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Word Gems
exploring self-realization, sacred personhood, and full humanity
A Course In Miracles
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Editor’s note: The Course presents this word in upper case. It is the true Self, the sacred Self, part of God, our being as derivative of God, which cannot be harmed no matter the evil of this world.
Your [true] Self is still in peace, even though your mind is in conflict [which at present is led by the ego]. You have not yet gone back far enough [that is, deeply enough into your person to discover the true Self, the true foundation of your being], and that is why you become so fearful. As you approach the Beginning [that is, the foundation of your being], you [the ego in you] feel the destruction of your [egoic] thought system ... as if it were the fear of death [because it is the death of the ego]. There is no death [for the true Self], but there is a belief in death [by the ego].
To be egocentric is to be dis-spirited, but to be Self-centered, in the right sense, is to be inspired or in spirit [that is, our spirit is aligned with the Great Spirit, which is a proper definition of "spirituality"].
Your [egoic] self and God's Self [your true self] are in opposition.
Who is the "you" ... living in this world?
You cannot understand yourself alone. This is because [what you are] has no meaning apart from your rightful place in the Sonship [which] is God. This is your life, your eternity and your Self.
The ego must offer you some sort of reward for maintaining this belief. All it can offer is a sense of temporary existence... Against this sense of temporary existence, spirit offers you the knowledge of permanence and unshakable being. No one who has experienced [this] revelation [which is the discovery of the true self] ... can ever believe in the ego again.
Editor’s note: In this final paragraph we find reference to the “false self” (“a sense of temporary existence”) and the “true self” (“unshakable being”). Immediately after this section there is the statement, “You who identify with your ego…” This is how we make a “false self.” We “identify” with it, that is, we make ourselves equal to it, and in so doing we blur the lines of who we really are and become convinced that we are something we’re not. It's not easy to sort this out and takes a "revelation" to see clearly who we really are. The "false self" is the ego's "reward" in that we gain a sense of personhood in this process, albeit an errant one; we believe that we are the ego's "chattering in the head" as we cannot hear the "still small voice" of the soul's whispering directive.
I will never forsake you ... but I must wait as long as you choose to forsake yourself [that is, as long as you forsake the "true self" and live by the "false self"]
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