26.02.06
0503 – Sin versus Error
Posted in the Branch at 6:27 pm by Linda 
Print This Post
from Issue 005 — Jan 2002
This is the second article of a series of three that explores from different vantagepoints the theme of the underlying causes of some of our difficulties in practicing the Course.
In my last article (Struggle and the Practice of a Simple Course), I explored the means and end of salvation as set forth in the Course. I highlighted the fact that difficulties we have in practicing the Course fundamentally reveal an unexamined ambivalence in accepting the purpose of forgiveness as our only purpose. Forgiveness is rooted in the understanding that truth cannot be altered, and so the most we could ever do is make a mistake. Errors are by their very nature correctable and forgivable. In this article I will explore some issues related to sin versus error and the importance of understanding this in order to facilitate genuine healing.
Periods of stagnation can reflect limitations we place on ourselves in genuinely accepting the Course message that there is no hierarchy of illusions. In fact the very experience of a sense of stagnation suggests that at some level we have grown impatient with ourselves. Self blame or self-judgement has reared its ugly head. Our very judgement compounds and reinforces our tendencies. Guilt still whispers in our ears, reminding us that in this area of our lives we are irredeemable, tainted, unworthy of the peace that faith in our inherent innocence would bestow on us immediately. Sin is eternal, not its opposite.
When we put our attention on the form of our error, as if it in itself communicates something true about ourselves, we are, in effect, bowing to the god of sin and his right-hand man guilt. Until we reach a point that we can doubt or question the feeling of guilt itself, via the process of taking on board the idea that we indeed are in error but not sin, the form of the error will tend to repeat itself. And most certainly if it is not in that form it will be in another. Hence the feeling of being stuck or going around in circles and acting out the same pattern yet again. That is why the ways of this world are deeply wearying.
The Course does not want us to suffer an instant longer than the belief in our tendencies will guarantee, so the solution is immediate. In the instant you are aware of it release your gaze from the form of the error. If there is lack of peace in your awareness know you must have chosen the belief in sin, guilt and fear. It is that which breathes life into our patterns such that they almost seem to have a life of their own. It is these underlying beliefs which need to be forgiven and therefore healed.
Recall the brilliant examination of the significance of form versus content in the latter paragraphs of the Laws of Chaos (T-23.II). Allow even a hint of the belief in a “hierarchy of errors” to enter your awareness and you have immediately placed your feet on “the twisted stairway that leads from Heaven.” (T-23.II.22:4). It also says in the same paragraph that any instant this can all be undone. It is undone by not being deceived by the form of an error. Make not the error real. It is certain, however, while we are deceived we will think magically and seek to solve the problem in ways that can only compound it because we have not addressed the root cause. Ideas leave not their source and deception must give rise to further deception. And all because in our fear we have not dared to lift our eyes and look into the face of sin. Guilt keeps on deflecting our attention. Nothing so painful as the feeling of guilt! That is why it is absolutely essential to this process (another one of those non-negotiables, which form the heart of the Course) that we ask for help. Interestingly and tellingly The Laws of Chaos ends with these words:
So, finally, the only way out of our angst is to question the validity of the implicit messages concealed by the form of our experiences. They are the mistakes in truth, but also in truth they never have and never will make a Son of God condemnable. In “The Last Unanswered Question” section of Chapter 21 of the Text, which interestingly looks at the notion of happiness being happiness only when it is constant, we are reminded of the importance of the “not no” (T-21.VII.12: 4). Sincerely saying yes to truth implies a willingness to say no to that, which appears to deny it. We can say no to error, whereas the belief in sin would have kept us eternally bound. So in any instant, what is truly significant is who we have called upon us to join us and where we put our attention. The form of things alone will deceive because they were made for that. If our attention does become fixated on the outside form of nothing, peace must allude us now. And thus we cannot avail ourselves of the instant release the Course promises. Time seems to dominate and the means of forgiveness and the healing of the mind still appear to be separate. Such is the very power of our minds to make real what is not real so that what is real is not seen in that moment. But it is only us doing this to ourselves and that very doing is what forgiveness is for. Which goes to show the Son of God can never be wrong nor can he be beyond redemption.
Linda