Corresponding Text Section

Chapter 2: The Psychological Foundation of Miracles ²

^{(see Note 2 in “The Contents of A Renewed Course in Miracles”)}

1. The Cause of the Separation

“Be as you were accustomed to be. See as you were accustomed to see.”

Oberon to his wife, Titania, queen of the fairies, in releasing her from the enchantment he had cast on her. These words reestablished Titania’s true identity, abilities, and discernment. (From the climax of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.)

Selected definitions for this section:

Project (verb): to extend

Project (noun): a specific plan or design

World: a natural grand division (e.g., the natural world)

The Garden of Eden, which is described as a literal garden in the Bible, was not an actual garden at all. It was a spiritual state of being identified by a complete absence of any needs. Even in a literal interpretation of the biblical story it is noteworthy that the Garden of Eden, prior to Adam and Eve being cast out of it (which symbolically marks the beginning of the separation), was essentially one in which human beings needed nothing. The “tree of knowledge (of good and evil),” apart from its use as an overly-literal concept (indicated by the reference to “eating of the fruit of the tree”), is a symbolic reference to the misuse or erroneous use of the power of thought in miscreation. This misuse most common in current times is reflected in the normal meaning of the term “knowledge” as the accumulation of information, explored in detail in the section immediately following this one. To confuse information as knowledge (or its reflection in this world, wisdom) is already an indication of a misuse of the power of thought.

As much as symbolic language can be vastly and contradictorily interpreted, clear and simple understanding of the Garden of Eden and tree of knowledge concepts must be achieved before the real meaning of the separation or “detour into fear” – the making of a world perceived to be outside of and happening to you – can be fully comprehended. To project, as defined at the beginning of this section as the act of extending, is a fundamental Attribute of the Divine, which the Divine also gave to Its Children. In the Creation, the Divine projected or extended Its Creative Ability into all the minds that It created, and also imbued them with the same loving will to create. It is important to note the fundamental error involved in confusing what has been created by the Creator – i.e., Its creating of each unique Child of the Divine and of the perfect Creation as a Whole – with what is being created—i.e., the creations of the Children of the Divine. It has been emphasized that the human being as mind or spirit has not only been fully created, but has also been created perfect. There is no emptiness in the true spirit or holy Self of any human being, but only perfect Fullness and overflowing Abundance.

Another point that has already been made, but bears repeating here, is that the spirit, because of its own Likeness to its Creator, is inherently creative. No Child of the Divine is capable of losing this ability, because it is intrinsic to each one’s being.

Whenever projection in its inappropriate sense of mis-projecting is utilized, it always implies that some emptiness or lack must exist, and that a person believes it is within their ability to fill that emptiness with their own ideas instead of the Truth. If you will consider carefully what this process of mis-projection entails, the following will become quite apparent:

First, the assumption that what the Divine has created as forever perfect can be altered or changed by the split mind.

Second, the concept that what is perfect can be rendered imperfect, i.e., empty in some way, and therefore wanting.

Third, the belief that human beings can distort the Creations of the Divine (including themselves), and that this distortion is tolerable.

Fourth, the conclusion that since people can appear to change, distort, and corrupt the Perfection that is who they are, the direction of their own creation that has already been accomplished by the Divine is up to them.

These related distortions represent a picture of what actually occurred to bring about the separation or “fall” of humanity. None of this existed before, nor does it actually exist now. Using the definitions of the nouns “project” and “world” introduced to begin this section, the Divine Family was created as a natural grand division of the Divine extending Itself in the Project of the Design of Creation. That is why everything created is like the Creator.

It is interesting to note other English words with the Latin root “jacere,” meaning to throw or hurl, which is the core meaning of the inappropriate use of projection as mis-projection in throwing or casting something away, and the connection of these ideas with the wrong use of psychological defenses in general. “Conjecture” means the casting of a guess, inferring a state of uncertainty. “Dejection” is obviously associated with depression. “Injection” can be misinterpreted readily enough in terms of possession fallacies (explored in detail in the next section). And “rejection” is clearly associated with denial. It should be noted also that rejection can be used in the sense of refusing, a term that necessarily involves a perception of what is refused having been judged as something unworthy.

Projection in its true meaning as undertaken by the Creator is very similar to the kind of inner Radiance that the Children of the Divine inherit from the Holy Spirit. It is important to note that the idea of extension being a movement from the center outward necessarily implies that the real source of true Projection is internal. This is as true of the Creator as of Its Children.

The true Universe or Creation – the Realm of Heaven – in Its original connotation includes both the proper creation of the Children of the Divine by the Creator, and the proper creations of those Children of their creations in their whole mind. The latter requires the Children of the Divine to be endowed by their Creator with Freedom, because all loving creation is freely given. The idea of Freedom in both of these statements implies no sort of levels or hierarchy, or, in fact, anything except one continuous Flow of Creation, in which all Aspects are of the same Order in their Equality of Holiness.

When some of the Children of the Divine allowed the “lies of the serpent” into their minds, these were specifically called lies because they were not true. When human beings listened to these assertions from a part of their mind that, in Freedom, had the possibility of generating such thoughts, all they heard was untruth. This is still true today. No one has to continue to believe what is not true, though they can choose to do so. All miscreations can disappear in the “twinkling of an eye” because the erroneous projection of an outside world is merely a visual misperception resulting from a thought thought apart from the Divine.

A person’s spiritual eye can sleep, but it can still see. One perspective of the separation, a view emphasized by the American spiritual teacher Mary Baker Eddy, and worthy of note, is that the Bible states that “a deep sleep fell upon Adam” in the Garden. Ms. Eddy was correct in emphasizing that nowhere after that event is there any reference made to Adam’s waking up. While the understanding of Christian Science, the movement founded by Ms. Eddy, with regard to the Atonement, miracles, etc., is incomplete, its point of perception in this regard says much about the correctness of the direction of its understanding.

The history of humanity in the world, as this history is currently understood, has not been characterized by any genuine or comprehensive spiritual reawakening or rebirth from Adam’s original sleep. Such a rebirth is impossible as long as people continue to mis-project outside of themselves a world of pain, suffering, loss, and death that is a direct result of the “lies of the serpent,” or miscreations of the split mind. It still remains within you to project or extend as the Creator truly projected. The Creator’s own Holy Spirit is an Extension of perfect Love, and has been given to the separated ones to help them remember true creating. In Reality, the decision about the direction or nature of your projections or creative activity is the only real choice, because your Freedom was created for your own Joy in creating the Perfect.

All fear is ultimately reducible to the basic misperception of the ability to usurp the Power of the Creator. It is again emphasized that no created being either has been or will ever be able to do this, so there can never be a justification for guilt. In the following statement is the real justification for your release from fear and guilt:

It is impossible that the thing you most deeply fear, the thing at the root of all false projection and miscreation, can ever occur in Reality.

Your ability to use this fact to remember your Freedom is brought about by your acceptance of the Atonement, which places you in a position to realize that your own errors have never really occurred, that is, in Eternity—in the Realm of Heaven.

When sleep fell upon Adam, he was then in a condition to experience the illusion of nightmares precisely because he was sleeping. If a light is suddenly turned on while someone is dreaming, and the content of their dream is fearful, they may initially interpret the light itself as part of the content of their own bad dream. However, as soon as they are fully awake, the light will be correctly perceived as the means enabling them to gain release from the dream, which itself is no longer accorded reality. It is clear that with regard to our being lights that shine in the darkness to help our sisters and brothers awaken from their nightmares, we should “go and do likewise.”

As far as what light to shine in the darkness of the sleep of the world, it is quite apparent that this should be the Illumination from the kind of Knowledge that is not referred to by the symbol of the “tree of knowledge (of good and evil),” which produces only lies as its fruit. The Knowledge that illuminates rather than obscures is the Truth that not only sets you free, but also shows you clearly that you are free, and leads you to your Freedom.