It's Not Personal, Really

You are not an ego, a personal self; you are One with God. When in A Course in Miracles it says that you chose to be separate from God and you feel guilty for this and you fear God will punish you it does not mean that you personally made this choice. When the Course says that you are responsible for making the world it does not mean that you personally made the world. It means you the mind-that-has-decided-to-split from God made this choice and that all of the egos that seem to have been made by these choices are born into guilt and fear. If you identify with a personal self you will feel guilty and fear God. You can only escape guilt and fear by putting aside the ego in all its forms. All that is left then is God.

In sorting out Truth from illusion you have to realize that the personal self is the illusion. The questions students ask: “What happens when I die?” “Is reincarnation real?” “Did I plan this life?” All of these are questions about the personal self and are not really questions but the ego’s way of validating itself. You cannot die because you are not a personal self. When the personal self ceases to exist nothing happens because it is nothing to begin with. God is not changed and you are One with God. There is no individual soul or spirit to go on. Only God is Continuous and God is unchanged by what happens in the illusion of the world. What you do choose is how you are going to perceive the world: As a block to your awareness of God or as a means to remember God.

Let’s use the sun as a metaphor for God. When clouds roll in front of the sun it is blocked on earth but the sun is unchanged. And so it is in your mind. God is shining forever; the ego you see – whether it is the one you identify with or ones you see “out there” it is all just ego – are like the clouds that pass in front of the sun. And all of them will pass. What is Eternal in you is God. What was there before the idea of the ego and what will be there after the idea of the ego is God.

Pursuing personal happiness, satisfaction, recognition, etc. is to perpetuate separation from God. You are not an ego, you are One with God, and holding on to the ego as your reality is the source of all of your unhappiness. It can seem very, very hard to overcome your attachment to individuality but this is the whole path to Peace and Joy! Students will read the paragraph above this one and say: “If God is there after my ego is dead then why should I bother letting go of the ego in the world?” Because the world is an idea in your mind, not a place where you exist as an individual. It is not released because one form of ego has passed; it is released when you no longer want separation from God. You are not an ego; you are the mind that believes in separation and a world and egos. All of this is happening in your mind – not your individual mind, but your mind that is part of God and that has decided to believe it is something else. There is only your mind, everywhere. Practice the Holy Instant and allow yourself to be lifted out of the personal, the individual. Only then will you understand that you are not limited to a little, personal self and you will begin to overcome it.