God Did Not Create The World - Thank God!

When I read The Disappearance of the Universe for the first time in the spring of 2007, it made total sense to me mainly because I had already had the many of the experiences Arten and Pursah were talking about. However, one thing I had to really think about was on page 9 in the first chapter where Pursah tells Gary that God did not create the world. I had never heard that one before, and I thought I had heard everything at that point. I never even thought to question it, which is very unusual for me, considering my track record with such things. Anyway, the exact words Pursah said to Gary:

‘God did not create duality and He did not create the world. If he did, He would be the author of "a tale told by an idiot." But God is not an idiot. He can only be one of two things. He is either perfect Love, as the Bible says when it momentarily stumbles upon the truth, or He's an idiot. You can't have it both ways.’ Gary says in response on page 13, ‘If I told people that God didn’t create the world, I have a feeling it would probably go over about as big as a fart in an elevator.’

And since we’re on the subject, God is neither a He nor a She, God is an It, and Arten and Pursah are just staying consistent with the metaphorical language J uses in the Course in order to correct the Bible. DU p 97 & 319

So, a few months prior to my first reading of Disappearance - I’m almost finished with my12th reading now - I was bouncing around some ideas in my head about God and forgiveness. I was thinking that if God forgives us for something we did, that would imply that God originally condemned us, and after a few minutes I came to the conclusion that if God is really sane, then God wouldn’t do that; God wouldn’t think like us idiot humans.

So later in the book on page 178, Gary says, ‘God doesn't have to forgive me; I need to forgive myself by forgiving others instead of attacking them. Even if it's just a mental judgment and I don't say or do anything, an attack thought is still an attack thought. That's why I have to monitor my thoughts. Whether I attack or forgive, I do it to myself because these people aren't real anyway - they're just symbols of what's in my mind, just as I'm a symbol in the collective mind. The world doesn't need God's forgiveness; people need to forgive themselves by forgiving the images they see.'

Arten responds, 'Yes. Absolutely. The Course couldn’t be any more clear about that: 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.' ACIM W-73 (Lesson 46:1:1-5 & 2:1-5)

Once I read that quote that God does not forgive because he never condemned, I put two and two together, and made the connection, the idea that God did not create the world now made perfect sense to me.

DU p 125 (Arten)
God could not have created this world. It would not be in His nature. He is not cruel, and as J points out to you, ‘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.’ ACIM T-236 (13:Intro:3:1-2)

Of course, there really is no world, it’s just a dream, and dreams aren’t real. But that’s a subject for another time.

DU p 343 (Arten)
Don't ever forget that the goal of the Course is the only thing worth having, and this world isn't. You think the universe is of value because you're used to it and it's all you remember. But as the Course asks you, ‘God's teachers can have no regret on giving up the pleasures of the world. Is it a sacrifice to give up pain? Does an adult resent the giving up of children's toys? Does one whose vision has already glimpsed the face of Christ look back with longing on a slaughter house? No one who has escaped the world and all its ills looks back on it with condemnation.’ ACIM M p 33 (13:4:2-5)

Of course, that leads to another topic I’ll briefly mention: Suicide. As Arten puts in on page 79 in Gary’s second book Your Immortal Reality, ‘Suicide is the biggest problem in the world that the world is in total denial of. Sure, people know about suicide, but they have no idea how widespread it is. Nobody wants to talk about it . Nobody wants to examine it. If someone is depressed, the system will put them on drugs and never look at the reasons. That’s because the ego doesn’t want to look at the issue of unconscious guilt, which is the real cause of suicide.' And I might add, the unconscious guilt is real cause of all the madness in the world.

Arten also says on page 176 in DU, ‘Those who commit suicide, in any manner, seek to end the intolerable psychological pain of their guilt and suffering. Since their unconscious guilt remains intact, they merely end up reincarnating and keeping the problem unresolved. Death is not a way out. True forgiveness is the way out. As the Course teaches, ‘The world is not left by death but by truth.’ ACIM T-51 (3:VII:6:11)

So yeah, some people think they can escape their problems by killing themselves but they can’t, because it’s impossible to kill yourself. The body is nothing, the mind, not to be confused with the brain, keeps right on going afterwards. It’s not until you discover the truth of what you really are, not just intellectually but in your experience, that you will be free of the world. Otherwise, you keep reincarnating over and over again, like we already have been doing for eons. Of course, no matter how many problems somebody may think they have, there really is only one problem. As the Course puts it, ‘A sense of separation from God is the only lack you need correct.’ ACIM T-14 (1:VI:2:1) Any other seeming lack, is symbolic of that first and only lack.

And there is only one solution, as the Course clearly teaches, ‘The way to God is through forgiveness here. There is no other way.’ W-422 (256:1:1-2) Of course, we're talking about forgiveness in the true sense of the word, and then once that is accomplished, then all there’s left is Heaven.

A few more quotes to close this puppy out:

DU p 107 (Arten)
When J told you to make the world meaningless to you, he was talking about giving up the value that you have given it, and accepting the Holy Spirit's meaning for it instead. For example, he says in the Text, ‘To learn this course requires willingness to question every value that you hold.’ ACIM T-499 (24:Intro:2:1)

DU p 349 & 350 (Pursah)
When you have a deep desire for anything then you must think you're a body, or separate from God in some way. What else could want something? If you're spirit, or joined with God, then you need nothing. If you remember that you're not a body then you can step back and see that what you desire is valueless. We're not talking about giving up everything physically; we're talking about the way you look at it.

DU p 342 (Arten)
When J said, 'Renounce the world and the ways of the world; make them meaningless to you,' he meant that what you are seeing doesn't exist. It's nothing because it's not really there. How can nothing mean anything? If you make it mean something, good or bad, then you're trying to change nothing into something. The only thing you should make it is meaningless.

DU p 245 (Pursah)
You have work to do along with the Holy Spirit to uncover your eyes and get your mind into the condition where you can awaken from the dream and become aware of what you really are, and where you really are. All your lifetimes have been just one big, gigantic mind trip going nowhere. To get to the point where that truth becomes your experience, it takes work.

So, I’ll wrap up this post by saying that God is a Non-Idiot – yay!

Giddy up!

God Is....and nothing else is