Questions

Question:
I am very angry about this copyright issue. I think that the current copyright on the Course has been massively abused against people. It’s hard for people to apply the Course when they aren't even allowed to obtain a copy because of Dr. Wapnick's "protection of its purity and integrity." What is being requested is that we give up our freedom, and that is not a material request, that is a request of us to deny the truth. The copyright isn't valid you know! You can't copyright divinely authored material. You can't copyright public domain material. The Course is both. Copyright makes the error of ownership and fear-based control seem real. To obey it is to acknowledge it as real, and actually make it real for you. It isn't real. It is actually quite ridiculous and that's the truth—and that truth needs to be said again and again until people finally get it. Basically when you say there is a copyright and trademark on Jesus you are saying an illusion is real and that freedom is an illusion.

Answer:
With each email the Christ Light shines clearer and the ego's faulty "reasoning" is exposed as completely meaningless. No amount of evidence can convince a mind of what it does not want, for the "wanting" determines the perception. Peace is truly all there is to want and to experience. Value peace and see a witness to peace; value conflict and the illusion of a fearful world is what seems to preoccupy awareness. Remember that the ego can never know peace, for the ego is the belief in death. You are not the ego. It is helpful to remember that one cannot be both "right" about a personal perspective of the world, and happy at the same time. No ego reasoning can be an aid in experiencing happiness.

"In any situation in which you are uncertain, the first thing to consider, very simply, is 'What do I want to come of this? What is it for?' The clarification of the goal belongs at the beginning, for it is this which will determine the outcome. In the ego's procedure this is reversed. The situation becomes the determiner of the outcome, which can be anything. The reason for this disorganized approach is evident. The ego does not know what it wants to come of the situation. It is aware of what it does not want, but only that. It has no positive goal at all." (T-17-VI.2)

"All terms are potentially controversial, and those who seek controversy will find it. Yet those who seek clarification will find it as well. They must, however, be willing to overlook controversy, recognizing that it is a defense against truth in the form of a delaying maneuver. Theological considerations as such are necessarily controversial, since they depend on belief and can therefore be accepted or rejected. A universal theology is impossible, but a universal experience is not only possible but necessary. It is this experience toward which the course is directed. Here alone consistency becomes possible, because here alone uncertainty ends." (C-in.2)

I will be very honest and direct with you, for thus is the ego's "reasoning" exposed as offering nothing of value. You are experiencing the illusion of anger and believe that a brother is the source of it. This is simply not the case. Perception is a mirror and not a fact, and no "body" has done anything to upset you. If you will look at this closely and honestly you will see that the anger is self-hatred and has nothing to do with the actions of a brother. Anger is never justified, for it has no cause. For this reason pardon is always justified, for the Atonement is the recognition that the separation never happened. Atonement and Innocence go together and cannot be found apart. If you continue to believe attack is real, in any way, shape, or form, this reflects the belief that attack on God is possible. It is not, and this impossibility of attack is the Atonement or the Correction of error.

Truth is an experience and is not a collection of words. The laws of the world are the ego and these ego "laws" are false because Truth (which is the experience) is true. You wrote: "The copyright isn't valid you know! You can't copyright divinely authored material. You can't copyright public domain material. The Course is both." When you believe that Truth can be reduced to words and that these words can be owned or possessed, you have taken the ego's bait. This is exactly what you believe or you could not be upset. To fight for or against anything in form means that you believe in the reality of the form and remain unaware of the Content behind the form. Yet you will only experience peace by being aware of the Content or Purpose of the Holy Spirit. Anger needs a scapegoat, and if you are open to seeing that attack is impossible you will also see that anger and projection are impossible as well. This is what I meant by "The meek shall inherit the earth."

My first email offered the thought that it is peaceful and loving to answer a Call for Love by recognizing the Call for Love behind the words or actions of an apparent outrageous request, instead of perceiving an attack. Again, as Christ states: "Recognize what does not matter, and if your brothers ask you for something outrageous, do it because it does not matter. Refuse, and your opposition establishes that it does matter to you. It is only you, therefore, who have made the request outrageous, and every request of a brother is for you. Why would you insist in denying him? For to do so is to deny yourself and impoverish both. He is asking for salvation, as you are." I gave a specific example using a copyright request to "cease and desist" as the apparent outrageous request. Very simply, only the ego can perceive an outrageous request, for the Perspective of the Holy Spirit sees only wholeness and knows that "lack" and "attack" are meaningless. To be at peace, then, you must be willing to surrender the belief in attack to the Holy Spirit and accept the Perspective "above the battleground." This is what is meant by "would you rather be right or happy?"

The ego is the grievance of believing that attack is real. You stated this ego belief as the following: "What is being requested is that we give up our freedom, and that is not a material request, that is a request of us to deny the truth." It is only the ego that believes it already has freedom and further believes that this so-called freedom can be given up or taken away. Freedom is God Given and cannot be found apart from Its Divine Source. The Holy Spirit's Purpose is the only reflection of Freedom (or Free Will) which can be experienced with regard to perception, and this Perspective transcends the belief in attack. What is one cannot attack itself (mind cannot attack W-136.20.7), and only wholeness can be freely experienced. That is why I asked you directly: "Do you want freedom of the body or freedom of the mind, for both you cannot have?" The ego's pseudo-freedom is an illusion and not the least bit worth defending or fighting for. Why would you defend death? Make no mistake: the ego is the belief in death.

You wrote: "illusion is cited as an attack on truth." This is another way of saying that "attack on truth" is an illusion. Attack on God is impossible. Freedom cannot be taken away by an ego law called copyright, for true freedom is invulnerable. If you identify with and attempt to defend the ego, the resulting illusory experience is a seeming loss of freedom. This need not be. You would do well to question the "freedom" that is being fought for or defended. What is Given by God cannot be taken away. The following statement is characteristic of the ego's attempt at reversal of cause and effect: "Copyright makes the error of ownership and fear-based control seem real. To obey it is to acknowledge it as real and actually make it real for you. It isn't real. It is actually quite ridiculous and that's the truth and that truth needs to be said again and again until people finally get it." Belief that anything exists outside of one mind is an ego attempt to make the error real in awareness. If you actually saw that the concept of ownership was impossible, you would look calmly upon the world from the Holy Spirit's Perspective and know that truth cannot be contained in words and symbols. But believing the concept of ownership is real is underneath the need to "rebel against it" or "protect and defend it." Clarity sees beyond this error. When Jesus paid the temple tax he wasn't acknowledging the error of ego and denying the truth of Spirit. When Jesus ate fish and bread he wasn't acknowledging the error of ego and denying the truth of Spirit. It is the peaceful state of mind which acknowledges life and forgiveness by teaching: "brother at your hands I live" and only the Holy Spirit's Perspective Which dispels the error of being separate.

You wrote: "Basically when you say there is a copyright and trademark on Jesus you are saying an illusion is real and that freedom is an illusion." Do you actually believe that the Presence of Jesus can be copyrighted or trademarked? Who in their right-mind would claim that Jesus could be copyrighted or trademarked? Yet to the ego this idea is believable. Clarity sees the impossibility at once. I will say this again: what you perceive is what you believe. If you think that someone else is actually doing something that you claim is impossible, and you are willing to battle that someone else, then you believe exactly what you claim you don't believe. This is how the ego attempts to perpetuate itself—it bids your mind to see the villain or scapegoat or enemy as somebody or something that is outside your mind. Yet by attempting to see the source of anger or loss of freedom as caused by something or somebody in the world is the ego belief protected and maintained in awareness.

You wrote: "The copyright has been massively abused against people." If you believe in the ego's concept of "abuse" you will perceive the concept as acted out in the world. Yet ideas leave not their source, and only the ego can perceive abuse. Yet you are not an ego and another Perspective is offered you. Choose a miracle instead. The Course is very, very clear that abuse is entirely impossible:

"Beware of the temptation to perceive yourself unfairly treated. In this view, you seek to find an innocence that is not Theirs but yours alone, and at the cost of someone else's guilt. Can innocence be purchased by the giving of your guilt to someone else? And is it innocence that your attack on him attempts to get? Is it not retribution for your own attack upon the Son of God you seek? Is it not safer to believe that you are innocent of this, and victimized despite your innocence? Whatever way the game of guilt is played, there must be loss. Someone must lose his innocence that someone else can take it from him, making it his own." (T-26.X.4)

"Say only this, but mean it with no reservations, for here the power of salvation lies:

I am responsible for what I see. I choose the feelings I experience, and I decide upon the goal I would achieve. And everything that seems to happen to me I ask for, and receive as I have asked. Deceive yourself no longer that you are helpless in the face of what is done to you. Acknowledge but that you have been mistaken, and all effects of your mistakes will disappear." (T- 21.II.2)

You wrote: "It's hard to apply the Course for all those people who aren't even allowed to obtain a copy because of Dr. Wapnick's "protection of its purity and integrity." Again, the law of perception is that the mind always gets exactly what it wants and asks for. You have studied the Bible. It is this simple: "As you sow, sow shall you reap." (And everything that seems to happen to me I ask for, and receive as I have asked.) There are no exceptions to this and the mind is never deprived of what it believes. Would you hold onto the belief in the ego or let it go? Would you question the ego belief system or attempt to project responsibility for fear and anger onto something that seems to be "not you?" This is the choice that is before you. Do not attempt to avoid looking at the choice exactly as it is.

You wrote: "Freedom isn't Caesar's, it is God's." This is not your experience, for until you expose and release the unconscious belief in the ego you will believe that freedom is vulnerable and frail - and in buying the "bait" of the ego you must then seek to defend and protect its version of "religious freedom." This is not honest, for you are not the ego and will only find true freedom in forgiving illusions and accepting the Truth of our very Being in God. Do not delay unlearning the ego and accepting the Atonement. For God's Will is for perfect happiness and cannot be found in judgment and conflict.

I am open to You Holy Child of God. Not one ego thought has reality and defense is utterly meaningless. You are not bound by the laws of the world, yet in this experience you are invulnerable. Mastery through fear is the attempt to control the world. Mastery through Love sees that control is impossible. Forgive and you will have no imagined need to attack or defend anything. For Spirit is indeed invulnerable. You are symbolically taking your first "baby steps" in authentic Awakening. They will seem very difficult if you attempt to cling to the "I know" stance of ego pride. Humbly be willing to ask questions about what you believe, for the ego runs deep and the unconscious mind is the "unwatched mind." Be willing to be attentive to your attitudes and thoughts and beliefs, do not repress the anger that arises, and be willing to call on Help from the Holy Spirit. Protect no beliefs from the Healing Light within.

If you are open and willing I will speak with you. You can call me. If you read the articles I have shared freely on the web with an open mind this will be helpful. Above all, be honest with yourself and hide nothing you believe from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will take nothing from you and dispels the ego only as illusion is brought to Truth. It is time to lay aside the insane attempt of projecting the error of separation to the world, for the world was made to distract away from inner purification and transformation of perception. Do not look to a darkened glass for peace, for perception must be cleared up first. Remove the beam from your perception and you will see the world from the Perspective on High. Such is true freedom and peace of mind.

Love & Blessings always,
David