you are seeing is not true. This is your dream. As the Course teaches, the dream is not being dreamed by somebody else. ACIM T623 (29:IX:6:3)
Mikey's Note
Seeing innocence everywhere is certainly easier said than done. But each must take responsibility for his or her dream at the level of the mind in order to be free of it. Otherwise, you're building house upon the shifting sands of change, rather than on the rock. As the Course teaches, 'As you see him you will see yourself.' ACIM T142 (8:4:2) The question is, do you want to see yourself as innocent, or as a 'guilty little bastid?' Even though it may give one a transitory state of satisfaction, projecting your own unconscious guilt on to others only keeps it in tact, while forgiving it may not always come with the instant gratification we all desire, it will gradually undo all the unconscious guilt buried in the mind, and then we'll be free of it. And all that will be left is innocence.
God Is....and nothing else is
The world we see merely reflects our own internal frame of reference - the dominant ideas, wishes and emotions in our minds. "Projection makes perception." We look inside first, decide the kind of world we want to see and then project that world outside, making it the truth as we see it. We make it true by our interpretations of what it is we are seeing. If we are using perception to justify our own mistakes - our anger, our impulses to attack, our lack of love in whatever form it may take - we will see a world of evil, destruction, malice, envy, and despair. All this we must learn to forgive, not because we are being "good" and "charitable," but because what we are seeing is not true. We have distorted the world by our twisted defenses, and are therefore seeing what is not there. As we learn to recognize our perceptual errors, we also learn to look past them or "forgive." At the same time we are forgiving ourselves, looking past our distorted self-concepts to the Self That God created in us and as us.
ACIM T445 (21:1:1-9)
Projection makes perception. The world you see is what you gave it, nothing more than that. But though it is no more than that, it is not less. Therefore, to you it is important. It is the witness to your state of mind, the outside picture of an inward condition. As a man thinketh, so does he perceive. Therefore, seek not to change the world, but choose to change your mind about the world. Perception is a result and not a cause. And that is why order of difficulty in miracles is meaningless.
ACIM T38 (3:II:2)
Innocence is not a partial attribute. It is not real until it is total. The partly innocent are apt to be quite foolish at times. It is not until their innocence becomes a viewpoint with universal application that it becomes wisdom. Innocent or true perception means that you never misperceive and always see truly. More simply, it means that you never see what does not exist, and always see what does.
DU p 112
Gary: Are you saying I'm gonna have to see everyone, no matter what, as being totally innocent?
Pursah: That is correct. Once again, don't expect it to happen right way.
Gary: I don't know. How can a man like Hitler be innocent?
Pursah: That's a typical question, and the answer doesn't have anything to do with Hitler. As one who remembers my Jewish lifetimes very well, I'm not exactly a fan of the Nazis, skinheads, the KKK, or any of the other mentally injured groups. The reason they are innocent has nothing to do with the level of form. Hitler and everyone else in the world, including you, are equally innocent because what you are seeing is not true. This is your dream. As the Course teaches, the dream is not being dreamed by somebody else. ACIM T623 (29:IX:6:3)
Mikey's Note
Seeing innocence everywhere is certainly easier said than done. But each must take responsibility for his or her dream at the level of the mind in order to be free of it. Otherwise, you're building house upon the shifting sands of change, rather than on the rock. As the Course teaches, 'As you see him you will see yourself.' ACIM T142 (8:4:2) The question is, do you want to see yourself as innocent, or as a 'guilty little bastid?' Even though it may give one a transitory state of satisfaction, projecting your own unconscious guilt on to others only keeps it in tact, while forgiving it may not always come with the instant gratification we all desire, it will gradually undo all the unconscious guilt buried in the mind, and then we'll be free of it. And all that will be left is innocence.
God Is....and nothing else is
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