Everything is Mind

My last blog about extending God’s Love has brought up some questions about the mind and healing the mind.

Everything is mind. In the world, it seems as though you are a body with a mind of your own. The mind is supposed to exist in the brain. All of this diminishes the importance of the mind because the ego does not want you to know that everything is mind. If you accept this then you can change your mind about the ego.

So, the world teaches that your mind is housed in a brain in a body in a world. But actually, the brain, the body and the world all exist in your mind. The separation is not just your belief that your mind is separate from God’s Mind, but also that you are separate from the world and everything the body sees. The first step in healing is accepting that God is within your mind. But that’s only a beginning to undoing the separation. You also have to take back the part of your mind that you have projected onto the world. You cannot return to the Oneness of God’s Mind without your whole mind. You cannot keep the world in part of your mind and know that your mind is One and that it is One with God. That’s what extending God’s Love is about. You replace the ego’s projections with God’s Love and return your mind to Oneness. That’s healing.

The ego, which is how A Course in Miracles refers to the part of God’s Mind that seems to have split off from God, has two parts. There’s the separated mind, which is in essence neutral because it is split between the Holy Spirit and the personal mind and it can choose with which it will identify. This is the “you” the Course is talking to most of the time because it is always emphasizing your ability to choose. But then there’s the personal mind, what you think of as “me”. This was made by the split mind to replace your Identity in God. The separated mind, then, has the choice between what it is (Holy Spirit) and what it made (personal mind).

The personal mind interprets the world in ways that validates the world’s reality and its own reality. The Holy Spirit interprets the world as a place to extend God’s Love and so to heal your mind by making the part that seems to be the world as holy as the rest of your mind.

God is Mind so the Law of Mind is God’s Law: Oneness. Even in separation your mind cannot escape this law. But it distorts it through denial and it becomes projection. So what you see in the world is in your mind but it doesn’t seem to be. You react to it as though it were something separate and you are all alone in a limited body, under constant attack from the world and other minds. You are lonely and frightened. But extend God’s Love in place of your projections and you are no longer alone but All-One, encompassed by and encompassing God’s Love. There is nothing to fear in God because there is no lack. Your mind is not split into two realities; only God is Reality.

The Course trains your mind to overlook the personal mind’s projections on the world and to look on God’s Love instead. This takes conscious effort, discipline and consistency if you want to consistently have peace. How much you want peace determines how much you are willing to extend God’s Love in place of your projections. Practicing extending God’s Love is how you bump up against your resistance to God’s Love. You must uncover the beliefs you hold that are your obstacles to God so you can undo them. As you undo each erroneous belief it becomes easier to extend God’s Love to the part of your mind that seems to be the world. When your whole mind has been returned to God’s Love you are wholly ready to return to God.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Liz, if our mind is the mind of God. What do you do with neurological changes in the brain, ie a tumor causing the brain to believe in a man that doesnt exist on this physical plane, or the brain now is more impulsive because of a chemical change, is this still all of "the mind of God"?
12:12 PM
ACIM Mentor said…
Your mind does not come from the brain. The body (which includes the brain) exists in the mind. But when you believe that you are a body/ego you will give to the body the attributes of the mind, meaning you project the source of illness on to the body rather than recognizing it is a choice of the mind. This is true for any form of illness or disorder, neurological or otherwise.

Ultimately, the source of all illness is the belief that separation from God is real, which results in your identification with a body. Until your identity shifts to the Holy Spirit you will be subject to illnesses and disorders.
12:40 PM
acim student said…
if everything is a result of my mind projections into my "dream" world, what of all the other "bodies" i interact with moment to moment? are they separate minds projecting their own dream or are they figments of my own dream?
7:52 AM
ACIM Mentor said…
As it says in ACIM, you make an ego not just for yourself but for everyone you see.
The universe of form is a projection from one split mind, what ACIM calls the "son of God". Included in this projection are what seems like billions of individual minds made in its image (split between God and ego). The universe of form (including bodies and personalities)has no meaning in itself but each split mind projects meaning onto it.
So others are both projecting their own thoughts onto you and the world and you are projecting onto them and the world.
8:59 AM
acim student said…
how to explain common items in the world? you see that blue car and i see that same blue car?
9:52 AM
ACIM Mentor said…
Because we are all in one projection, or dream if you like. So we both see the blue car but we each have a different experience of it based on the meaning we project onto it from our personal (separate) stories. For example, it's particular shade of blue may be my favorite so I feel good when I look at it. But someone you don't like drives that model of car so you don't feel good when you look at it.
That's why you are never bothered by what is appearing. You are bothered by your own thoughts (projections) about what is appearing.
9:59 AM
acim student said…
if there is no out there out there, i'm having a hard time grokking where all the other people are coming from. they do not exist?
1:48 PM
ACIM Mentor said…
For you right now you exist as a mind in a body in a world with others minds in bodies. This is where ACIM meets you. Do the lessons in the Workbook and invite the Holy Spirit into your awareness. Use your relationships with others to learn to come from the Holy Spirit in you. Over time you will have experiences that shift your awareness.
2:31 PM
Anonymous said…
Don't take it so damned personal lol :-)
7:02 AM
Holy One said…
Most of us spend our life in effort, in struggle; and the effort, the struggle, the striving, is a dissipation of that energy.

Man, throughout the historical period of man, has said that to find that reality or God- whatever name he may give to it- you must be celibate; that is, you take a vow of chastity and suppress, control, battle with yourself endlessly all your life, to keep your vow.

Look at the waste of energy! It is also a waste of energy to indulge. And it has far more significance when you suppress. The effort that has gone into suppression, into control, into this denial of your desire distorts your mind, and through that distortion you have a certain sense of austerity which becomes harsh.

Please listen. Observe it in yourself and observe the people around you. And observe this waste of energy, the battle. Not the implications of sex, not the actual act, but the ideals, the images, the pleasure;the constant thought about them is a waste of energy.

Most people waste their energy either through denial, or through a vow of chastity, or in thinking about it endless
10:11 AM
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