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[[Image:lighterstill.jpg]][[File:Acim_small.jpg|right|frame]] No one can [[escape]] from [[illusions]] unless he looks at them, for not looking is the way they are [[protected]]. There is no need to shrink from illusions, for they cannot be [[dangerous]]. We are ready to look more closely at the [[ego]]'s thought system because together we have the lamp that will dispel it, and since you realize you do not want it, you must be ready. The "[[dynamics]]" of the ego will be our lesson for a while, for we must look first at this to see beyond it, since you have made it real. We will undo this [[error]] [[quietly]] together, and then look beyond it to [[truth]]. What is [[healing]] but the removal of all that stands in the way of [[knowledge]]? And how else can one dispel [[illusions]] except by looking at them directly, without [[protecting]] them? Be not [[afraid]], therefore, for what you will be looking at is the source of [[fear]], and you are beginning to learn that fear is not real. You are also learning that its [[effects]] can be dispelled merely by denying their [[reality]]. The next [[step]] is obviously to recognize that what has no effects does not exist. [[Laws]] do not operate in a [[vacuum]], and what leads to nothing has not happened. If reality is recognized by its [[extension]], what leads to nothing could not be real. Do not be [[afraid]], then, to look upon [[fear]], for it cannot be seen. [[Clarity]] undoes [[confusion]] by [[definition]], and to look upon [[darkness]] through [[light]] must dispel it. Let us begin this lesson in "ego dynamics" by [[understanding]] that the term itself does not mean anything. It contains the very [[contradiction]] in terms that makes it meaningless. "[[Dynamics]]" implies the [[power]] to do something, and the whole [[separation]] [[fallacy]] lies in the [[belief]] that the ego has the power to do anything. The ego is fearful to you because you [[believe]] this. Yet the [[truth]] is very [[simple]]: :''All [[power]] is of [[God]].'' :''What is not of him has no power to do anything.'' When we look at the [[ego]], then, we are not considering dynamics but [[delusions]]. You can surely regard a delusional system without [[fear]], for it cannot have any effects if its source is not real. [[Fear]] becomes more obviously inappropriate if you recognize the ego's [[goal]], which is so clearly senseless that any [[effort]] on its behalf is necessarily expended on nothing. The ego's goal is quite explicitly ego [[autonomy]]. From the beginning, then, its [[purpose]] is to be [[separate]], sufficient unto itself and independent of any [[power]] except its own. This is why it is the [[symbol]] of separation. Every [[idea]] has a [[purpose]], and its purpose is always the natural outcome of what it is. [[Everything]] that stems from the ego is the natural outcome of its central [[belief]], and the way to undo its results is merely to recognize that their source is not [[natural]], being out of accord with your true nature. I said before that to will contrary to [[God]] is [[wishful thinking]] and not real willing. [[Will of God|His wiill]] is one because the [[extension]] of his will cannot be unlike itself. The real [[conflict]] you [[experience]], then, is between the ego's idle [[wishes]] and the Will of God, which you [[share]]. Can this be a real conflict? Yours is the independence of [[creation]], not of [[autonomy]]. Your whole creative [[function]] lies in your complete [[dependence]] on [[God]], Whose function he shares with you. By his willingness to share it, he became as dependent on you as you are on him. Do not ascribe the [[ego]]'s [[arrogance]] to him who wills not to be [[independent]] of you. He has included you in his autonomy. Can you believe that autonomy is meaningful apart from him? The [[belief]] in [[ego]] autonomy is costing you the [[knowledge]] of your dependence on God, in which your [[freedom]] lies. The ego sees all dependency as threatening, and has twisted even your longing for God into a means of establishing itself. But do not be [[deceived]] by its [[interpretation]] of your [[conflict]]. The [[ego]] always [[attacks]] on behalf of [[separation]]. Believing it has the [[power]] to do this it does nothing else, because its goal of [[autonomy]] is nothing else. The ego is totally [[confused]] about [[reality]], but it does not lose [[sight]] of its goal. It is much more [[vigilant]] than you are, because it is perfectly [[certain]] of its [[purpose]]. You are confused because you do not recognize yours. You must recognize that the last thing the [[ego]] wishes you to realize is that you are [[afraid]] of it. For if the ego could give rise to fear, it would diminish your [[independence]] and weaken your [[power]]. Yet its one claim to your [[allegiance]] is that it can give power to you. Without this belief you would not [[listen]] to it at all. How, then, can its [[existence]] continue if you realize that, by [[accepting]] it, you are belittling yourself and depriving yourself of power? The ego can and does allow you to regard yourself as supercilious, unbelieving, "lighthearted," distant, emotionally shallow, callous, uninvolved and even [[desperate]], but not really [[afraid]]. Minimizing fear, but not its undoing, is the [[ego]]'s constant [[effort]], and is indeed a [[skill]] at which it is very ingenious. How can it [[preach]] [[separation]] without upholding it through fear, and would you [[listen]] to it if you recognized this is what it is doing? Your [[recognition]] that whatever seems to [[separate]] you from [[God]] is only [[fear]], regardless of the [[form]] it takes and quite apart from how the ego wants you to [[experience]] it, is therefore the basic ego threat. Its [[dream]] of [[autonomy]] is shaken to its [[foundation]] by this awareness. For though you may [[countenance]] a false idea of independence, you will not [[accept]] the [[cost]] of fear if you recognize it. Yet this is the cost, and the ego cannot minimize it. If you overlook [[love]] you are overlooking yourself, and you must fear unreality because you have denied yourself. By believing that you have successfully [[attacked]] [[truth]], you are believing that attack has [[power]]. Very simply, then, you have become afraid of yourself. And no one wants to find what he believes would destroy him. If the [[ego]]'s [[goal]] of [[autonomy]] could be accomplished [[God]]'s [[purpose]] could be [[defeated]], and this is impossible. Only by [[learning]] what fear is can you finally learn to distinguish the possible from the impossible and the [[false]] from the true. According to the ego's teaching, its goal can be accomplished and God's purpose can not. According to the [[Holy Spirit]]'s teaching, only God's purpose can be accomplished, and it is accomplished already. [[God]] is as dependent on you as you are on him, because his [[autonomy]] [[encompasses]] yours, and is therefore incomplete without it. You can only establish your autonomy by identifying with Him, and fulfilling your [[function]] as it exists in [[truth]]. The ego believes that to accomplish its goal is [[happiness]]. But it is given you to know that God's function is yours, and happiness cannot be found apart from Your joint Will. [[Recognize]] only that the [[ego]]'s goal, which you have pursued so [[diligently]], has merely brought you fear, and it becomes difficult to maintain that fear is happiness. Upheld by [[fear]], this is what the ego would have you believe. Yet God's Son is not [[insane]], and cannot [[believe]] it. Let him but recognize it and he will not [[accept]] it. For only the insane would choose fear in place of [[love]], and only the insane could believe that love can be gained by [[attack]]. But the sane realize that only attack could produce fear, from which the [[Love of God]] completely [[protects]] them. The ego [[analyzes]]; the Holy Spirit [[accepts]]. The [[appreciation]] of [[wholeness]] comes only through [[acceptance]], for to analyze means to break down or to [[separate]] out. The attempt to [[understand]] [[totality]] by breaking it down is clearly the characteristically [[contradictory]] approach of the ego to [[everything]]. The ego believes that [[power]], understanding and truth lie in [[separation]], and to establish this belief it must attack. Unaware that the belief cannot be established, and [[obsessed]] with the [[conviction]] that separation is [[salvation]], the ego attacks everything it [[perceives]] by breaking it into small, disconnected [[parts]], without meaningful [[relationships]] and therefore without [[meaning]]. The ego will always substitute [[chaos]] for meaning, for if separation is [[salvation]], [[harmony]] is threat. The [[ego]]'s [[interpretations]] of the laws of [[perception]] are, and would have to be, the exact opposite of the [[Holy Spirit]]'s. The ego [[focuses]] on error and overlooks [[truth]]. It makes real every mistake it [[perceives]], and with characteristically circular reasoning [[concludes]] that because of the mistake [[consistent]] truth must be meaningless. The next [[step]], then, is obvious. If consistent truth is meaningless, inconsistency must be true. Holding [[error]] clearly in [[mind]], and protecting what it has made real, the ego proceeds to the next step in its [[thought]] system: Error is real and truth is error. The [[ego]] makes no attempt to [[understand]] this, and it is clearly not understandable, but the ego does make every attempt to [[demonstrate]] it, and this it does constantly. [[Analyzing]] to attack [[meaning]], the ego succeeds in overlooking it and is left with a series of [[fragmented]] [[perceptions]] which it unifies on behalf of itself. This, then, [[becomes]] the [[universe]] it perceives. And it is this universe which, in turn, becomes its [[demonstration]] of its own reality. Do not underestimate the [[appeal]] of the [[ego]]'s demonstrations to those who would [[listen]]. Selective perception chooses its witnesses carefully, and its witnesses are [[consistent]]. The case for [[insanity]] is strong to the insane. For reasoning ends at its beginning, and no thought system [[transcends]] its source. Yet reasoning without meaning cannot demonstrate anything, and those who are convinced by it must be [[deluded]]. Can the [[ego]] teach truly when it overlooks truth? Can it perceive what it has denied? The ego looks straight at [[the Father]] and does not see him, for it has denied his Son. Would you [[remember]] [[the Father]]? Accept his Son and you will remember him. Nothing can [[demonstrate]] that his Son is unworthy, for nothing can [[prove]] that a [[lie]] is true. What you see of his Son through the eyes of the [[ego]] is a demonstration that his Son does not exist, yet where the Son is the Father must be. Accept what [[God]] does not deny, and it will demonstrate its truth. The witnesses for God stand in his [[light]] and behold what he created. Their [[silence]] is the sign that they have beheld God's Son, and in the [[Presence]] of [[Christ]] they need demonstrate nothing, for Christ speaks to them of himself and of his Father. They are silent because Christ speaks to them, and it is his [[words]] they speak. Every brother you meet becomes a [[witness]] for [[Christ]] or for the [[ego]], depending on what you [[perceive]] in him. Everyone convinces you of what you want to [[perceive]], and of the [[reality]] of [[Tk|the kingdom]] you have chosen for your [[vigilance]]. [[Everything]] you perceive is a witness to the thought system you want to be true. Every brother has the [[power]] to release you, if you choose to be free. You cannot [[accept]] false witness of him unless you have evoked [[false]] witnesses against him. If he speaks not of Christ to you, you spoke not of Christ to him. You hear but your own [[voice]], and if Christ speaks through you, you will hear him. [[Category: Chapter 11 - God or the Ego]] [[Category: Ego]] [[Category: Autonomy]]

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