Question 16, Part 1 from
A Course in Miracles
Chapter 2: THE NATURE OF THE SEPARATION
16) What is A Course in Miracles'
view of time?
Answer Part 1: From the perspective of A Course in Miracles, all of time has already occurred, even though "it seems to have a future still unknown to us" (W-pl.158.3:7). In order to understand the Course, it is vital to get a glimpse of the view of time that Jesus is presenting. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to understand the metaphysics and its application. As he clearly states in this passage from the manual for teachers:
In order to understand the teaching-learning plan of salvation [the plan of the Atonement], it is necessary to grasp the concept of time that the course sets forth (M-2.2:1).When we accepted the belief in our minds (before there were bodies) that we could be our own creator -- i.e., self-created -- we set into motion a series of cause and effect relationships. The easiest way to understand this is to consider that if we entertained the thought that we could make an opposite to Heaven, one of the effects of this thought would be the beginning of a dream world of time and space, and all the ways that we would manifest the effects of that thought; for example, all the many scripts of our various so-called lifetimes.
Another analogy is that an effect of
that insane thought produced a dream-hologram of hatred, which has time
and space as its template. Therefore, it is important to recognize that
once the mind of the Sonship seemed to fall asleep, it entertained thoughts
that were opposite to what truly is. For example:
REALITY ILLUSION eternity time life death changelessness change perfection imperfection love hate limitlessness limitation spirit body formlessness form
Reproduced with the kind permission of Gloria and Kenneth
Wapnick and the Foundation for A Course in Miracles®
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