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ACIM Manual for Teachers - Section 8 (view source)
Revision as of 17:31, 8 November 2014
, 17:31, 8 November 2014Created page with 'Image:lighterstill.jpgright|frame <center>'''How Can Perception of Order of Difficulties Be Avoided?'''</center> The belief in order of difficultie...'
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<center>'''How Can Perception of Order of Difficulties Be Avoided?'''</center>
The belief in order of difficulties is the basis for the world's perception. It
rests on differences; on uneven background and shifting foreground, on
unequal heights and diverse sizes, on varying degrees of darkness and light,
and thousands of contrasts in which each thing seen competes with every
other in order to be recognized. A larger object overshadows a smaller one.
A brighter thing draws the attention from another with less intensity of
appeal. And a more threatening idea, or one conceived of as more desirable
by the world's standards, completely upsets the mental balance. What the
body's eyes behold is only conflict. Look not to them for peace and
understanding.
Illusions are always illusions of differences. How could it be otherwise? By
definition, an illusion is an attempt to make something real that is regarded
as of major importance, but is recognized as being untrue. The mind
therefore seeks to make it true out of its intensity of desire to have it for
itself. Illusions are travesties of creation; attempts to bring truth to lies.
Finding truth unacceptable, the mind revolts against truth and gives itself an
illusion of victory. Finding health a burden, it retreats into feverish dreams.
And in these dreams the mind is separate, different from other minds, with
different interests of its own, and able to gratify its needs at the expense of
others.
Where do all these differences come from? Certainly they seem to be in the
world outside. Yet it is surely the mind that judges what the eyes behold. It
is the mind that interprets the eyes' messages and gives them "meaning."
And this meaning does not exist in the world outside at all. What is seen as
"reality" is simply what the mind prefers. Its hierarchy of values is projected
outward, and it sends the body's eyes to find it. The body's eyes will never
see except through differences. Yet it is not the messages they bring on
which perception rests. Only the mind evaluates their messages, and so only
the mind is responsible for seeing. It alone decides whether what is seen is
real or illusory, desirable or undesirable, pleasurable or painful.
It is in the sorting out and categorizing activities of the mind that errors in
perception enter. And it is here correction must be made. The mind
classifies what the body's eyes bring to it according to its preconceived
values, judging where each sense datum fits best. What basis could be
faultier than this? Unrecognized by itself, it has itself asked to be given
what will fit into these categories. And having done so, it concludes that the
categories must be true. On this the judgment of all differences rests,
because it is on this that judgments of the world depend. Can this confused
and senseless "reasoning" be depended on for anything?
There can be no order of difficulty in healing merely because all sickness is
illusion. Is it harder to dispel the belief of the insane in a larger
hallucination as opposed to a smaller one? Will he agree more quickly to
the unreality of a louder voice he hears than to that of a softer one? Will he
dismiss more easily a whispered demand to kill than a shout? And do the
number of pitchforks the devils he sees carrying affect their credibility in
his perception? His mind has categorized them all as real, and so they are all
real to him. When he realizes they are all illusions they will disappear. And
so it is with healing. The properties of illusions which seem to make them
different are really irrelevant, for their properties are as illusory as they are.
The body's eyes will continue to see differences. But the mind that has let
itself be healed will no longer acknowledge them. There will be those who
seem to be "sicker" than others, and the body's eyes will report their
changed appearances as before. But the healed mind will put them all in one
category; they are unreal. This is the gift of its Teacher; the understanding
that only two categories are meaningful in sorting out the messages the
mind receives from what appears to be the outside world. And of these two,
but one is real. Just as reality is wholly real, apart from size and shape and
time and place--for differences cannot exist within it--so too are illusions
without distinctions. The one answer to sickness of any kind is healing. The
one answer to all illusions is truth.
[[Category:Manual for Teachers]]
<center>'''How Can Perception of Order of Difficulties Be Avoided?'''</center>
The belief in order of difficulties is the basis for the world's perception. It
rests on differences; on uneven background and shifting foreground, on
unequal heights and diverse sizes, on varying degrees of darkness and light,
and thousands of contrasts in which each thing seen competes with every
other in order to be recognized. A larger object overshadows a smaller one.
A brighter thing draws the attention from another with less intensity of
appeal. And a more threatening idea, or one conceived of as more desirable
by the world's standards, completely upsets the mental balance. What the
body's eyes behold is only conflict. Look not to them for peace and
understanding.
Illusions are always illusions of differences. How could it be otherwise? By
definition, an illusion is an attempt to make something real that is regarded
as of major importance, but is recognized as being untrue. The mind
therefore seeks to make it true out of its intensity of desire to have it for
itself. Illusions are travesties of creation; attempts to bring truth to lies.
Finding truth unacceptable, the mind revolts against truth and gives itself an
illusion of victory. Finding health a burden, it retreats into feverish dreams.
And in these dreams the mind is separate, different from other minds, with
different interests of its own, and able to gratify its needs at the expense of
others.
Where do all these differences come from? Certainly they seem to be in the
world outside. Yet it is surely the mind that judges what the eyes behold. It
is the mind that interprets the eyes' messages and gives them "meaning."
And this meaning does not exist in the world outside at all. What is seen as
"reality" is simply what the mind prefers. Its hierarchy of values is projected
outward, and it sends the body's eyes to find it. The body's eyes will never
see except through differences. Yet it is not the messages they bring on
which perception rests. Only the mind evaluates their messages, and so only
the mind is responsible for seeing. It alone decides whether what is seen is
real or illusory, desirable or undesirable, pleasurable or painful.
It is in the sorting out and categorizing activities of the mind that errors in
perception enter. And it is here correction must be made. The mind
classifies what the body's eyes bring to it according to its preconceived
values, judging where each sense datum fits best. What basis could be
faultier than this? Unrecognized by itself, it has itself asked to be given
what will fit into these categories. And having done so, it concludes that the
categories must be true. On this the judgment of all differences rests,
because it is on this that judgments of the world depend. Can this confused
and senseless "reasoning" be depended on for anything?
There can be no order of difficulty in healing merely because all sickness is
illusion. Is it harder to dispel the belief of the insane in a larger
hallucination as opposed to a smaller one? Will he agree more quickly to
the unreality of a louder voice he hears than to that of a softer one? Will he
dismiss more easily a whispered demand to kill than a shout? And do the
number of pitchforks the devils he sees carrying affect their credibility in
his perception? His mind has categorized them all as real, and so they are all
real to him. When he realizes they are all illusions they will disappear. And
so it is with healing. The properties of illusions which seem to make them
different are really irrelevant, for their properties are as illusory as they are.
The body's eyes will continue to see differences. But the mind that has let
itself be healed will no longer acknowledge them. There will be those who
seem to be "sicker" than others, and the body's eyes will report their
changed appearances as before. But the healed mind will put them all in one
category; they are unreal. This is the gift of its Teacher; the understanding
that only two categories are meaningful in sorting out the messages the
mind receives from what appears to be the outside world. And of these two,
but one is real. Just as reality is wholly real, apart from size and shape and
time and place--for differences cannot exist within it--so too are illusions
without distinctions. The one answer to sickness of any kind is healing. The
one answer to all illusions is truth.
[[Category:Manual for Teachers]]