A
Course in Miracles
TEXT
CHAPTER 10
God and the Ego
VI. The Dynamics of the Ego
39
No one can escape from illusions unless he looks at them, for
not
looking is the way they are
protected
. There is no need to shrink from illusions, for they cannot be dangerous. We are ready to look more closely at the ego's thought system because together we have the lamp that will dispel it, and since you realize you do not
want
it,
you
must be ready. Let us be very calm in doing this, for we are merely looking honestly for truth. The "dynamics" of the ego will be our lesson for a while, for we must look first at this to look beyond it since you
have
made it real. We will
undo
this error quietly together and then look beyond it to truth.
40
What is healing but the removal of all that
stands in the way
of knowledge? And how else can one dispel illusions
except
by looking at them directly
without
protecting them? Be not afraid, therefore, for what you will be looking at
is
the source of fear, but you have surely learned by now that
fear
is not real. We have accepted the fact already that its
effects
can be dispelled merely by denying their reality. The next step is obviously to recognize that what has no effects
does not exist
. Laws do not operate in a vacuum, and what leads to nothing
has not happened
. If reality is recognized by its
extension,
what extends to nothing cannot
be
real.
41
Do not be afraid, then, to look upon fear, for it cannot
be
seen. Clarity undoes confusion by definition, and to look upon darkness through light
must
dispel it. Let us begin this lesson in "ego dynamics" by understanding that the term itself does not mean anything. In fact, it contains exactly the contradiction in terms which
makes
it meaningless. "Dynamics" implies the power to do something, and the whole separation
fallacy
lies in the belief that the ego has the power to do
anything
. The ego is fearful to you
because
you believe this. Yet the truth is very simple:
42
All power is of God
. What is
not
of Him has no power to do
anything.
43
When we look at the ego, then, we are not considering dynamics but delusions. We can surely regard a delusional system without fear, for it cannot have any effects if its source is not true. Fear becomes more obviously inappropriate if one recognizes the ego's
goal
, which is so clearly senseless that any effort exerted on its behalf is
necessarily
expended on nothing. The ego's goal is quite explicitly ego
autonomy
. From the beginning, then, its
purpose
is to be separate, sufficient unto itself, and independent of any power
except
its own. This is
why
it is the symbol of separation.
44
Every idea has a purpose, and its purpose is always the natural extension of what it
is
. Everything that stems from the ego is the natural outcome of its central belief, and the way to undo its
results
is merely to recognize that their
source
is not natural, being out of accord with your
true
nature. We once said that to will contrary to God is wishful thinking and not real willing. His Will is one because the extension of His Will cannot be unlike itself. The real conflict you experience, then, is between the ego's idle wishes and the Will of God, which you share. Can this
be
a real conflict?
45
Yours is the independence of creation,
not
of autonomy. Your whole creative function lies in your complete
dependence
on God, Whose function He shares with
you
. By
His
willingness to share it, He became as dependent on you as you are on
Him
. Do not ascribe the ego's arrogance to Him, Who wills not to be independent of
you
. He has
included
you in His Autonomy. Can
you
believe that autonomy is meaningful
apart
from Him? The belief in
ego
autonomy is costing you the knowledge of your dependence on God
in
which your freedom lies. The ego sees
all
dependency as threatening and has twisted even your longing for God into a means of establishing
itself
. But do not be deceived by
its
interpretation of your conflict.
46
The ego
always
attacks on behalf of separation. Believing it has the power to do this, it does nothing else because its goal of autonomy
is
nothing else. The ego is totally confused about reality, but it does
not
lose sight of its goal. It is much more vigilant than
you
are because it is perfectly certain of its purpose.
You
are confused because you do
not
know
yours
.
47
What you must learn to recognize is that the
last
thing the ego wishes you to realize is that
you are afraid of it
. For if the ego gives rise to fear, it is
diminishing
your independence and
weakening
your power. Yet its one claim to your allegiance is that it can
give
power to you. Without this belief, you would not listen to it at all. How, then, can its existence continue if you realize that,
by
accepting it, you
are
belittling yourself and
depriving
yourself of power?
48
The ego can and does allow you to regard yourself as supercilious, unbelieving, "light-hearted," distant, emotionally shallow, callous, uninvolved, and even desperate, but
not really afraid. Minimizing
fear but
not
its undoing is the ego's constant effort and is indeed the skill at which it is very ingenious. How can it preach separation
without
upholding it through fear, and would you listen to it if you recognized this
is
what it is doing?
49
Your
recognition that whatever seems to separate you from God is
only
fear, regardless of the form it takes and quite apart from how the
ego
wants you to experience it, is therefore the basic ego threat. Its dream of autonomy is shaken to its foundation by this awareness. For though you may countenance a false idea of independence, you will
not
accept the cost of fear
if you recognize it
. Yet this
is
the cost, and the ego
cannot
minimize it. For if you overlook love, you are overlooking
yourself
, and you
must
fear unreality
because
you have denied yourself. By believing that you have successfully
attacked
truth, you are believing that attack has
power
. Very simply, then, you have become afraid of
yourself
. And no one wills to learn what he believes would destroy him.
50
If the ego's goal of autonomy could be accomplished, God's purpose could be defeated, and this
is
impossible. Only by learning what fear
is
, can you finally learn to distinguish the possible from the impossible and the false from the true. According to the ego's teaching,
its
goal can be accomplished, and God's purpose can
not
. According to the Holy Spirit's teaching,
only
God's purpose is accomplishment, and it is
already
accomplished.
51
God is as dependent on you as you are on Him because His autonomy
encompasses
yours and is therefore incomplete
without
it. You can only establish your autonomy by identifying
with
Him and fulfilling your function
as it exists in truth
. The ego believes that to accomplish
its
goal is happiness. But it is given
you
to know that God's function
is
yours and happiness cannot be found apart from your
joint
will. Recognize only that the ego's goal, which you have pursued quite diligently, has only brought you
fear
, and it becomes difficult to maintain that fear
is
happiness.
52
Upheld
by fear, this
is
what the ego would have you believe. Yet God's Son is not insane and
cannot
believe it. Let him but
recognize
it, and he will
not
accept it. For only the insane would choose fear
in
place of love, and only the insane could believe that love can be gained by attack. But the sane know that only attack could produce
fear
, from which the love of God completely protects them.
53
The ego analyzes; the Holy Spirit
accepts
. The appreciation of wholeness comes
only
through acceptance, for to analyze means to separate out. The attempt to understand totality by breaking it up is clearly the characteristically contradictory approach of the ego to everything. Never forget that the ego believes that power, understanding, and
truth
lie in separation, and to
establish
this belief it
must
attack. Unaware that the belief cannot
be
established and obsessed with the conviction that separation
is
salvation, the ego attacks everything it perceives by breaking it up into small and disconnected parts without meaningful relationships and thus without meaning. The ego will
always
substitute chaos for meaning, for if separation is salvation, harmony is threat.
54
The ego's interpretation of the laws of perception are, and would
have
to be, the exact opposite of the Holy Spirit's. The ego focuses on
error
and overlooks
truth
. It makes real
every
mistake it perceives, and with characteristically circular reasoning concludes that,
because
of the mistake, consistent truth must be meaningless. The next step, then, is obvious. If consistent truth is meaningless,
inconsistency
must be true if truth has meaning. Holding error clearly in mind and protecting what it has made real, the ego proceeds to the next step in its thought system—that error is real, and
truth is error
.
55
The ego makes no attempt to understand this, and it is clearly
not
understandable, but the ego does make
every
attempt to
demonstrate it
, and this it does constantly. Analyzing to attack meaning, the ego
does
succeed in overlooking it and is left with a series of fragmented perceptions which it unifies on behalf of
itself
. This, then, becomes the universe it perceives. And it is this universe which, in turn, becomes its demonstration of its own reality.
56
Do not underestimate the appeal of the ego's demonstrations to those who would listen. Selective perception chooses its witnesses carefully, and its witnesses
are
consistent. The case for insanity
is
strong to the insane. For reasoning ends at its beginning, and no thought system transcends its source. Yet reasoning without meaning
cannot
demonstrate anything, and those who are convinced by it
must
be deluded. Can the ego teach truly when it
overlooks
truth? Can it perceive what it has
denied
? Its witnesses
do
attest to its denial but hardly to what it has denied! The ego looks straight at the Father and does not see Him, for it has denied His Son.
57
Would
you
remember the Father? Accept His Son, and you
will
remember Him. Nothing can demonstrate that His Son is unworthy, for nothing can prove that a lie is true. What you see of His Son through the eyes of the ego is a demonstration that His Son does not exist, yet where the Son is, the Father
must
be. Accept what God does
not
deny, and
He
will demonstrate its truth. The witnesses for God stand in His light and behold what
He
created. Their silence is the sign that they have beheld God's Son, and in the Presence of Christ they need demonstrate nothing, for Christ speaks to them of Himself and of His Father. They are silent because Christ speaks to them, and it is His words that
they
speak.
58
Every brother you meet becomes a witness for Christ or for the ego, depending on what you perceive in him. Everyone convinces you of what you
want
to perceive and of the reality of the kingdom you have chosen for your vigilance. Everything you perceive is a witness to the thought system you
want
to be true. Every brother has the power to release you
if you will to be free
. You cannot accept false witness of
him
unless you have evoked false witnesses
against
him. If
he
speaks not of Christ to you,
you
spoke not of Christ to him. You hear but your
own
voice, and if Christ speaks
through
you,
you
will hear Him.
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