My Salvation Comes Frome Me, and I Need Do Nothing

My salvation comes from me. (W Lesson-70:1-2)
All temptation is nothing more than some form of the basic temptation not to believe the idea for today. Salvation seems to come from anywhere except from you. So, too, does the source of guilt. You see neither guilt nor salvation as in your own mind and nowhere else. When you realize that all guilt is solely an invention of your mind, you also realize that guilt and salvation must be in the same place. In understanding this you are saved.

The seeming cost of accepting today's idea is this: It means that nothing outside yourself can save you; nothing outside yourself can give you peace. But it also means that nothing outside yourself can hurt you, or disturb your peace or upset you in any way. This idea places you in charge of the universe, where you belong (not in the universe) because of what you are. This is not a role that can be partially accepted. And you must surely begin to see that accepting it is salvation.

ACIM T-2:V:5:1
The sole responsibility of the miracle worker is to accept the Atonement for himself.

Mikey's Note: So, by accepting your sole responsibility, that's where your salvation lies. Now there is a line in the Course that says, 'I need do nothing.' (ACIM T-18:VII:5:7) Well, it's true on the level of the world you need do nothing, because the Course is not a religion so it's not about your behavior, and it's not about what you do in the world. What you do in the world, regardless of what it is, doesn't matter. On the level of the mind, however, you do have to make that choice to accept the Atonement for yourself, that's why J says that your salvation comes from you.

So, how do you accept the Atonement for yourself? Well, you apply forgiveness on whatever comes up in front of your face on any given day. Keeping in mind, you are not forgiving people, circumstances, and events for what you think they've done, you are forgiving them because you made it all up; it's a projection that is coming from you, not something that is coming at you.

As J says in the Workbook, 'What is forgiveness? Forgiveness recognizes what you thought your brother did to you has not occurred. It does not pardon sins and make them real. It sees there was no sin. And in that view are all your sins forgiven.' (W:1:1) As Pursah would say, 'I might add in only in that view are all your sins forgiven. (YIR p 102)

So from that point of view, you are coming from a position of strength, being at cause, rather than from a position of weakness, being at the mercy of the effect. There's no power in making yourself out to be a victim. As J says in the Course, 'Beware of the temptation to perceive yourself unfairly treated.' (ACIM T-26:X:4:1) And as Pursah puts it, ' …nobody can really take the peace of God away from you except by your own decision. (DU p 169) There are no victims in this world! As J states in the Course, 'I am not the victim of the world I see.' (ACIM W- Lesson:31 Title)

No one or no thing can give you salvation. As Gary would say, ‘There is no such thing as vicarious salvation.’ So, everyone has to do their own forgiveness work in order to become a master. As J says, ‘In this world you need not have tribulation because I have overcome the world. That is why you should be of good cheer.’ (ACIM T-4:I:13:10-11) In other words, J wasn’t claiming to be special, so He’s saying we can do what He did too: forgive the world and be free. But as He also says, '.....it requires patience and abundant willingness.' (ACIM M-17:8:4)

DU p 234
What you do is a result of what you think. That doesn't mean you're always going to behave perfectly. When the Course talks about a teacher of God becoming perfect here, it is referring to perfect forgiveness, not perfect behavior.

Mikey's Note: At the same time, we're all going to be doing something while we appear to be here. But your salvation is not dependent on what you do in the world; it's where you’re coming from while you’re doing it that matters.

As Pursah says, '...you can still live a relatively normal earthly existence and be awakened slowly and gently from your dream.' (DU p 111) Gary says, 'Don't be weird.' Well, too late for me, but that's another story. But what I mean is, always remember that the Course has nothing against using common sense and discernment.

DU p 218
Forgiveness has to do with what you think. What you do isn't the important thing, even though it is a result of what you think. It's what you think that will either keep you dreaming or help get you home, not what you do.

YIR p 102
So what does forgiveness do, then? ‘The miracle (forgiveness) does nothing. All it does is undo.’ (ACIM T-28:I:1:1-2) ‘Salvation is undoing.’ (ACIM T-31:VI:2:1) And when the ego is undone, the truth will be all that’s left.



God Is....and nothing else is

Definitive Statements

In A Course in Miracles, Jesus speaks to us at two different levels - the level of world, and at the level of absolute truth. If he spoke to us just on the level of absolute truth we wouldn't get very far, so he has to speak to us where we think we are - which is in the world. So, there’s a lot of metaphor going on in the Course, and I have seen many Course students quote metaphorical lines from the Course out of context, thinking that it's a literal statement and use it to support what they think Jesus is teaching, without really having a clue as to what should be taken literally, and what should be taken as metaphor. That's to be expected. That's why I always suggest to people when they ask me about the Course to read The Disappearance of the Universe, and not just once. Arten and Pursah spell it out so clearly and so bluntly that there's no getting away from it.

Arten and Pursah make it very clear as to what should be taken literally, and what should be taken as metaphor:

DU92
The parts of the Course that express non-duality should be taken literally, but the parts of it that seem to express duality should be taken as metaphor. There is no conflict in that, but without getting it, you’ll incorrectly think the Course is contradicting itself. In the end, everything except for God is metaphor.

DU92
Everybody is trying to find and express their truth. Their so-called truth is actually designed to keep them stuck where they are. What J is teaching in his Course is that the truth is not different for everyone. It is not relative. He's saying the truth is the truth whether you understand and agree with it or not. The truth is not subject to your interpretation, and neither is his Course. He's the Teacher, and you're the student. If that's not the case, then why do the Course?


The Course in a nutshell from Arten and Pursah:

YIR198 & 199
Don’t be discouraged by those who borrow from the Course instead of teaching it. There are even people who teach the Course exclusively who fail to understand it. They’ll think that the Course is open to their interpretation. Yet if it were, it would be useless. What makes the Course unique is that what it says is not open to interpretation. It says there is no world and only God is real. The way to awaken from the dream of death is through total, uncompromising forgiveness of people because they haven’t really done anything, which is how to forgive yourself. Any other interpretation is folly.

YIR73
The mind will go to such lengths to avoid what the Course is saying and delay the clarification of it that people will read the Text and interpret it, usually incorrectly. They’ll ignore the definitive statements of the Course, and start nitpicking and focusing on individual words or phrases that, when taken out of context, seem to support their interpretation. Yet everything the Course says must be put within the context of the Course’s larger teaching, which shows up unmistakably in those definitive statements.


These statements from the Course express the absolute truth and are exactly what the Course is teaching, therefore, they should be taken literally. Whether Course students are ready to accept them or not is another story - but that's between them and the Holy Spirit.

W-Lesson 256:1:1-2
The way to God is through forgiveness here. There is no other way.

T-2:V:5:1
The sole responsibility of the miracle worker is to accept the Atonement for himself.

T-31:VI:2:1
Salvation is undoing.

T-27:VIII:10:1
The secret of salvation is but this: That you are doing this unto yourself.

T-1:VI:1:1
You who want peace can find it only by complete forgiveness.

T-6:10:7
The full awareness of the Atonement, then, is the recognition that the separation never occurred.

W-1:1-4
Forgiveness recognizes what you thought your brother did to you has not occurred. It does not pardon sins and make them real. It sees there was no sin. And in that view are all your sins forgiven.

W-Lesson 46:1-2
God does not forgive because He has never condemned. And there must be condemnation before forgiveness is necessary. Forgiveness is the great need of this world, but that is because it is a world of illusions. Those who forgive are thus releasing themselves from illusions, while those who withhold forgiveness are binding themselves to them. As you condemn only yourself, so do you forgive only yourself.

Yet although God does not forgive, His Love is nevertheless the basis of forgiveness. Fear condemns and love forgives. Forgiveness thus undoes what fear has produced, returning the mind to the awareness of God. For this reason, forgiveness can truly be called salvation. It is the means by which illusions disappear.

W-Review VI:Intro:3:3-5
I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.

T-18:VII:3:1
At no single instant does the body exist at all.

W-Lesson 92:2:1-4
You believe the body’s brain can think. If you but understood the nature of thought, you could but laugh at this insane idea. It is as if you thought you held the match that lights the sun and gives it all its warmth; or that you held the world within your hand, securely bound until you let it go. Yet this is no more foolish to believe the brain can think.

T-23:IV:1:10-11
What is not love is murder. What is not loving must be an attack.

T-30:VI:1:1
Anger is never justified.

CL-4:1:1-5
The world you see is an illusion of a world. God did not create it, for what He creates must be eternal as Himself. Yet there is nothing in the world you see that will endure forever. Some things will last in time a little while longer than others. But the time will come when all things visible will have an end.

T-13:Intro:3:1-2
If this were the real world, God would be cruel. For no Father could subject His children to this as the price of salvation and be loving.

T-13:VII:17:6-7
You dwell not here but in eternity. You travel but in dreams while safe at home.

W-Lesson 182:1:1-2
This world you seem to live is not home to you. And somewhere in your mind you know that this is true.

W-Lesson 132:6:2-5 & 7:1-2
There is no world! This is the central thought the course attempts to teach. Not everyone is ready to accept it, and each one must go as far as he can let himself be led along the road to truth. He will return and go still farther, or perhaps step back a while and then return again.’

But healing is the gift of those who are prepared to learn there is no world, and can accept the lesson now. Their readiness will bring the lesson to them in some form which they can understand and recognize.

T-15:IV:6:1-2
The reason this course is simple is that truth is simple. Complexity is of the ego, and is nothing more than the ego’s attempt to obscure the obvious.


God Is....and nothing else is