taken from

Chapter 1: Separation vs. Oneness

It is my belief that one of our primary focuses when working with A Course in Miracles should be the pursuit of healing of the mind through the pursuit of the holy relationship, the holy instant, and the relinquishment of the false self. However, in order to do so, it is necessary to understand how the concepts of separation and oneness are related to these pursuits. The term oneness, as used in the Course, refers to the oneness of God’s creation. This is a difficult concept for us to understand because there doesn’t seem to be much oneness to creation. There seems, instead, to be division and separation. Separation is the apparent opposite of oneness. I say “apparent” because, according to the Course, there really are no opposites in truth. In order for there to be opposites, we need to be able to perceive separation. If we could comprehend oneness, we would know that there is no separation, but only oneness, and it has no opposite. Nothing within the oneness of creation can be separate from that oneness in any way or separate from anything else within the oneness. The oneness of creation, in truth, has no opposite, and nothing within it has an opposite. I will begin this chapter by discussing what the Course says about separation, and then discuss what it has to say about oneness.

There are several concepts about separation that can help explain its meaning as used in the Course. The first concept is the idea that we are separated from God and from one another. We all appear to be separated from God. Within life as we know it (the realm of time and space, or the realm of perception), God does not seem to exist. Prayer seems to be the only way to get in touch with Him, which appears to be a one-way form of communication.

We can pray to God, but He cannot respond. Or if He does respond, we are not able to hear His response. And it’s difficult for us to know whether or not He hears our prayers. It seems as if sometimes He hears our prayers and answers them, and other times, He doesn’t hear and, therefore, He doesn’t answer. We can’t see Him anywhere. We can’t hear Him. So, from everything that we can see, understand, and detect, we appear to be separated from God.

We also appear to be separated from one another. Our minds are enclosed within our physical brains. Our brains are enclosed within our physical bodies. And our physical bodies separate us off from one another. Therefore, we are all separated.

Another concept about separation, as used in the Course, is the idea that all physical entities (solids, liquids, and gases) are separate. This seems to be more easily recognized with respect to solids, but liquids and gases can also be broken down into molecules and atoms, which can be separated from one another.

The first four paragraphs of “The ‘Sacrifice’ of Oneness” from Chapter 26, “The Transition,” on pages 504 and 505 in the Text of A Course in Miracles illustrate the correlation between the separation of physical objects in time and space and the idea that we are separated from God and from one another.

(Please read the above-referenced passage from the Text at this time.)

The Course refers to the concept of physical entities being separate more in terms of form as opposed to formlessness rather than in the traditional scientific view of the building blocks of matter. If there is no physical reality, then to view the independent existence of physical entities as being composed of other physical entities wouldn’t make sense.

The fifth through eighth paragraphs from “Reason and the Forms of Error” from Chapter 22, “Salvation and the Holy Relationship,” on pages 442 and 443 in the Text discuss the concept of the perception of form.