A
Course in Miracles
Chapter 12 - Problem With Guilt The Two Emotions We have said that you have but two emotions, love and fear.
The
other has many forms, for the content of individual illusions
differs greatly. Yet they have one thing in common; they
are all insane. They
are made of sights which are not seen and sounds which
are not heard. They
make up a private world which cannot be shared. For they
are meaningful only to their maker, and so they have no
meaning at all. In this world their maker moves alone,
for only he perceives them.
Each one peoples his world with figures from his individual past, and it is because of this that private worlds do differ. Yet the figures that he sees were never real, for they are made up only of his reactions to his brothers, and do not include their reactions to him. Therefore he does not see that he made them, and that they are not whole. For these figures have no witnesses, being perceived in one separate mind only. It is through these strange and shadowy figures that the insane relate to their insane world. For they see only those who remind them of these images, and it is to them that they relate. Thus do they communicate with those who are not there, and it is they who answer them. And no one hears their answer save him who called upon them, and he alone believes they answered him. Projection Makes Perception Projection makes perception and you cannot see beyond it. Again and again have men attacked each other because they saw in them a shadow figure in their own private world. And thus it is that you must attack yourself first, for what you attack is not in others. Its only reality is in your own mind, and by attacking others you are literally attacking what is not there. The delusional can be very destructive, for they do not recognize that they have condemned themselves. They do not wish to die, yet they will not let condemnation go. And so they separate into their private worlds, where everything is disordered, and where what is within appears to be without. Yet what is within they do not see, for the reality of their brothers they cannot see. You have but two emotions, yet in your private world you react to each of them as though it were the other. For love cannot abide in a world apart, where when it comes it is not recognized. If you see your own hatred as your brother, you are not seeing him. Everyone draws nigh unto what he loves, and recoils from what he fears. And you react with fear to love, and draw away from it. Yet fear attracts you, and believing it is love, you call it to yourself. Your private world is filled with the figures of fear you have invited into it, and all the love your brothers offer you you do not see. As you look with open eyes upon your world, it must occur to you that you have withdrawn into insanity. You see what is not there, and you hear what is soundless. Your
behavioral manifestations of motions are the opposite
of what the emotions are. You communicate with no one,
and you are as isolated from reality as if you were alone
in all the universe. In your madness you overlook reality
completely, and you see only your own split mind everywhere
you look. od calls you and you do not hear, for you are
preoccupied with your own voice. And the vision of Christ
is not in your sight, for you look upon yourself alone.
Little children, would you offer this to your Father? For if you offer it to yourself you are offering it to Him. And He will not return it, for it is unworthy of you because it is unworthy of Him. Yet He would release you from it and set you free. His sane answer tells you that what you have offered yourself is not true, but His offering to you has never changed. You who know not what you do can learn what insanity is, and look beyond it. It is given you to learn how to deny insanity, and come forth from your private world in peace. You will see all that you denied in your brothers because you denied it in yourself. For you will love them, and by drawing nigh unto them, you will draw them to yourself, perceiving them as witnesses to your reality which you share with God. I am with them as I am with you, and we will draw them from their private worlds, for as we are united so would we unite with them. The Father welcomes all of us in gladness, and gladness is what we should offer Him. For every Son of God is given you to whom God gave himself. And it is God Whom you must offer them, to recognize His gift to you. Vision depends on light, and you cannot see in darkness. Yet in the darkness, in the private world of sleep, you srr in dreams although your eyes are closed. And it is here that what you see you made. But let the darkness go and all you made you will no longer see, for sight of it depends upon denying vision. Yet from denying vision it does not follow that you cannot see But this is what denial does...
Yet
for this light must be excluded. Dreams
disappear when light has come and you can see. |