One of the basic teachings of A
Course in Miracles is the concept of “the separation.” The separation is the idea that we could make
ourselves into separate beings who were special in the eyes of God – set apart
and set above the rest of the Sonship – and that we could become self-created instead of God-created.
The Course describes this idea as a
“tiny mad idea.” It is also described as
an idea that we forgot to laugh at. It
is, therefore, a laughable idea – one that we should see as insane. However, we did not laugh at this idea. Instead we took it seriously. This one mad idea then led to the insanity of
this world.
The Course also defines the ego as
the idea of separation. You could say
that the tiny mad idea of separation, specialness, and self-creation led us to make
the ego. All of the evil in the world
and all of the pain and suffering we experience has its origin in the ego and
the thought-system of separation that gave it birth.
Many students of the Course want to
understand what happened in the separation.
They want to know how we could have made this insane idea in the first
place. They believe that understanding its
origin will lead to finding its ending. However,
an even better question to ask is, “How could I continue to make this error?” It is better to ask the question in terms of
the present instead of the distant past.
We read in the Course:
“It is reasonable to ask how the mind
could ever have made the ego. In fact,
it is the best question you could ask.
There is, however, no point in giving an answer in terms of the past
because the past does not matter, and history would not exist if the same
errors were not being repeated in the present” (T-4.II.1).
“Your own state of mind is a good
example of how the ego was made. When
you threw knowledge away it is as if you never had it. This is so apparent that one need only
recognize it to see that it does happen.
If this occurs in the present, why is it surprising that it occurred in
the past? Surprise is a reasonable
response to the unfamiliar, though hardly to something that occurs with such
persistence. But do not forget that the
mind need not work that way, even though it does work that way now” (T-4.II.3).
The making of the ego continues to
occur in the present moment with much persistence. Our current state of mind – judgment, fear,
anger, attack, etc. – is made each moment that we throw away knowledge. We throw away knowledge each time we chose
our limited perception of our brother over Christ’s Vision. This is the true separation.
Engaging in philosophical speculation
on the origin of the separation is a useless endeavor and maintains the belief
that time is real and the past is the cause of the present. Instead, the Course guides us, through the
Workbook, to look at the errors in perception that we are making each
moment. It is then in the present, given
over to the Holy Spirit, that we know the insanity of our false perception and
the mad ideas of the ego. It is in this
holy instant that we experience true freedom and salvation.
“It has taken time to misguide you so
completely, but it takes no time at all to be what you are. Begin to practice the Holy Spirit's use of
time as a teaching aid to happiness and peace. Take this very instant, now, and think of it
as all there is of time. Nothing can
reach you here out of the past, and it is here that you are completely
absolved, completely free and wholly without condemnation” (T-15.I.9:3-6).
