"Separated from God"
A Course in Miracles
says that your one problem is that you feel “separated from God” and that you
feel guilty for this. But it’s fairly common for students to tell me that they
have a hard time getting their minds around this concept. They don’t go around
thinking “I’ve separated from God and I’m bad for this” and they even believe
in God. The concept is too abstract for them to grasp.
The belief in separation from God is largely unconscious and
it is the source of all guilt. It is actually the consciousness into which you
think that you are born into in your identification with a self. The concept is
there at the core of the ego (personal thought system) in your mind. It is the
idea that “proves” that the ego is real and that also protects the ego by
keeping you from looking inward. You are not meant to see it consciously
because then you’d be motivated to undo it and therefore undo the ego. Because
the belief in guilt is the consciousness of the world, the world reinforces
guilt, overtly and covertly. Rather than question this experience of inherent guilt
the world’s (ego’s) religions try to explain it with concepts like “original
sin”. They reinforce guilt as valid and true. (All of this I go into in depth
in my book “Releasing Guilt for Inner Peace”).
So, practically, what is really meant by feeling “separated
from God” and how does this lead to guilt? Since God is your True Being then to
think that you are “separated from God” means that you are not aware of your
True Being. You are not in your natural state. Perhaps it is easier to
understand that you are unhappy and conflicted and just uncomfortable in
general because you are not in your natural state rather than “separate” from
some abstract concept of a god.
If you think of “separated from God” as “not in my natural
state” then where does guilt come into it? Since you are not in your natural
state you feel that something is “off” or “wrong”. And, to preserve itself, the
ego (personal thought system) tells you that this feeling is because you are
inherently “wrong”; you have done something “wrong”. And if you did something
wrong there must be something against which you did something wrong. In your
unnatural state of identification with the ego your True Being seems outside of
you. The ego tells you this Being outside of you – this “god” – is that against
which you did something wrong. In your identification with the ego you fear
your True Being as though It is something else: a god outside of you with power
over you and which sits in judgment on you. No wonder you do not want to
approach your True Being!
So guilt is the ego’s distortion of your discomfort when you
identify with the ego. And the ego makes a god out of your Reality but telling
you that It is outside of you and sits in judgment on you. This distortion is
to protect the ego from your looking inward into your mind and looking past the
ego. It tells you that if you look inward at all you are not to look too far or
you will find out how truly “wrong” you are. But, of course, if you do look
inward, after you get past your belief in guilt, you realize that you are
uncomfortable not because you are guilty but just because you are not in your
natural state. And that’s easy to remedy by welcoming your True Being back into
your awareness. This is the “one solution” to your one problem. This is the “Atonement”
or correction of your perception that you are separate from God, which A Course in Miracles teaches.
>>>>>
Learn about the books The ACIM Mentor Articles, The Plain Language A Course in Miracles, 4 Habits for Inner Peace, and Releasing Guilt for Inner Peace at www.acimmentor.com.
Comments
i read this passage pearler from PLACIM,first paragraph in chapter 16 'the forgiveness of illusions'
'from the holy spirits perspective, to empathise does not mean to join in suffering, because suffering is is what you must refuse to understand. empathising to share pain is the personal minds interpretation of empathy, and it always uses it to form a special relationship. but the capacity to empathise is very useful when used in the holy spirits way. the holy spirit does not understand suffering, and it wants you to teach yourself that suffering is not understandable. when the holy spirit relates to another through you, it does not relate from personal mind to personal mind. the holy spirit does not join in pain, because healing pain is not accomplished by entering into a delusion and attempting to lighten it by sharing it.'
in one of your earlier blogs 'correct use of denial' i read the line today 'But she clearly demonstrated that she did believe error could hurt her.' as a way of recognising that identification is with the ego. it was if id read that phrase for the first time! so i wont heal this rejection stuff by changing my behaviour in the world, by being my idea of a better person, cos that is actually strengthening my identification with ego?
also, ive been practising lesson 80 for weeks now, so thank you for this awesome timing ;) its wonderful how holy spirit can error to strengthen trust in love. hmm. ive started feeling guilty and unworthy of divine timing. the words 'like ive stolen something' just popped into my head.
You will feel guilt in the ego no matter how "good" you are as a person. When you are in ego you never feel that you measure up. So, yes, you just reinforce the ego by trying to be a good person to appease guilt.
i feel HS telling me that no effort is required to be what I Naturally Am. and yet it seems to be my experience that much effort is being required to not be be what i am not.
i am honing the part of this remembering that calls for vigilance and inner attention, but accepting the Love that is given continues to challenge. this seems to be where my discomfort lies. is it the identifying with the unnatural state that i need to forgive and turn over to my Inner Teacher for undoing and healing?
i will study your sharing here more and forgive. thank you ever for deepening my commitment.
Liz, for me "original sin" is synonymous with separation from God - that's how i've redefined the term to make sense to me. Would you agree?
George - I believe that everything in Creation is a manifestation of the incorporeal Infinite and so when we can look at our flesh as pure energy (which we are!) as opposed to something "other" which we call physical, then we see our True Nature as part of that incorporeal infinite as opposed to something separate from it. So in this context "In my flesh I see God" makes perfect sense. (: ...My humble opinion... :)
Liz would say that "only Truth is True"...Maybe what Job was intimating was that even if we are or seem to be separated - in body, having an experience of the world - we still are Not separate from God, Our Source...though oh boy, it really seems that way!
I'm not sure what Job meant by "God". Historically, and presently actually, most people mean by "God" the maker of the universe of form (what ACIM calls the "Son of God") not Formless Being. So for him God and form could perhaps blend. He says "shall", as in the future, so perhaps it was his expectation that God would appear to him in form.
"I'm not sure what Job meant by "God". Historically, and presently actually, most people mean by "God" the maker of the universe of form (what ACIM calls the "Son of God") not Formless Being."
I think I might know what you're saying.
Many people over life times, have written and spoken of 'God' as the maker of the Universe of form (our world and everything and everyone in it)
Did you add, parenthetically,... '(what ACIM calls the 'Son of God)' to mean that God made Jesus in the world of form but that He was actually, as we all are, formless Being?
There is no relationship at all between God and the universe of form. Understanding this is understanding the true forgiveness that ACIM talks about.