Reading the Course in Context
We’ve all seen examples of a quote taken out of context, whether its from a politician or a religious teaching. This is when something someone has said or written is excerpted without regard for what the speaker or writer intended it to mean. A classic example of this is the quote “The truth shall set you free” from the Bible. Did you know this quote is used by the FBI? Certainly, “truth” here does not mean the facts of a criminal investigation! And religious extremists are well known for picking quotes out of their religious teachings in order to justify their cause.
There are a couple of ways this can be done with the Course. One is to take it out of its immediate context – out of its place in a paragraph. For example:
Into eternity, where all is one, there crept a tiny, mad idea, at which the Son of God remembered not to laugh. (T-27.VIII.6)
You can read “remembered not to laugh” as forgot to laugh; or as remembered to not laugh -- as though He was not supposed to laugh. If it’s the latter, it’s a distortion of what is meant because the next line clears it up:
In his forgetting did the thought become a serious idea…(T-27.VIII.6)
But another, more common, way of taking the ideas in the Course out of context is to take the ideas out of the context of the entire message of the Course. This, of course, is very common among new students. Still filled with guilt and fear they read a passage from the Course and panic:
Sin is the only thing in all the world that cannot change. (T-25.VII.1)
To a new student, this could read as though sin were real. But to a more experienced student “sin” here is understood to mean “the idea of sin” because they know the entire message of the Course is that sin is not real.
The way to know if you are reading the Course in context is to ask yourself if what you just read is reminding you that you are One with God.
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To receive this blog in your email contact me at Liz@acimmentor.com
There are a couple of ways this can be done with the Course. One is to take it out of its immediate context – out of its place in a paragraph. For example:
Into eternity, where all is one, there crept a tiny, mad idea, at which the Son of God remembered not to laugh. (T-27.VIII.6)
You can read “remembered not to laugh” as forgot to laugh; or as remembered to not laugh -- as though He was not supposed to laugh. If it’s the latter, it’s a distortion of what is meant because the next line clears it up:
In his forgetting did the thought become a serious idea…(T-27.VIII.6)
But another, more common, way of taking the ideas in the Course out of context is to take the ideas out of the context of the entire message of the Course. This, of course, is very common among new students. Still filled with guilt and fear they read a passage from the Course and panic:
Sin is the only thing in all the world that cannot change. (T-25.VII.1)
To a new student, this could read as though sin were real. But to a more experienced student “sin” here is understood to mean “the idea of sin” because they know the entire message of the Course is that sin is not real.
The way to know if you are reading the Course in context is to ask yourself if what you just read is reminding you that you are One with God.
www.acimmentor.com
To receive this blog in your email contact me at Liz@acimmentor.com
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