When you are afraid of ANYTHING, you are acknowledging its power to hurt
you. Remember that where your heart is, there is your treasure also. This
means that you believe in what you VALUE. If you are afraid, you are
VALUING WRONGLY. Human understanding will inevitably value wrongly, and,
by endowing all human thoughts with equal power, will inevitably DESTROY
peace. That is why the Bible speaks of “The peace of God which PASSETH
(human) understanding.” THIS peace is totally incapable of being shaken
by human errors of ANY kind. It denies the ability of ANYTHING which is
not of God to affect you in ANY way.

This is the PROPER use of denial. It is not used to HIDE anything, but
to CORRECT error. It brings ALL error into the light, and since error
and darkness are the same, it corrects error automatically. True denial
is a powerful protective device. You can and should deny any belief that
error can hurt you. This kind of denial is not a concealment device, but
a correction device. The “right mind” of the mentally healthy DEPENDS on
it. You can do ANYTHING I ask. I have asked you to perform miracles, and
have made it clear that miracles are NATURAL, CORRECTIVE, HEALING, AND
UNIVERSAL. There is nothing good they cannot do, but they cannot be
performed in the spirit of doubt.

God and the Souls He created are COMPLETELY dependent on each other. The
creation of the Soul has already been perfectly accomplished, but the
creation BY Souls has not. God created Souls so He could depend on them
BECAUSE He created them perfectly. He gave them His peace so they could
not be shaken, and would be unable to be deceived. Whenever you are
afraid, you ARE deceived.

Your mind is NOT serving the Soul. This literally starves the Soul by
denying its daily bread. God offers ONLY mercy. YOUR words should
reflect only mercy because that is what you have received, and that is
what you should GIVE.

Justice is a temporary expedient, or an attempt to teach man the meaning
of mercy. Its judgemental side arises only because man is capable of
INjustice, if that is what his mind creates. You are afraid of God’s Will
because you have used your own will, which He created in the likeness of
His Own, to MISCREATE. What you do NOT realize is that the mind can
miscreate ONLY when it is NOT free. An imprisoned mind is not free, by
definition. It is possessed, or held back, by ITSELF. Its will is
therefore limited, and is not free to assert itself. The real meaning of
“are of one kind,” which was mentioned before, is “are of one mind or
will.” When the Will of the Sonship and the Father are One, their
perfect accord IS Heaven.

Denial of error is a powerful defense of truth. You will note that we
have been shifting the emphasis from the negative to the positive use of
denial. As we have already stated, denial is not a purely negative
device; it results in positive miscreation. That is the way the mentally
ill DO employ it. But remember a very early thought of your own; –
“Never underestimate the power of denial.” In the service of the “right
mind,” the denial of ERROR frees the mind and reestablishes the freedom
of the will. When the will is REALLY free, it CANNOT miscreate because
it recognizes ONLY truth.

False projection arises out of false denial, NOT out of its proper use.
My own role in the Atonement is one of TRUE projection; I can project to
YOU the affirmation of truth. If you project error to me, or to
yourself, you are interfering with the process. MY use of projection,
which can also be yours, is NOT based on faulty denial. It DOES involve,
however, the very powerful use of the denial of errors. The miracle
worker is one who accepts my kind of denial and projection, unites his
own inherent abilities to deny and project with mine, and imposes them
back on himself and others. This establishes the total LACK of threat
anywhere. Together we can then work for the real time of peace, which is
eternal.

The improper use of defenses is quite widely recognized, but their
proper use has not been sufficiently understood as yet. They can
INDEED create man’s perception, both of himself and of the world. They
can distort or correct, depending on what you use them FOR.

Denial should be directed only to error, and projection should be
reserved only for truth. You should truly give as you have truly
received. The Golden Rule can work effectively only on this basis.

Intellectualisation is a term which stems from the mind-brain confusion.
“Rightmindedness” is the device which defends the RIGHT mind, and gives
it control over the body. “Intellectualisation” implies a split, while
“right-mindedness” involves healing.

Withdrawal is properly employed in the service of withdrawing from the
meaningless. It is NOT a device for escape, but for consolidation. There
IS only one mind.

Dissociation is quite similar. You SHOULD split off or dissociate
yourself from error, but only in defense of integration.

Detachment is essentially a weaker form of dissociation.

Flight can be undertaken in whatever direction you choose, but note that
the concept itself implies flight FROM something. Flight from error is
perfectly appropriate.

Distantiation can be properly used as a way of putting distance between
yourself and what you SHOULD fly from.

Regression is an effort to return to your own original state. It can
thus be utilized to RESTORE, rather than to go back to the LESS mature.

Sublimation should be a redirection of effort to the sublime.

There are many other so-called “dynamic” concepts which are profound
errors due essentially to the misuse of defenses. Among them is the
concept of different levels of aspiration, which actually result from
level confusion. However, the main point to be understood from this
section is that you can defend truth as well as error, and, in fact,
much better.

The means are easier to clarify after the value of the goal itself is
firmly established. Everyone defends his own treasure. You do not have to
tell him to do so, because he will do it automatically. The real
questions still remain. WHAT do you treasure, and HOW MUCH do you
treasure it? Once you have learned to consider these two questions, and
to bring them into ALL your actions as the true criteria for behavior, I
will have little difficulty in clarifying the means. You
have not learned to be consistent about this as yet. I have therefore
concentrated on showing you that the means ARE available whenever you
ASK. You can, however, save a lot of time if you do not extend this step
unduly. The correct focus will shorten it immeasurably.

The Atonement is the ONLY defense which cannot be used destructively.
That is because, while everyone must eventually join it, it is NOT a
device which was generated by man. The Atonement PRINCIPLE was in effect
long before the Atonement itself began. The principle was love, and the
Atonement itself was an ACT of love. Acts were not necessary before the
separation, because the time-space belief did not exist. It was only
after the separation that the defense of Atonement, and the necessary
conditions for its fulfilment, were planned.

It became increasingly apparent that all of the defenses which man can
choose to use constructively OR destructively were not enough to save
him. It was therefore decided that he needed a defense which was so
splendid that he could not misuse it, although he COULD refuse it. His
choice could not, however, turn it into a weapon of attack, which is the
inherent characteristic of all other defenses. The Atonement thus
becomes the ONLY defense which is NOT a two-edged sword.

The Atonement actually began long before the crucifixion. Many Souls
offered their efforts on behalf of the separated ones, but they could
not withstand the strength of the attack and had to be brought back.
Angels came, too, but their protection did not suffice, because the
separated ones were not interested in peace. They had already split
their minds, and were bent on further dividing, rather than
reintegrating. The levels they introduced into their minds turned
against each other, and they established differences, divisions,
cleavages, dispersions, and all the other concepts related to the
increasing splits which they produced.

Not being in their right minds, they turned their defenses from
protection to assault, and acted literally insanely. It was essential to
introduce a split-proof device which could be used ONLY to heal, if it
were used at all. The Atonement was built into the space-time belief in
order to set a limit on the need for the belief, and ultimately to make
learning complete. The Atonement IS the final lesson.

Learning itself, like the classrooms in which it occurs, is temporary.
The ability to learn has no value when change of understanding is no
longer necessary. The eternally creative have nothing to learn. Only
after the separation was it necessary to direct the creative forces to
learning, because changed behavior had become mandatory.

Men can learn to improve their behavior, and can also learn to become
better and better learners. This serves to bring them into closer and
closer accord with the Sonship, but the Sonship Itself is a perfect
Creation, and perfection is NOT a matter of degree. Only while there are
different degrees is learning meaningful. The “evolution” of man is
merely a process by which he proceeds from one degree to the next. He
corrects his previous missteps by stepping forward. This represents a
process which is actually incomprehensible in temporal terms, because he
RETURNS as he goes forward.

The Atonement is the device by which he can free himself from the past
as he goes ahead. It UNDOES his past errors, thus making it unnecessary
for him to keep retracing his steps without advancing to his return. In
this sense the Atonement saves time, but, like the miracle which serves
it, does NOT abolish it. As long as there is need for Atonement there is
need for time. But the Atonement, as a completed plan, does have a
unique relationship TO time. Until the Atonement is finished, its
various phases will proceed IN time, but the whole Atonement stands at
time’s end. At this point, the bridge of the return has been built.

The Atonement is a TOTAL commitment. You still think this is associated
with loss. This is the same mistake ALL the separated ones make, in one
way or another. They cannot believe that a defense which cannot attack
IS the best defense. This is what is meant by “the meek shall inherit the
earth.” They will literally take it over because of their strength. A
two-way defense is inherently weak precisely BECAUSE it has two edges,
and can turn against the self very unexpectedly. This tendency cannot be
controlled EXCEPT by miracles.

The miracle turns the defense of Atonement to the protection of the
inner self, which, as it becomes more and more secure, assumes its
natural talent of protecting others. The inner self knows itself as both
a brother AND a Son. You know that when defenses are
disrupted there is a period of real disorientation, accompanied by fear,
guilt, and usually vacillations between anxiety and depression. This
course is different in that defenses are NOT being disrupted but
REINTERPRETED, even though you may experience it as the same thing. In
the reinterpretation of defenses, only their use for ATTACK is lost.
Since this means they can be used only ONE way, they become much
stronger and much more dependable. They no longer oppose the Atonement,
but greatly facilitate it.

The Atonement can only be accepted WITHIN you. You have perceived it
largely as EXTERNAL thus far, and that is why your experience of it has
been minimal. The reinterpretation of defenses is essential in releasing
the INNER light. Since the separation, man’s defenses have been used
almost entirely to defend himself AGAINST the Atonement, and thus
maintain the separation. They themselves generally see this as a need to
protect the BODY. The many body fantasies with which men’s minds are
engaged arise from the distorted belief that the body can be used as a
means for attaining “atonement.”

Perceiving the body as a temple is only the first step in correcting
this kind of distortion. It alters part of the misperception, but not
all of it. It DOES recognize, however, that the concept of Atonement in
physical terms is not appropriate. However, the next step is to realize
that a temple is not a building at all. Its REAL holiness lies in the
INNER altar, around which the building is built. The inappropriate
emphasis men have put on beautiful church buildings is a sign of their
FEAR of Atonement, and their unwillingness to reach the altar itself.
The REAL beauty of the temple cannot be seen with the physical eye. The
Spiritual eye, on the other hand, cannot see the building at all because
It has perfect sight. It CAN, however, see the altar with PERFECT
clarity.

For perfect effectiveness, the Atonement belongs at the center of the
inner altar, where it undoes the separation and restores the wholeness
of the mind. Before the separation the mind was invulnerable to fear,
because fear did not exist. Both the separation AND the fear are
miscreations of the mind, which must be undone. This is what is meant by
“the restoration of the temple.” It does not mean the restoration of the
building, but the opening of the altar to receive the Atonement. This
heals the separation, and places
WITHIN man the one defense against ALL separation mind-errors which can
make him perfectly invulnerable.

The acceptance of the Atonement by everyone is only a matter of time. In
fact, both time AND matter were created for this purpose. This appears
to contradict free will because of the inevitability of the final
decision. If you review the idea carefully, however, you will realize
that this is not true. Everything is limited in some way by the manner
of its creation. Free will can temporize, and is capable of enormous
procrastination. But it cannot depart entirely from its Creator, Who set
the limits on its ability to miscreate by virtue of its own REAL
purpose.

The misuse of will engenders a situation which, in the extreme, becomes
altogether intolerable. Pain thresholds can be high, but they are not
limitless. Eventually everyone begins to recognize, however dimly, that
there MUST be a better way. As this recognition becomes more firmly
established, it becomes a perceptual turning-point. This ultimately
reawakens the Spiritual eye, simultaneously weakening the investment in
physical sight. The alternating investment in the two types or levels of
perception is usually experienced as conflict for a long time, and can
become very acute. But the outcome is as certain as God.

The Spiritual eye literally CANNOT SEE error and merely looks for
Atonement. All the solutions which the physical eyes seek dissolve in
Its sight. The Spiritual eye, which looks within, recognizes immediately
that the altar has been defiled, and needs to be repaired and protected.
Perfectly aware of the RIGHT defense, It passes over all others, looking
past error to truth. Because of the real strength of ITS vision, It
pulls the will into Its service and impels the mind to concur. This
reestablishes the true power of the will, and makes it increasingly
unable to tolerate delay. The mind then realizes with increasing
certainty that delay is only a way of increasing unnecessary pain which
it need not tolerate at all. The pain threshold drops accordingly, and
the mind becomes increasingly sensitive to what it would once have
regarded as very minor intrusions of discomfort.

The Children of God are ENTITLED to perfect comfort, which comes from a
sense of perfect trust. Until they achieve this, they waste themselves
and their true creative powers on useless attempts
to make themselves more comfortable by inappropriate means. But the real
means is ALREADY provided, and does not involve any effort at all on
their part. Their egocentricity usually misperceives this as personally
insulting, an interpretation which obviously arises from their
misperception of themselves. Egocentricity and communion CANNOT coexist.
Even the terms are contradictory.

The Atonement is the only gift that is worthy of being offered to the
altar of God. This is because of the inestimable value of the altar
itself. It was created perfect, and is entirely worthy of receiving
perfection. God IS lonely without His Souls and THEY are lonely without
Him. Men must learn to perceive the world as a means of HEALING the
separation. The Atonement is the GUARANTEE that they will ultimately
succeed.