Beloved One,
The ego error presumes cause and effect are separate and reversed. Thus the mind believes it is separate from its Source and has been caused by the world and is at the mercy of the world. Forgiveness shows that cause and effect are together and that the mind is causative and not an effect of the world. (ACIM Lessons 5-8) In simple terms, forgiveness shows that happiness is inside the mind and that nothing is outside or apart from mind.
A Course in Miracles online explains that God and Christ are One, Cause and Effect are One. Regarding this world, forgiveness shows that cause and effect are one, or that all is mind and there is no distinction, therefore, of "matter" as manifest or apart from thought. There is only one error: the image and the image-maker, the false "thinker" and the false "thought" are one illusion. Exposing this one error in the Light of Truth ends the error, for the deception was that error was many. (ACIM Lessons 79-80) Error is content and not form of any kind. The error that made the world is false, and therefore the "effects" of this false "cause" are not real. Hence, forgiveness cancels out error and sees that it never happened in Truth. The final lesson, Atonement, is the experience that the error never occurred.
Peace & Blessings,
David Hoffmeister – A Course in Miracles online
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