It's An Internal World

Peace is not a material object or a thought or way of being or form of any kind, but an internal experience – a feeling. What you are seeking is within you. So are all the experiences of perceived separation from God: Irritation, anger, depression, fear, emptiness, loneliness – all of these are internal experiences.

It is always an interpretation that gives rise to negative emotions, regardless of their seeming justification by what appears as facts. (M-17.4)

The ego tells you that the external world causes your feelings. You are angry, depressed, fearful, lonely, etc. because the world is a crappy place or because someone has treated you in a bad way. But what really happens is you decide to feel separated from God and then you look outward and interpret the world in such a way as to justify your feelings of separation. You can just as easily decide to feel peace and look outward and interpret the world in such a way as to justify your feelings of Oneness.

Perception follows judgment. Having judged, we therefore see what we would look upon. For sight can merely serve to offer us what we would have. (W-312.1)

As you choose to awaken the world does not change but your internal experience of it does. It changes because your goal has changed – you’ve chosen to experience peace and you interpret the world according to your new goal.

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View the archive for this blog by topic at www.acimmentor.com.Now available at www.acimmentor.com: Understanding A Course in Miracles: A Quick Reference for Students.

Comments

hannah said…
oh! so you stop asking the ego what you are, and ask the holy spirit. and you can know who youre actually asking (deciding, choosing!!) because of how you feel, right?

i woke tonight seeing these arrow symbols < ^ > and a flow chart of choice, from many choices, to three, to two, to one, to none. (none being peace now already chosen/accepted/sorted out etc.)

recently ive been having moments of waking to feeling uncomfortable, empty and seeking, and just dropping into not trying to change, being completely with the discomfort and not feeling i need do anything with 'it', and then the fears/guilt/loneliness 'shifting' into relaxation and joy.

i keep becoming aware of a swirling knot of tension in my stomach, realising im in extreme resistance and that that swirling has always been there but.. blocked, ignored, normalised, 'real-ised' and im seeing the tension is the story of the choice, of time. of choice from doing to undoing, to acceptance/no-needful/real-doing.

so your new goal, is no goal!? im already experiencing a lessening of the fear of grief, thanks liz. Everything, Truth, CAN be trusted, is love. nothing can not affect everything.
11:53 AM
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