Victory for the Terrorists Denied, 3

The Course in Miracles reinforces the need for us to take responsibility for the way we think about things, such as the ‘threats’ in the defense authorization legislation, and work from the inside out to deal with them. Doing that instead of blaming and fearing what’s outside our minds, is the change of thinking Einstein mentioned when he said you can’t solve the problem at the level of thinking that created it in the first place. The level of thinking we’ve been using is outside-in. It’s that level of thinking that holds the problems in place and perpetuates them.

“You would not react at all to figures in a dream you knew you were dreaming,” the Course says. “Let them be as hateful [or happy,] as vicious [or kind] as they may, they could have no effect you unless you failed to recognize you’re dreaming.”

In other words, all dream figures are the same because they all have no effect on our [waking] lives, unless we give them that power” and believe them to be real. This means that the ‘miracle’ - the awakening from the dream and experiencing the very same phenomena differently, as reflections of spirit’s love, compassion, goodness, joy and creativity, is the same no matter what we’re dreaming. So the Course says, “there is no order of difficulty in miracles. One is not ‘harder’ or ‘bigger’ than another. They are all the same. All expressions of love are maximal.”

The dreams of others affect me only when I choose to make myself part of their dreams of separation, suffering, and attack. Understanding this makes me responsible, not for the egos of others, but only for my reactions to their egos. In this sense, others – those I label terrorists, friends, lovers or enemies, are irrelevant to my reactions and feelings.

Thinking I’m in the world - the ego’s nightmare, and knowing that the ego always speaks first, I will react to others. But then I can catch myself, pause, and ask ‘do my reactions impede or contribute to my goal of awakening from the ego’s dream of separation’ and contributing to a world that works for everyone and everything, and if it impedes, as 99.5% of every experience does, then I can invite the decision maker in my mind to choose again.