Only Mind is Real
Almost every new student of A Course in Miracles has moments of disorientation trying to believe that the physical world isn’t real because in separation from God the physical is what is real and mind is nothing. This is what the Course calls “upside-down thinking” because it is the exact opposite of what is true. The physical world seems solid and unshakable, but to what? A mind that identifies with a physical body and that underrates its own power.
It’s hard to believe that the physical world is not real when the body is real to you and what you can see, touch, taste, hear and smell is how you measure reality in your identification with a body. Do you see how circular the reasoning is here? The physical tells you that what you can measure physically is real. Is this any surprise?
But of course, it’s not the body that tells you what is real. It’s the mind that chooses to use the body to tell it that the physical world is reality. The mind is what is real. The physical is nothing. It has no meaning of its own. It cannot tell you anything. You project meaning onto it and then “interpret” what you see as though you were not the one to put the meaning there in the first place!
You’ve certainly had moments of being “lost in thought” where the world faded for you and you were in a place of ideas. You may have been thinking about the world, but not what was right in front of you. It’s very natural and effortless to be in your thoughts because you are Mind. Then you snap out of it and come back to the physical world, to “reality”, which is familiar, but not Reality at all and requires a lot of effort.
Reality is and does not have to be established. Reality is God. What we do in the world is go around proving to ourselves over and over again that the world is real. From the point of view of ego, that is the underlying purpose of everything we do. The Holy Spirit sees the purpose of the world as being the overlooking (forgiving) of all the ego’s doing:
“God is. I need do nothing.”
It’s hard to believe that the physical world is not real when the body is real to you and what you can see, touch, taste, hear and smell is how you measure reality in your identification with a body. Do you see how circular the reasoning is here? The physical tells you that what you can measure physically is real. Is this any surprise?
But of course, it’s not the body that tells you what is real. It’s the mind that chooses to use the body to tell it that the physical world is reality. The mind is what is real. The physical is nothing. It has no meaning of its own. It cannot tell you anything. You project meaning onto it and then “interpret” what you see as though you were not the one to put the meaning there in the first place!
You’ve certainly had moments of being “lost in thought” where the world faded for you and you were in a place of ideas. You may have been thinking about the world, but not what was right in front of you. It’s very natural and effortless to be in your thoughts because you are Mind. Then you snap out of it and come back to the physical world, to “reality”, which is familiar, but not Reality at all and requires a lot of effort.
Reality is and does not have to be established. Reality is God. What we do in the world is go around proving to ourselves over and over again that the world is real. From the point of view of ego, that is the underlying purpose of everything we do. The Holy Spirit sees the purpose of the world as being the overlooking (forgiving) of all the ego’s doing:
“God is. I need do nothing.”
Comments
You do not have to do anything with a person who has a brain tumor except to extend God's Love in place of this projection of ego. Only God is Real. What the body's eyes and the ego report to you is the illusion. A miracle is an extension of God's Love in place of what is appearing as discord or disease. It is a way of reminding you of the Truth - that only God is Real.