I now believe we have a choice between two parallel "worlds." One is physical and the other spiritual. We can look at the world through ego, the mind of man, or through spirit, the Mind of God. One is external the other internal. Since God truly is all love all knowing and all powerful the concepts of hell, Satan, sin and separation are illusions created by man. "Sin" is a mistake that can be corrected. Everything in the universe is God. Time and space do not exist. In eternity there is nowhere that is not God. Everyone and everything is interconnected.

Pain, guilt and fear result when the mind of man views us as separate from God, from each other and all creation. When we identify with the Mind of God we know we were never born and we will never die. There is birth and death when we identify with the body and the mind of man. The Mind of God leads to truth, life, love, joy and peace the mind of man leads to illusion, fear, vengeance, pain and death.

Jesus' teaching "Judge not, lest ye be judged...and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again" took on new meaning. I now understood why forgiveness is the path to truth, love and peace. When we judge another we judge God and ourselves.

“A Course in Miracles" says right mindedness listens to the Mind of God, merely overlooks and forgives what never happened. Wrong-mindedness listens to the ego and makes illusions. Ego perceives sin, guilt, disease and death as real and justifies anger. Whenever we respond to the ego we experience guilt and fear of punishment. The ego's purpose is fear. The opposite of the mind of man is a miracle. Where we saw evil and darkness we now see light and holiness. The miracle forgives: the ego damns. There is no need for help to enter Heaven for we have never left. We see a kindly world and walk in gentleness.

“A Course in Miracles” began when Helen Schucman, a Professor of Medical Psychology at Columbia

University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City, made a commitment to find a better way to deal with the the discord in her department. Helen wrote, “Psychologist, educator, conservative in theory and atheistic in belief, I was working in a prestigious and highly academic setting. And then something happened that triggered a chain of events I could never have predicted. The head of the department unexpectedly announced that he was tired of the angry and aggressive feelings our attitudes reflected and concluded that 'there has to be another way.' As if on cue, I agreed to help him find it. Apparently this Course is the other way.”

Helen said she immediately began to have startling highly symbolic dreams and strange images. She was stunned when she began receiving rapid dictation from a an inner voice which she wrote down in shorthand. She said the writing was never automatic and could be interrupted at any time. The Voice began with “This is a course in miracles.” William (Bill) Thetford one of her colleagues was so impressed with the writing he agreed to help her. He typed up Helen's daily dictation from the the Voice. Helen said without Bill's encouragement and support she would never have been able to fulfill the commitment. The whole process took seven years. The Text came first, then the Workbook for Students, and finally the Manual for Teachers. The names of the collaborators do not appear on the cover because Helen and Bill felt the Course should stand on its own. They believe the purpose of the Course is to help people find their own Internal Teacher. The Course emphasizes application and experience rather than theory and theology. It asks the reader to apply the ideas without judgment.

The Course says a universal theology is impossible but a universal experience is not only possible but necessary. Although the Course is Christian it deals with universal spiritual themes and emphasizes that it is but one version of the universal curriculum. They all lead to God in the end.

Viewing myself as the "Son of God" now feels right for there's no gender in the Mind of God.

The introduction to "A Course in Miracles" says is all: "This is a course in miracles. It is a required course. Only the time you take is voluntary. Free will does not mean that you can establish the curriculum. It means only that you can elect what you want to take at a given time. The course does not aim at teaching the meaning of love, for that is beyond what can be taught. It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the awareness of love's presence, which is your natural inheritance. The opposite of love is fear, but what is all-encompassing can have no opposite. This course can therefore be summed up very simply in this way: Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God."