Gary Renard and Cindy Lora-Renard talk with Bruce Rawles about ACIM's metaphysics of pure non-duality and how trust in the Holy Spirit (our Inner Kindness Teacher) is the foundation for (Quantum) True Forgiveness and sustainable peace of mind. Our shared interest in learning and applying the ideas in A Course in Miracles gives us the context to see current events as a classroom custom-tailored to each person's forgiveness lessons and helps us seek and find the perspective that restores our sanity... the practice of seeing all-inclusive, eternal innocence in everyone (and removing the blocks in our mind that seem to interfere with that vision) is the only plan for salvation that will ultimately work. "Let us be glad that we can walk the world, and find so many chances to perceive another situation where God’s gift can once again be recognized as ours! ²And thus will all the vestiges of hell, the secret sins and hidden hates be gone. ³And all the loveliness which they concealed appear like lawns of Heaven to our sight, to lift us high above the thorny roads we travelled on before the Christ appeared." (ACIM, T-31.VIII.9:1-3) We just need to look at our thoughts without condemnation and forgive ourselves for our projections onto this surreal world and everyone in it ... including ourselves. Eventually, we integrate the principle of pure non-duality (the only sustainable foundation for lasting joy) by accepting the Atonement: recognizing that nothing in the ego's propaganda for its belief in separation happened. ACIM doesn't suggest that we deny our physical experience: "The body is merely part of your experience in the physical world. ⁹Its abilities can be and frequently are overevaluated. ¹⁰However, it is almost impossible to deny its existence in this world. ¹¹Those who do so are engaging in a particularly unworthy form of denial. ¹²The term “unworthy” here implies only that it is not necessary to protect the mind by denying the unmindful. ¹³If one denies this unfortunate aspect of the mind’s power, one is also denying the power itself." (ACIM, T-2.IV.3:8-13) It’s only the ego’s (mis)interpretation consisting of condemning (separating) judgments about everyone and everything (including ourselves) that DID NOT happen. That's the heart of the Course's denial of the denial of Truth; the real salvation we're all destined to uncover within our own minds. When we deny our experience in our projected world, we're denying Holy Spirit access to that neutral data which is essential for true forgiveness. As Gary reminded us, we can give our experiences to Holy Spirit, trust its feedback that nothing ego told us – a seemingly endless variety of misinterpretations, all involving the unchallenged acceptance of the thought system of sin, guilt, and fear – happened, and after a while this becomes more and more automatic. We unmask our made-up personas and roles on the stage of this dreamy life, or as Cindy shared, we're all delivering Oscar-winning performances 24/7! "The importance of this idea lies in the fact that it contains a correction for a major perceptual distortion. ²You think that what upsets you is a frightening world, or a sad world, or a violent world, or an insane world. ³All these attributes are given it by you. ⁴The world is meaningless in itself." (ACIM, W-12.1:1-4) ... "What is meaningless is neither good nor bad. ²Why, then, should a meaningless world upset you? ³If you could accept the world as meaningless and let the truth be written upon it for you, it would make you indescribably happy." (ACIM, W-12.5:1-3) Here are some additional Course quotes we referred to (directly or indirectly) during this conversation relating to the Course's version of forgiveness: "Forgiveness recognizes what you thought your brother did to you has not occurred." (ACIM, W-pII.1.1:1) Feel Inspired To Make a Love Offering To The Foundation for Inner Peace? You Can Do That Here: