T-2.I The Origins of Separation
1. To extend is a fundamental aspect of God which He gave to His Son.
²In the creation, God extended Himself to His creations and imbued them with the same loving Will to create.
³You have not only been fully created, but have also been created perfect.
⁴There is no emptiness in you.
⁵Because of your likeness to your Creator you are creative.
⁶No child of God can lose this ability because it is inherent in what he is, but he can use it inappropriately by projecting.
⁷The inappropriate use of extension, or projection, occurs when you believe that some emptiness or lack exists in you, and that you can fill it with your own ideas instead of truth.
⁸This process involves the following steps:
⁹First, you believe that what God created can be changed by your own mind.
¹⁰Second, you believe that what is perfect can be rendered imperfect or lacking.
¹¹Third, you believe that you can distort the creations of God, including yourself.
¹²Fourth, you believe that you can create yourself, and that the direction of your own creation is up to you.
2. These related distortions represent a picture of what actually occurred in the separation, or the ‘detour into fear’. ²None of this existed before the separation, nor does it actually exist now. ³Everything God created is like Him. ⁴Extension, as undertaken by God, is similar to the inner radiance that the children of the Father inherit from Him. ⁵Its real source is internal. ⁶This is as true of the Son as of the Father. ⁷In this sense the creation includes both the creation of the Son by God, and the Son’s creations when his mind is healed. ⁸This requires God’s endowment of the Son with free will, because all loving creation is freely given in one continuous line, in which all aspects are of the same order.
3. The Garden of Eden, or the preseparation condition, was a state of mind in which nothing was needed. ²When Adam listened to the ‘lies of the serpent’, all he heard was untruth. ³You do not have to continue to believe what is not true unless you choose to do so. ⁴All that can literally disappear in the twinkling of an eye because it is merely a misperception. ⁵What is seen in dreams seems to be very real. ⁶Yet the Bible says that a deep sleep fell upon Adam, and nowhere is there reference to his waking up. ⁷The world has not yet experienced any comprehensive reawakening or rebirth. ⁸Such a rebirth is impossible as long as you continue to project or miscreate. ⁹It still remains within you, however, to extend as God extended His Spirit to you. ¹⁰In reality this is your only choice, because your free will was given you for your joy in creating the perfect.
4. All fear is ultimately reducible to the basic misperception that you have the ability to usurp the power of God. ²Of course, you neither can nor have been able to do this. ³Here is the real basis for your escape from fear. ⁴The escape is brought about by your acceptance of the Atonement, which enables you to realize that your errors never really occurred. ⁵Only after the deep sleep fell upon Adam could he experience nightmares. ⁶If a light is suddenly turned on while someone is dreaming a fearful dream, he may initially interpret the light itself as part of his dream and be afraid of it. ⁷However, when he awakens, the light is correctly perceived as the release from the dream, which is then no longer accorded reality. ⁸This release does not depend on illusions. ⁹The knowledge that illuminates not only sets you free, but also shows you clearly that you are free.
5. Whatever lies you may believe are of no concern to the miracle, which can heal any of them with equal ease. ²It makes no distinctions among misperceptions. ³Its sole concern is to distinguish between truth on the one hand, and error on the other. ⁴Some miracles may seem to be of greater magnitude than others. ⁵But remember the first principle in this course; there is no order of difficulty in miracles. ⁶In reality you are perfectly unaffected by all expressions of lack of love. ⁷These can be from yourself and others, from yourself to others, or from others to you. ⁸Peace is an attribute in you. ⁹You cannot find it outside. ¹⁰Illness is some form of external searching. ¹¹Health is inner peace. ¹²It enables you to remain unshaken by lack of love from without and capable, through your acceptance of miracles, of correcting the conditions proceeding from lack of love in others.