Last Sunday, I gave an unrecorded presentation (via Zoom) for the Rocky Mountain Miracle Center (RMMC) headquartered in Denver, Colorado, sharing an important Course-related topic: generalizing our learning from Holy Spirit’s lessons in forgiveness. From ego’s perspective, every body is different; yet with patience, as we listen ever more closely to Holy Spirit’s gentle sanity, we gradually zoom back from our myopic distorted perspective and see that we’re really all the same. We learn to generalize in order to begin to fathom the innocence we all share.
Below are my notes from the related RMMC post:
Make this year different by making it all the same.
“So will the year begin in joy and freedom. ⁹There is much to do, and we have been long delayed. ¹⁰Accept the holy instant as this year is born, and take your place, so long left unfulfilled, in the Great Awakening. ¹¹Make this year different by making it all the same. ¹²And let all your relationships be made holy for you. ¹³This is our will. ¹⁴Amen.” (ACIM, T-15.XI.10:8-14)
Here is an extended quote from a superb video of Dr. Kenneth Wapnick from the FACIM YouTube channel (2013 The New Year_Themes from “A Course in Miracles”)
“And that, of course, should be the prayer each and every day but it’s nice to renew it at the beginning of the new year. And what that means to make everything–make this year different from all the other years, make this day different from all the other days, make my life different from the way that I’ve been living it for decades–is that I make it different by seeing every single thing that happens in my day as offering me the same lesson. And there’s only one lesson, as the workbook says in Lesson 34, ‘I could see peace instead of this.’ So no matter what’s going on around me, whether it’s something that I deem as wonderful, or the world thinks is wonderful, or something that appears to be very, very painful, tragic, that I could see peace instead of this. And all of this is really a way to help us take the outer world–what we experience outside of us and our relationships and situations that we’re in, events that confront us, etcetera – to see in all of these – nothing more or less than the opportunity of realizing that we’re minds and not bodies. So as we know the Course is really asking us to do a 180-degree turn and see the world totally differently, through Jesus’ eyes rather than through our own… through Christ’s vision rather than the ego’s judgment. The ego’s judgment always differentiates and a world of bodies offers us ample, ample opportunity every second to judge differences–those we like; those we don’t like–and to realize that all of this is coming from the mind’s decision for the ego. And when we recognize the mistake of our mind’s decision for the ego then we choose a different Teacher–the Holy Spirit or Jesus–and they help us realize that everything is the same. That’s why there’s no order of difficulty in miracles–the first principle of the Course–because everything is the same. Every problem is the same regardless of its seeming magnitude or lack of magnitude. Regardless of its seeming significance or insignificance, everything is the same because it offers me the opportunity of recalling my projections.”
“Projection makes perception; a very important line that actually is said twice in the text. I look within; I choose the teacher I will identify with, and then I project out the teachings of that teacher: the thought system of separation, judgment, or the thought system of Atonement, which is forgiveness. A thought system that sees only differences and judges them and judgments always end up as attacks or a thought system that sees everyone as the same, because we all share the same mind. We’re all different on the level of the body. We’re all different on the level of form. We’re all different in the world of perception, but we are all the same when we shift our identification and look out from the right mind rather than the wrong mind, and when we look out on right mind our Teacher helps us recognize that what I see without is a projection of what I have first made real inside.
Projection makes perception. What I project is what I will perceive, and because I perceive it I will believe it’s there and therefore I will act accordingly. But the whole thing is made up. Because what I have projected is a thought system that is unreal; it’s based on a premise that says we separated from our Source and therefore everything that follows from that must be true because we’ve accepted as true the basic premise of separation. But the fact of the matter is that there is no separation. That’s what the Course calls the principle of the Atonement, that we never separated, and the way that we learn this is to make every experience in our waking life and every our sleeping life (what we call our dream states) – make everything the same because sameness is the right-minded reflection of Heaven’s Oneness, the Oneness that in truth we have never separated from. But as long as we identify ourselves as bodies, as personalities, as persons, then we will clearly relate as if there were a world that was outside of us as if there were people outside of us with whom we had to relate, with whom we had to deal.And so we’re not asked to deny our experiences–our physical experiences or psychological experiences in the world–but we are asked to deny ego’s interpretation. And so again, when we ask Jesus for help, the way he helps us is to say what you see outside–a world of differentiation–is really a projection of a thought system you have chosen inside; a thought system of differentiation that says you and your Father are different, are separate, are apart from each other, and so that’s what we project out. But when we choose Jesus as our teacher and identify with this thought system of Atonement then we see everyone and everything as the same, because they offer us the same opportunity, once again, of recalling our projections, that what I’ve made real outside is simply the projection of what I have made real inside, and what I want to do is to change what I’ve made real inside. Not necessarily change what is outside, but use my experiences in the physical world as a way of getting back to my mind. That’s what the miracle actually does; bring us back within so we could choose again. And, of course, that’s what our message to ourselves ought to be this January and every January and every other month in the year; that we want to see the world as giving us the opportunity of choosing again.” – Kenneth Wapnick, Ph.D.
Here are the 4 instances of the word “generalize” from the WORKBOOK of ACIM:
“The purpose of the workbook is to train your mind in a systematic way to a different perception of everyone and everything in the world. ²The exercises are planned to help you generalize the lessons, so that you will understand that each of them is equally applicable to everyone and everything you see.” (ACIM, W-in.4:1-2)
“The only general rules to be observed throughout, then, are: First, that the exercises be practiced with great specificity, as will be indicated. ²This will help you to generalize the ideas involved to every situation in which you find yourself, and to everyone and everything in it. ³Second, be sure that you do not decide for yourself that there are some people, situations or things to which the ideas are inapplicable. ⁴This will interfere with transfer of training. ⁵The very nature of true perception is that it has no limits. ⁶It is the opposite of the way you see now.” (ACIM, W-in.6:1-6)“I could see peace in this situation instead of what I now see in it.
If the inroads on your peace of mind take the form of more generalized adverse emotions, such as depression, anxiety or worry, use the idea in its original form.”
(ACIM, W-34.5:4–6:1)“To learn that giving and receiving are the same has special usefulness, because it can be tried so easily and seen as true. ²And when this special case has proved it always works, in every circumstance where it is tried, the thought behind it can be generalized to other areas of doubt and double vision. ³And from there it will extend, and finally arrive at the one Thought which underlies them all.” (ACIM, W-108.6:1-3)
Here are the 3 instances of the word “generalize” from the MANUAL of ACIM:
(The 2nd stage in the development of Trust):
“Next, the teacher of God must go through “a period of sorting out.” ²This is always somewhat difficult because, having learned that the changes in his life are always helpful, he must now decide all things on the basis of whether they increase the helpfulness or hamper it. ³He will find that many, if not most of the things he valued before will merely hinder his ability to transfer what he has learned to new situations as they arise. ⁴Because he has valued what is really valueless, he will not generalize the lesson for fear of loss and sacrifice. ⁵It takes great learning to understand that all things, events, encounters and circumstances are helpful. ⁶It is only to the extent to which they are helpful that any degree of reality should be accorded them in this world of illusion. ⁷The word ‘value’ can apply to nothing else.” (ACIM, M-4.I-A.4:1-7)
What is the single requisite for this shift in perception? ²It is simply this; the recognition that sickness is of the mind, and has nothing to do with the body. ³What does this recognition “cost”? ⁴It costs the whole world you see, for the world will never again appear to rule the mind. ⁵For with this recognition is responsibility placed where it belongs; not with the world, but on him who looks on the world and sees it as it is not. ⁶He looks on what he chooses to see. ⁷No more and no less. ⁸The world does nothing to him. ⁹He only thought it did. ¹⁰Nor does he do anything to the world, because he was mistaken about what it is. ¹¹Herein is the release from guilt and sickness both, for they are one. ¹²Yet to accept this release, the insignificance of the body must be an acceptable idea.
4. With this idea is pain forever gone. ²But with this idea goes also all confusion about creation. ³Does not this follow of necessity? ⁴Place cause and effect in their true sequence in one respect, and the learning will generalize and transform the world. ⁵The transfer value of one true idea has no end or limit. ⁶The final outcome of this lesson is the remembrance of God. ⁷What do guilt and sickness, pain, disaster and all suffering mean now? ⁸Having no purpose, they are gone. ⁹And with them also go all the effects they seemed to cause. ¹⁰Cause and effect but replicate creation. ¹¹Seen in their proper perspective, without distortion and without fear, they re-establish Heaven.”
(ACIM, M-5.II.3:1–4:11)“This course is always practical. ²It may be that the teacher of God is not in a situation that fosters quiet thought as he awakes. ³If this is so, let him but remember that he chooses to spend time with God as soon as possible, and let him do so. ⁴Duration is not the major concern. ⁵One can easily sit still an hour with closed eyes and accomplish nothing. ⁶One can as easily give God only an instant, and in that instant join with Him completely. ⁷Perhaps the one generalization that can be made is this; as soon as possible after waking take your quiet time, continuing a minute or two after you begin to find it difficult. ⁸You may find that the difficulty will diminish and drop away. ⁹If not, that is the time to stop.” (ACIM, M-16.4:1-9)
SAME: 323 instances in ACIM;
DIFFERENT: 437 instances in ACIM!
Evidently (in the “not no” curriculum of ACIM’s robust pure non-dualistic curriculum, the intent must be to look at our belief in differences (with Holy Spirit) until we realize that only the underlying sameness will bring us peace!
Ego’s misperception suggests: illusion a ≠ illusion b ≠ illusion c ≠ … ad nauseum;
In ego’s insane thought system, there is no awareness or vocabulary for sameness – other than temporary allies that can help it defeat those who are different, until ego becomes traitorous to those allies, let alone Oneness.
By contrast, Holy Spirit corrects the problem at the source, reminding us that: illusion a = illusion b = illusion c = … However, the only “real difference is the vertical “above the battleground” shift to see the innocence in all; the sameness. We all have the SAME 3-part mind: (Decision Maker) DM, (Holy Spirit) HS, and ego.
(What is all-encompassing has no opposite; ACIM is a pure non-dual Course.)
HS “uses” differences to undo the belief in separation and differences where none exist in Truth.
This is analogous to the realization that even Forgiveness is an illusion, but it’s the one illusion that undoes them all; the ladder disappears after we ascend it, but without the ladder of forgiveness we’d (seem to) be stuck in the dream of differences, duality, and desperation.
RMMC has an abundance of excellent local (Denver-area) ACIM teachers, including, but not limited to current and prior contributors: Lyn Corona, Tim Wise, Susan Dugan, Whitney W., Barnes Knowles, Lillian Paes, Sue Wiggins, and Charles Lang.
