ACIM Glossary I-K
I
"I am as God created me"
The central lesson of the Workbook, repeated in three separate lessons (94, 110, 162) and in every lesson of a twenty-lesson review (review VI). In essence it means that no matter what you think you have done, from the original separation at the dawn of time, through the seeming eons since, and throughout the entirety of this lifetime, you have not changed your original innocence, nor ever can. You still shine with the perfect innocence you had the moment you were born from the Mind of God, for you are still in that moment and always will be. Therefore, nothing is stopping you from going back home. Similar in meaning to "God's Son is guiltless" and "the separation never occurred" (T-6.II.10:7).
idea
A representation or formulation produced by the mind. Everything, in the world and Heaven, is an idea. Ideas may be true or false, wrong-minded, right-minded or one-minded. 1. The ego is composed of mad ideas, false ideas. The ego itself is merely an idea, not a fact (see T-4.II.2:6), which is why we can be free of it. 2. All physical forms, including the body, are produced by ideas, being merely the outward reflection of ideas. 3. Unlike physical forms, however, ideas can truly be shared (see T-5.I.1-2). Instead of dividing them, sharing ideas reinforces and increases them (see giving/receiving). The sharing of ideas is how minds can unite. 4. The title phrase of each Workbook lesson is referred to as an idea (as "the idea" or "today's idea" or "the idea for the day"). 5. Heaven itself is composed of ideas. The Holy Spirit, eternity, love, joy and we ourselves are all ideas, and thus can be infinitely shared. Heavenly ideas are far beyond the tiny, changing notions we call ideas. They are not subjective pictures of reality, but are reality itself (see Thoughts of God). Even God is an idea (see T-15.VI.4), though He is not an idea conceived by some other mind. The word "concept" in the Course is very similar to the word "idea," though, unlike ideas, concepts stop short of Heaven. For the word "concept" emphasizes our making, our conceiving. Thus, concepts are generally of the ego, and though they can reflect reality, they must be finally transcended in order to once again know the limitless ideas of Heaven. See "ideas leave not their source"
"ideas leave not their source"
The key concept that thoughts cannot leave the mind that thinks them. This means: 1. As Thoughts of God, we cannot leave His Mind, we cannot separate from Him (see T-26.VII.13:2). 2. Our own thoughts of separation did not leave our minds and thus had no effect on reality. 3. The world we made has no existence independent of our thoughts and so cannot govern our existence nor cause us to feel pain (see W-pI.132.5). To change our experience, then, we must change our thoughts, not the world. 4. The ego says that we can direct attack or project guilt outside our minds and escape the attack and guilt ourselves (see projection). Yet these ideas remain within our mind and are reinforced (see T-26.VII.14). 5. When we give an idea to others we do not lose it. It stays in our minds and becomes reinforced (see giving/receiving). Thus, forgiving others makes us feel more forgiven. See cause and effect and extension. See W-pI.167.3-5.
idols
A false god, which we worship, believing it holds our salvation, but which has no life and therefore no power to answer our prayers or fill our need. 1. The ego itself and the ideas necessary to its survival—such as sickness (see T-10.III.4), weakness (see W-pI.92.4:7), cruelty (see W-pI.170.6), death (see W-pI.163.4) and specialness (T-24.III.2)—which we have placed on our inner altar and worshipped. 2. Any external thing—body, place, substance, possession, situation, achievement, right—that we think will give us salvation by making us special (see specialness) and by protecting us from danger. We seek these idols to fill our lack and make ourselves complete, and they seem to work for a time. But they always fail and end up being harsh gods that punish and demand but do not give. In seeking them we end up reinforcing our beginning premise: that we are lacking. The reason is that we are unconsciously seeking lack, incompletion and death (the ultimate lack of life). Idols may seem powerful but they are simply toys we made. See T-29.VII,VIII,IX and T-30.III,IV,V.
illusion
Conventional: Something that seems real but is not. A belief about or perception of reality that is false. ACIM: The Course expands this common definition to include anything outside of Heaven, anything that is imperfect, finite or painful. This includes any object, situation or event in the world of time and space, including time and space themselves. It also includes our thoughts, beliefs and perceptions while in this world, which are misrepresentations of reality. Truth and illusion have nothing in common; we must choose one or the other. The ego tells us that our only choice is between illusions, deciding which ones we like best. Yet the Holy Spirit teaches that all illusions are equally unreal (see no order of difficulty in miracles) and that all must be brought to truth where they will vanish (see bringing darkness to light). Forgiveness is an illusion, but it is the only illusion that leads to the end of illusions, rather than breeding more. See dream, fantasy.
"I need do nothing"
The principle which states that we do not need to do anything to be worthy of and to experience salvation. We need simply let go our active interference and accept the Atonement, and salvation will be given us. Indeed, in the separated state we can do nothing (T-8.IV.7:3) and have done nothing—that is, have not sinned. To experience the holy instant, then, we need not prepare ourselves, for we are worthy now. But we do need, for a moment, to stop all doing, both physical and mental, and enter a moment of stillness in which past, future and the body are forgotten. See accepting the Atonement for oneself. See T-18.VII.
insanity
Conventional: A deranged state of mind in which one has lost touch with reality and retreated into a senseless, disordered, private world. ACIM: The state of everyone in the world who believes in the ego's thought system, and has therefore lost touch with true reality and retreated into a senseless, private world. In this state you are totally isolated, you think you are someone else, you fear love and love fear, you hear and speak to shadow figures that are not there, you see only your own split mind projected wherever you look (see T-13.V.6), and you believe your magical wishes have overthrown the Will of God. The ego is based on the insane notions of sin, anger, attack, guilt, defense, sacrifice, punishment, fear and death (see W-pII.12.2). The world is a projection of this insanity (see T-14.I.2:4-7). From the ego's perspective, God and His Love, peace and joy are insane. It tries to convince you that He made this insane world and so is Himself insane. Knowing you cannot lead yourself out (for you are insane) God answered the ego's insanity with a sane Answer, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the reference point from which you can look back on insanity and see it as insane (see T-13.III.6-10). He will give you reason, the solution to insanity, which leads the partially sane to complete sanity (see T-21.V.8:8).
invulnerability
Our natural condition of being unable to be hurt, injured or changed in any way, which the Atonement restores to us. Vulnerability comes not from being attacked, but from our own attack thoughts (see W-pI.26.2-4). These assume that we can attack and so can also be attacked. These also cause guilt which affirms that we deserve to be attacked. Invulnerability, then, comes not from self-defense, but from guiltlessness, which comes from being both harmless and helpful. Through defenselessness, through teaching our brother we are immune to attack, we prove that our brother is innocent, for his attack did not hurt us. We show him this through our lack of emotional upset (see T-14.III.7) and through a healthy body (see T-27.II.5:6-9). For upset and sickness are messages we send to our brother which say, "Behold me, brother, at your hand I die" (T-27.I.4:6). See crucifixion.
J
Jesus
Christian: The only begotten Son of God who came to earth to die for our sins. We receive salvation through having faith in him and his sacrificial death. ACIM: One of God's Sons, equal to all the rest, who was the first to perfectly complete his part (his special function) in the plan for salvation, and so became the leader in that plan and the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. Our model for decision, thought, learning and rebirth. In his life he perfectly demonstrated the way home through true forgiveness. In his crucifixion he taught that even in the most extreme attacks we cannot be hurt and so can teach only love. In his resurrection he set in motion the Atonement and brought us all home. Yet we think we are still here, and so he is now a living presence in all minds, who works to bring us to the realization of the homecoming that has already occurred. As part of this function, he has authored A Course in Miracles (see course, the). "This course has come from him..." (M-23.7:1). Through its words, he speaks to us, teaches us and guides us home. He calls us to join with him, but only so that we can receive his love, his faith and trust in us, and his liberating teaching, and so that we can extend his love to the world. See T-1.II.3-5, T-31.VIII.7-12, W-pI.rV.IN.6:-9, M-23, C-5.
judgment
The mental process of trying to decide what things are, which things are desirable and worthy, and which are dangerous and guilty. This results in rewarding and selecting certain things and punishing and rejecting others (see T-3.V.7:4-8). On this process rests our perceptions, our emotions, our attitudes and our behavior. 1. This process does not apply to reality, which is all one and is given. Reality can only be accepted and known, not judged. 2. Judgment is the process by which we make and organize our illusory worlds, surrounding ourselves with those illusions which we think will support our egos. We apply this process to people, judging which ones deserve special treatment (see special relationship) and which ones deserve punishment (see T-15.V.7). 3. Judgment is meant to make us safe, but it really brings separateness, guilt, fear and the impossible burden of trying to play God (see M-10.6). 4. Judgment is not our function (see T-14.X.5:8-9). It should be given to the Holy Spirit, Who will tell us what things mean and what we should do. He sees only one difference: the difference between reality and illusion (see M-8.6). He thus separates all things in the world into those that reflect reality and those that reinforce illusion. 5. The right use of judgment is to judge the ego and decide it is both undesirable and untrue (see T-4.IV.8:6-8). See Last Judgment. See T-3.VI.
justice
Root meaning: A principle of fairness which says that everyone should receive only what they deserve. This must be assessed based on an impartial account of how well they have conformed to the law. Conventional: A principle separate from love which punishes sinners for their crimes, taking vengeance on them. A process of deciding who is the guilty one and taking from him to give back to the innocent. ACIM: A principle which gives love and forgiveness to everyone with complete impartiality and without limit, which gives no punishment and asks no penalty. This is true fairness because no one has broken God's laws. Everyone is still the Son of God, still innocent. Thus, the miracle is everyone's just due (see no order of difficulty in miracles). The world's justice is really injustice. It is simply a justification for attack, and all attack is unjust. It also makes us believe that God's Love is separate from His justice, which makes Him seem fearful (see fear of God). See T-25.VIII-IX, M-19.
K
Kingdom of God
The domain over which God is Father, Creator and Source; the realm established, maintained and pervaded by His Will. Heaven, reality. Not an earthly realm, condition or stage in history. Rather than within you, God's Kingdom is you—you both have it and are it (see having/being). It is your right. You are a priceless part of it and cannot be lost to it. It is your Kingdom too, in that you are a creator in it as well.
knowledge
Root meaning: The condition of knowing with certainty what something is. Conventional: Being aware of or possessing information and concepts. ACIM: The heavenly condition of knowing reality through direct and total union with it, unmediated by physical senses or mental interpretation. Knowledge and perception are mutually exclusive, for perception involves a separation between subject and object, knower and known. This makes certainty impossible. Yet knowledge is completely certain and without question. Thus it does not change and hence it is timeless. It is total, having no degrees. In it each part is the whole. It is completely non-specific, abstract. It contains no opposites, no contrast and no comparisons. It cannot be learned, for learning applies only to perception, where information enters from the outside. It can only be remembered. This happens when we reach the state of true perception, which contains no opposition to knowledge. The goal of the Course is readiness for knowledge, not knowledge itself (see T-18.IX.11). See T-3.III,IV,V, T-5.I.6-7, T-6.II.7.
Return to top | Send Reader Feedback | | Printer friendly version
Dear friend: We offer the materials on this website to you in the hope that they can serve you well on your journey home. Your continuing donations support the work of the Circle of Atonement. Thank you.
Click here to make a Donation.
This material is copyrighted by the Circle of Atonement, P.O. Box 4238, W. Sedona, AZ 86340. All rights reserved. The opinions expressed are the personal interpretation and understanding of the author(s).
Please report problems to the webmaster.