This section deals with a fundamental misuse of knowledge,
referred to in the Bible as the cause of the “fall,” or separation. There
are some definitions which I asked you to take from the dictionary which
will be helpful here. They are somewhat unusual, since they are not the
first definitions which are given. Nevertheless, the fact that each of
them does appear in the dictionary should be reassuring.

Project (verb): to extend forward or out.
Project (noun): a plan in the mind.
World: a natural grand division.

We will refer later to projection as related to both mental health and
mental illness. We have already observed that man can create an empty
shell, but he cannot create nothing at all. This emptiness provides the
screen for the misuse of projection.

The Garden of Eden, which is described as a literal garden in the Bible,
was not an actual garden at all. It was merely a mental state of
complete need-lack. Even in the literal account, it is noteworthy that
the pre-separation state was essentially one in which man needed
nothing. The “tree of knowledge” is also an overly literal figure. These
concepts need to be clarified before the real meaning of the separation,
or the “detour into fear,” can be fully understood.

To “project,” as defined above, is a fundamental attribute of God, which
He gave to His Son. In the Creation, God projected His
Creative Ability from Himself to the Souls He created, and He also
imbued them with the same loving will to create. The Soul has not only
been fully created, but has also been created perfect. There is NO
emptiness in it. Because of its likeness to its Creator, it is creative.
No Child of God can lose this ability because it is inherent in what he
IS, but he CAN use it inappropriately. Whenever projection is used
inappropriately, it ALWAYS implies that some emptiness or lack exists,
and that it is in man’s ability to put his OWN ideas there INSTEAD of
truth.

If you consider carefully what this entails, the following will become
quite apparent:

These related distortions represent a picture of what actually occurred
in the separation. None of this existed before, nor does it actually
exist now. The world WAS made as “a natural grand division,” or a
projecting outward of God. That is why everything that He created is
like Him. Projection, as undertaken by God, is very similar to the kind
of inner radiance which the Children of the Father inherit from Him. It
is important to note that the term “project outward” necessarily implies
that the REAL source of projection is internal. This is as true of the
Son as of the Father.

The world, in the original connotation of the term, included both the
proper Creation of man by God AND the proper creation by man in his
right mind. The latter required the endowment of man by God with free
will, because ALL loving creation is freely given. Nothing in these
statements implies any sort of level involvement, or, in fact, anything
except one continuous line of creation, in which all aspects are of the
same order.

When the “lies of the serpent” were introduced, they were specifically
called “lies” because they are not true. When man
listened, all he heard was untruth. He does not have to continue to
believe what is not true unless he chooses to do so. All of his
miscreations can literally disappear in “the twinkling of an eye,”
because they are merely visual misperceptions. Man’s Spiritual eye can
sleep, but a sleeping eye can still see. What is seen in dreams seems to
be very real. The Bible mentions that “a deep sleep fell upon Adam,” and
nowhere is there any reference to his waking up.

The history of man in the world as he sees it has not yet been marked by
any genuine or comprehensive reawakening or rebirth. This is impossible
as long as man projects in the spirit of miscreation. It still remains
within him, however, to project as God projected His Own Spirit to him.
In reality, this is his ONLY choice, because his free will was given him
for his own joy in creating the perfect.

All fear is ultimately reducible to the basic misperception that man has
the ability to USURP the power of God. It can only be emphasized that he
neither CAN nor HAS BEEN able to do this. In this fact lies the real
justification for his escape from fear. The escape is brought about by
his acceptance of the Atonement, which places him in a position to
realize that his own errors never really occurred. When the “deep sleep”
fell upon Adam, he was in a condition to experience nightmares BECAUSE
he was asleep. If a light is suddenly turned on while someone is
dreaming a fearful dream, he may initially interpret the light itself as
a part of his own dream, and be afraid of it. However, when he awakens,
the light is correctly perceived as the RELEASE from the dream, which is
no longer accorded reality.

It is quite apparent that this release does NOT depend on the kind of
“knowledge” which is nothing more than deceiving lies. The knowledge
which illuminates rather than obscures is the knowledge which not only
SETS you free, but which also shows you clearly that you ARE free.
Whatever lies you may believe are of no concern to the miracle, which
can heal ANY of them with equal ease. It makes NO distinctions among
misperceptions. Its SOLE concern is to distinguish between truth on the
one hand, and ALL kinds of errors on the other. Some miracles may SEEM
to be of greater magnitude than others. But remember the first point in
this course; that there is NO order of difficulty in miracles.

In reality, you are perfectly unaffected by ALL expressions of lack of
love. These can be either from yourself AND others, or from yourself TO
others, or from others to YOU. Peace is an attribute in YOU. You cannot
find it outside. All mental illness is some form of EXTERNAL searching.
Mental health is INNER peace. It enables you to remain unshaken by lack
of love from without, and capable, through your own miracles, of
correcting the external conditions which proceed from lack of love in
others.