Review of Chapter 3 – Sane Perception

March 29, 2021

I The Need to Study

This is a mind training course. The answer to many of our problems in this course. The feeling that we are not able intellectually to understand this course is a defense against truth. This only maintains our minds as weak. Therefore, it is vitally important to study these sections, so the later course material makes sense. Doing so will prepare us for a future unexpected role in God’s plan. If we study and prepare ourselves now, we will not be too fearful to make constructive use of the course at this future time.

II Special Principles for Miracle Workers

Time and space are arranged by Jesus when we perform miracles. To offer miracles we must first be in our right mind so we will not confuse what is made or wrong-minded with what is created or right-minded. Miracles deny error and affirm truth. When miracles adjust level confusion, perception is ready to be healed. Without first healing our own perception, as a miracle worker, we are only judging, not healing. Healing with miracles only corrects it does not judge. It recognizes “they do not know” and corrects. We offer miracles in memory of Jesus and learn we exist in time only for and with our brothers.

III Atonement without Sacrifice

God did not persecute His Own Son on behalf of salvation. It is vitally important to understand our association with Atonement as sacrifice. We will not be able to meet our future unexpected roles without fear if we do not understand that the resurrection demonstrated the Atonement and means nothing real can be destroyed. We need also to let go of our belief that innocence is vulnerable and weak. Innocence is our true nature, and it stems from wisdom. Innocence is perfectly aware of everything that is true. When we give our perception to God, that is, commend our spirit into God’s hands we take our rightful place in the one mind we accept our innocence because we have accepted the Atonement as correction of our wrong mindedness.

Edgar Cayce Cameo

This discourse is useful as a parable that offers us an example of how misinterpreting the symbols for Atonement and innocence can distort our real desire to heal and to help. We need to remember that the Atonement means that the past is over and accept that “I am perfectly free of the past.”

IV Innocent Perception

“Innocence is not a partial attribute.” We need to go beyond our inconsistent acceptance of our brother’s and our innocence. We must work toward accepting the total innocence of all our brothers including ourselves or our ability to offer miracles will remain erratic. When our innocence is totally accepted, we will never misperceive, and we will always see truly. We do this by being vigilant for our delusions and withdraw our faith in them. We need to invest our faith only in what is true. What is true? Atonement is not sacrifice; it means nothing can destroy truth. Innocence is not weak but strong and is aware of everything that is true. When we decide to perceive truly, we cancel out misperceptions in ourselves and others at the same time. When we see our brothers truly, we will see our likeness because we will see God in him. ‘Man’s only hope is to see things as they are.” (7:7)

V Perception versus Knowledge

Our study must lead us to the recognition of our brothers, ourselves, and God. To recognize is to know again. Now we perceive and this means we do not know. We need to understand this and work toward knowing our brothers again. We do this by using our perception to reorient our understanding from misperceiving to true perceiving. True perception is the basis for knowledge. We are able to understand our perception stems from our wrong-mindedness because our perception is variable. We ask ourselves “Who is he to me?” We remind ourselves that he is our brother, and we decide not to harm our brother. We ask Jesus to help us to see him as he truly is. In other words, we are willing to perceive his innocence.

VI The Divided Mind

Our true residing place is in the realm of knowledge, in the One Mind. The separation caused a division in the One mind, giving rise to perception. Now there is a realm of knowledge and a realm of perception. Within perception there is right-mindedness and wrong mindedness. Right-mindedness induces miracles and wrong mindedness produces fear. Our consciousness is the perceiver and now we perceive rather than create. This is the domain of the ego. The ego is not the self. These divisions in the mind are also played out in the world and are the source of all conflict. The ego “is a bad thing” but because a bad thing cannot really exist it is not necessary to try and get out of it. The way to leave the desert of the divided mind is to perceive our brother as he is. By undoing our attachment to the perception of ourselves as bodies and bringing our minds under Jesus’ guidance we allow miracles to correct our misperceptions from the bottom up. We unite our minds with God’s bringing the light of truth back into them and then we bring the experience of the light back into the world. We then give the message that we and our brothers are like God. Our ability is to know, to love and to create.

VII Beyond Perception

The level of perception can swing two ways, to continue the separation or toward forgiveness. We choose to use forgiveness to heal the perception of the separation. This is the way of prayer, miracles, and healing. When we use prayer to ask God to show us who and what we are, we are using our desire for knowledge to change our use of perception from maintaining the separation to healing it. We work from the bottom, the realm of miracles to the top, the realm of revelation. This is the level of knowledge, the place of revelation, and communication with God. When we ask God what we are, the answer is that we live in His light and we are like Him, in that we know, love, and create. Knowledge is total, perception is partial and incomplete. Through prayer we receive miracles that give us an experience of the wholeness of Heaven.  We return to consciousness with the understanding that we are not images and start to perceive perfect equality in our brothers. We give our new understanding to our brothers. This giving is an interpretation of our experience and is open to distortion by the unconscious. Our job is not to allow our perception to distort the message.

VIII The Essential Goal of Therapy

The goal of therapy, be it between a therapist and patient, a teacher and a pupil or parents and their children, is to teach the power of the mind of the one needing help or healing. There is no division between the therapist and patient. The equality of everyone must be recognized even though for a short time one has more understanding than the other. The teacher must take on the role of leading himself and others out of the desert of misperception Therefore, “it is your duty to establish beyond doubt that you are totally unwilling to side with (identify with) anyone’s misperceptions of you, including your own.” (14)

IX The Fear of Teaching

The fear of teaching stems from the mistaken understanding that our identity is determined by others. We have given them the authority over our identity. In this case the teacher’s identity depends on his pupils’ understanding of him. We compromise and change our persona and the physical aspects of the world to keep their perception of us as favourable as possible. The thing to remember is that the goal of the meeting between pupil and teacher is to recognize equality and abolish the differences between them, thus abolish fear. The way to manage this is to understand we are not images. We will lose all our fear of teaching and relating in any form once we know who we really are. (13:3)

X Judgment and the Authority Problem

To judge is not to know. To judge is to have an authority problem. God knows His creations, which we are. When we judge we reject and what we reject we believe exists. This thing we have rejected resides in our unconscious. We must become aware of its presence and remove it because it is causing problems. When we are fatigued or feel compelled to laugh at ourselves or our brothers it is because we have accepted an identity that is lower than the truth. We do this because we want to maintain authority over our image. We can let go of our judgment of ourselves and our brother because God knows, and His knowing will restore our right-mindedness. The last judgment is the final restoration of our right mind, we will recognize our brother and know who we are, and there will be no more judgment.

XI The Unshakable Foundation

The unshakable foundation is the fact that God created us, and He knows us. We can let go of our self concept that is the foundation for this illusory world and instead accept His knowing of us. Our minds are powerful enough to manifest this world, but its foundation is based on lies. We can use this power of our minds to return to the solid unshakable foundation that is God’s creation. Knowledge and perception cannot be reconciled but God and His Son can.

Suggested Practice

I choose to use the power of my mind to accept my brothers as God knows them and thus recognize my self as He created me.