Greetings to you this day. I am Yeshua. I have come this day, as always, to speak with you about A Course in Miracles. Always it is to speak with you about what you are. Always it is to speak with you about your freedom. Always it is to speak with you about your release from this world of illusion, which you seem trapped into believing that it is real. It is not. That I have told you again and again and again.
I would speak with you this day of many things, of your thoughts, and perception, of your freedom, of choice, of the creation of this world, of the split mind, of the power of your mind, of many things.
So often you are wont to ask, how could this world of illusion arise? In a world in which all is One, in which there is only knowledge and certainty, in which there is perfect peace, how could all of this–illusion, sadness, misery, fear and death–how could that enter the mind of a perfect creative being, the Son of God?
Creation is thoughts, thoughts which come from mind. And Creation, which is really simply love, is the experience, the expression of creative ability in literally an infinite number of ways. You are absolutely unlimited in what you can experience. And so it simply is that out of the infinity, literally the infinite number of thoughts which can arise within the mind of the Son of God, there, for an instant, and truly only an instant, there arose the thought about the reversal of Cause and Effect, the thought about whether Creation could flow in two directions instead of one.
I have told you, in order for Creation to be, it must extend. God is the Cause. We, the Son of God, are the Effect. We are One in every respect except that the Effect cannot reverse itself and become the Cause–which is to say you, the Son of God, cannot create God, who is your Creator, who is the Cause.
There arose a thought for one instant, which was then dismissed in the same instant–what if Cause and Effect could be reversed? What if the Son of God could create God? This would reverse the flow of Creation, and this is what is the cause of separation. You could say that the separation is nothing more than the belief that Cause and Effect, the extended outward flow of Creation–that those could be reversed, which they cannot. And the separation is impossible. And so it is, for a moment the Son of God thought within his mind of what it might be like if Cause and Effect were reversed.
This world is an expression of the creative power of Spirit. While your mind was, for that instant, contemplating the thought that the Cause could become the Effect, and the Effect could become the Cause, you created a world. And in that world, compatible with the thought you were entertaining, the design followed. And thus it seems within this world which you have created, within this world in which Creation MUST flow outward, for it can only do so in reality–in this world you have created, you have believed that the effect, which is this world, could become the cause. And so it seems, illusion though it be, that this world, that your body, that space and time is the creator of what you are. It seems truly that the effect has become the cause. That is because Creation is consistent. Based on the belief that Cause and Effect could be reversed, that belief must hold in this world as well.
The belief that the Effect could be the Cause is not consistent with truth. You cannot change what is true. This I have told you many times. God is the Creator. God is the Cause. We are the Son. We are the Effect. And we cannot change that. Within the mind of the Son of God remains that truth always.
In the instant in which an idea opposite to that truth arose, there was a conflict within the mind of the Son of God, which could not be tolerated. For in reality there is no conflict. And so in that same instant, the Son of God chose, for the purpose of entertaining the tiny mad idea which I have mentioned–in that instant the Son of God chose to split his mind.
This was not done at random. This world, as I have said, is a carefully contrived plan. No stone is left unturned. No detail is left unattended to. This world, designed by you from within your mind, wherein all Cause lies–this world designed by you represents exactly what you have chosen it to be.
And so in that same instant there arose the circumstance of conflict within the mind of the Son of God, which was intolerable. And yet there was the desire to experience the notion that Cause and Effect could be reversed. And so the unreality, that aspect of the mind became projected out of the mind. And it was split. All of this was done in an instant. But all of it was done after this whole world was carefully contrived, carefully designed, to the last detail.
From within the mind of the Son of God, which is pure, which is untouched, all of it came and went in less than an instant. A brief chuckle, and it was gone. From within that same mind there arose the ability to split off part of that mind, simply for the purpose of experience. That is all.
Within this world, mind is the creator. Everything comes from mind. I have spoken of level confusion and told you that the body has no power to act on its own. Likewise, your brain has no power to act on its own. Your brain is of your body. And truly, no creative thoughts come from your brain. Everything comes from one source, and that is mind. It cannot be otherwise.
I have told you as well, the script is written. Indeed, it is. The time will come. And yet, within the mind of the Son of God, it has already been chosen, just as I have told you. This world is a mental review of something long gone by in the instant which I mentioned a few moments ago.
How did it work? I have told you that consciousness, the level of perception, was the first split introduced into the mind after the separation. Consciousness is the level of your thoughts, the level of your brain. It is not a creative level, as I have said. This is what happens. Your mind created an idea, which it wanted to experience, and had to project that idea outward to free itself of the intolerable conflict we have mentioned. It had created an idea in which the effect could become the cause. And thus the world that it created was consistent with that idea.
A thought in the mind of the Son of God becomes projected onto this world of illusion. Thoughts form in the brain, which are perceptions. And perceptions, which you think of as thoughts in your awareness of your brain, are always of the past. Perception is looking at something which has gone by. Perception is the observation of a thought which arose in the mind of the Son of God. Within that whole framework, the body will express whatever is the desire that came from the mind of the Son of God. And then the thoughts of your brain perceive what that is. And at the level of space-time you seem to experience it here.
Ah, nothing is separate from the mind of the Son of God. And that mind then becomes aware of what the brain and the body seem to be experiencing. And in that indirect manner, your mind, which is only mind, which cannot be a body, and knows that–in that manner your mind can literally experience space and time and limitation and illusion. Masterful you are in your creative abilities. Masterful you are as creator. And of course, for you are the Son of God.
When I speak to you of thoughts, and the creative power which thoughts have, thoughts always arise from mind. Thoughts are not the ideas of your brain. The ideas of your brain are perceptions. They are always after the fact. They are always but interpretations, reactions to something which has gone by. And I have told you very early on in the Workbook, those thoughts do not mean anything. Another way to say that, which I have told you, is that those thoughts have no creative power. They are simply observations. That is all. Now do you see how I say your thoughts are meaningless?
What is it that many of those thoughts do, the ideas of your brain, the perceptions? They define who you are. That is your Ego, the collection of thoughts you have about who you are. Those have been carefully chosen and planned at the level of mind. And for this imagined lifetime, mind has made the choice of what you will be, so that mind can indirectly experience just that. And so you seem to be a collection of thoughts. You call it your self. You cling to it as if it actually is what you are. And yet I say to you, it is of no value whatsoever, and means nothing at all. And that is you, this tiny insignificant collection of thoughts about who you are. That is the Ego of which I speak.
The Ego is not the Son of God. ‘Tis nothing really, at all. Tied into all of that is the body. And I have already spoken at length of the body–that it is not real, that its experiences are not real, that it brings you nothing of value whatsoever. Likewise your perceptions are the same.
I speak in the Course in Miracles and I talk to you about choice. I say you are free. Herein seems to lie a paradox, does it not? You are free. The Son of God is created free, and cannot be otherwise. The Son of God is so free that his mind could even entertain the notion that Cause and Effect could be reversed, when it actually is totally impossible. The mind of the Son of God is absolutely free. The mind of the Son of God always has choice.
In the careful design of this world, its comings and goings, whatever it is the Son of God would experience, he literally chose every last detail. And I tell you that is exactly what you have done. You are free and you have chosen. But the choice has not come from your brain. It is only the perceiver I have told you it is. And so the paradox seems to be this– The choice has been made, and yet it comes. The script is written, and yet you are free in each moment to do what you will.
The simple truth that makes this possible is that the Son of God exists above and beyond time. Time is that which allowed the separation. Time is simply the ability to project out of your mind whatever you will. And that includes this entire world. Time to you seems to be a thing which flows. However, to the Son of God time is simply the created ability to project something, an idea, outside of your mind. And that is all.
So choice is a freedom you have in this world, even though the choice was made. Even though the time in which the mind of the Son of God returns to its full awareness has been set, the pathway is full of choices. And both are true. Once again, the Son of God created this with his mind, projected it onto a world in which the effect seemed to be the cause, for the purpose of experience.
The choice is this: the Son of God has the choice, had the choice, to experience as much of space and time as he desired, in as many forms as he desired, and if you will, for as long as he desired. All of that was chosen, carefully contrived, all of it within the simple constraint that cause and effect could not be reversed. Therefore, a required part of the design, the plan, is that the Son of God must return to Oneness, to the full awareness of what he is. Outside of time this took less than an instant, and warranted nothing but a chuckle. And it was gone. Within time, as I have said, the Son of God remembered not to laugh.
The design of your salvation, the design which shall of necessity bring you back to your Oneness and your Unity is salvation. There is within your mind a connection that cannot be broken to God, the Source. There is within your mind a pathway which must return you to the awareness of what you are. That is the pathway of salvation, and it functions, as I have said, like a single edged sword.
And to review briefly it is like this. Out of your mind experience is created. Experience which is of illusion remains within the illusion. It can be experienced through awareness indirectly by the Son of God in his mind. But it cannot rise to the level of truth. Along the pathway, along the choice, at the Son of God’s discretion, there will come moments in which truth, in some measure, will be perceived by the brain. And those thoughts, those perceptions, rise to the level of truth and form a small connecting link to truth itself. And those remain. And over the total time the Son of God has chosen, more and more perceptions of truth, more and more of the little links that connect you to the truth of what you are, that return you to the awareness of what you are, are formed. And eventually in your time, already chosen by your Self, that awareness shall become complete.
I say to you, you have a choice. And it seems you do. But choice is at the level of your mind. And insofar as you are not, in your perception, preoccupied with the thoughts of your brain, then you open yourself to the awareness of the connecting links that take you back to truth.
And so in a word, the message of A Course in Miracles is this. Your thoughts, your perceptions, your Ego, that which you believe yourself to be in this world, are not real, and are of no consequence. As that becomes experience, then that experience rises to the mind of the Son of God, and rises to truth, rises to Oneness. And the separation, this tiny mad idea that was projected out of the mind of the Son of God, simply disappears, and is gone. ‘Tis that easy.
For where you are in this splendid world which you have designed, it seems as if this world creates what you are, that you are a victim of your body, a victim of your thoughts. It is not so. And as you will focus, by your own choice, less and less on your thoughts, as you focus less and less on these false ideas, insignificant ones about who you are– as you become more and more willing to allow life to simply flow through you, without judgment, without concern, without fear, then you shall be transported along the pathway to freedom, along the pathway to love, along the pathway to joy.
All of it came and went in an instant. And you have never changed. ‘Tis simply your awareness, ’tis simply your choice to imagine that Cause and Effect could be reversed. Rejoice. For it cannot be so. It never happened, and it never shall. Always you are the Son of God, co-creator of All That Is. Always it is that your existence is the infinite creation of whatever you can experience– for the simply purpose of joy, harmony, peace, and love, and freedom, all of which are the same. Because everything is One.
Blessings upon you. That is all.
Brent A. Haskell, Ph.D., D.O.
(Editor’s note: Brent Haskell is the author of Journey Beyond Words and The Other Voice: A Companion to the Text of The Course Chapters 1-15 (Miracles Studies Book). During October, 2012, I had the pleasure of meeting Brent at the Miracles In The Mountains conference in Cañon City, Colorado and hearing him give a presentation there, during which he offered to send several articles – including this one – via an email to those interested.)