LOTSA SALIENT SNIPPETS FROM
“DISAPPEARANCE OF THE UNIVERSE”
Arten: Before the beginning, there were no beginnings or endings; there was only the eternal Always, which is still there – and always shall be. There was only an awareness of unflawed oneness, and this oneness was so complete, so awe-striking and unlimited in its joyous extension that it would be impossible for anything to be aware of something else that was not Itself. There was and is only God in this reality – which we will refer to as Heaven. p.122 DU
Arten – Unlike the concrete, specific world you appear to be in now, this constant and enthralling state of awareness is completely abstract, eternal, unchanging and united. DU p.123
Arten : Then something appears to happen which, as in a dream, doesn’t really happen – it just appears to. For just an instant, for just one, inconsequential fraction of a nanosecond, a very small aspect of Christ appears to have an idea that is not shared by God. It’s a kind of ‘What if?’ idea. It’s like an innocent wondering in the form of a question – which unfortunately is followed by an apparent answer’ DU p.123.
Arten: ‘…your state of innocence is about to be seemingly replaced by a state of fear and erroneous, vicious defenses that this condition appears to require.’ DU p.123
Arten: Because your idea is not of God, He does not respond to it. to respond to it would be to give it reality. If God Himself were to acknowledge anything except the idea of perfect oneness, then there would no longer be perfect oneness. There would no longer be a perfect state of Heaven for you to return to.’ DU p.123
Arten: ‘…you never really left anyway. You’re still there, but you have entered a nightmare state of illusion. While you travel only in dreams God and Christ, Who are always One, have continued as they always did and always will – completely unaffected by what J refers to in his Course as the ‘tiny, mad idea…’ Of separation.’ DU p.124
Arten: ‘In this cosmic instant of seeming individuality -and no matter how attractive you may think individuality is, it is nothing but separation – there seems to be tiny aspect of Christ that is now aware of something else. That is duality. Now, instead of oneness, you have twoness.’ DU p.124
Arten: ‘….The mind that is reliving the seeming separation has actually fallen asleep and is dreaming an idle, insignificant dream, or nightmare, because anything that seemed to be apart from Heaven would have to be symbolic of an opposite to Heaven. It would thus seem to include opposite characteristics…’ DU.p124

Arten: ‘We’ve already talked about the first division in the mind, and along with it has come consciousness. Because of this, for the first time, you have a conscious choice to make. Before that there was nothing to choose between. But now there are two possible responses to this idea of separation. That’s what leads to the second division of the mind.’ DU p.131
Arten: ‘In our story this new, seemingly individual mind is going to make its very first decision. At this point there are only two choices, and there will always be only two choices. There you have the second division of the mind. Now you have a right mind and a wrong mind, each representing a different choice or different response to the tiny, mad idea.’ DU p.132
Arten: ‘If, at this point where we find ourselves in our story, you had chosen to believe the Holy Spirit’s interpretation, or response, to the separation instead of the ego’s, then your little dream adventure would have been over. The ego had a selfish yet tantalising response of its own. If you continue to believe in the separation, it offers you your own individual identity – separate from God, very special and uniquely important.’ DU p.133
Arten: ‘Of course, you have no idea what you’re getting yourself into – and you make another numb choice. This is all new to you, and you’re more than willing to give curiosity a chance to kill the cat. You choose with the ego so you can see what it’s like to be apart and special. This in turn causes the third division in the mind.’ DU p.133
Arten: “…Once you choose the ego and cause the third division , it’s the Holy Spirit that’s just a memory. You are now totally identified with the ego. However, being holographic by the grace of God, even when the mind seems to divide each part still maintains the characteristics of the whole-so you can never really be lost. Both the ego and the Holy Spirit are still to be found in every mind; it’s just that the Holy Spirit is being drowned out by the egos voice because that’s what you chose to listen to-and what you really are has been pushed out of your awareness. We said before that you may have forgotten the truth, but it’s still there-buried in your mind.” D.U p.134
Arten: “…Your choice for the ego instead of the Holy Spirit, resulting the third division of the mind, has made the Voice for God almost completely inaudible to you. Meanwhile the ego is giving you it’s own version of what’s happening – and here’s where things really start to get nasty.” D.U p.137
Arten: “So – in our story, you’ve chosen with the ego, and now you’re identified with it. The first division of the mind made the awareness of your perfect oneness with God just a memory. The second division brought two parts to the mind. The third division has made the Holy Spirit just a memory, and the ego now has your attention. You look to it to explain to you what’s going on, and the ego has a message for you. The message is this: “You’d better get the hell out of here, pal.” Then it proceeds to give you some reasons. In your confused state of mind, these reasons sound pretty damn convincing in their logic.” D.U p.138
Arten: “”Don’t you know what you’ve done?” – the ego asks in our metaphorical story – “You’ve separated yourself from God! You’ve sinned against Him big time. You’re in for it now. You’ve taken paradise – everything he gave you – and thrown it right in His face and said, ‘Who the hell needs you?’ You’ve attacked Him! You’re dead. You haven’t got a snowballs chance in hell against Him – He’s awesome and you’re nothing. You’ve ruined everything; you’re so guilty. If you don’t haul ass out of here right now, it’s gonna be worse than death!”

Oh my God, you think in response to the ego. What have I done? You’re right – I’ve ruined everything and attacked Heaven! But where can I go? I can run, but I can’t hide. There’s no place I can hide from God Himself.

“Well, that’s not exactly true” says the ego, “because I’m here to help you, I’m your friend – and I have an idea. I have somewhere we can go together. You can be your own boss and not have to face God at all. You’ll never see Him. He won’t even be able to get to this place!”

Really? You ask. That sounds pretty damn good to me. Let’s go!

“All right” says the ego. “Do exactly as I say.” D.U p.138

Pursah: “Of course everything the ego is saying about God is about as sane as Caligula Caesar. God would never do anything except love you. It’s here that you need to know just a little bit more about how the mind works.
Because of the power of the mind, you need to appreciate the power of your belief. It was your belief in the idea you could be separate from God – your taking it seriously – that gave it so much seeming power and realism…
You also have to realise that because you made duality by deciding to be a perceiver, everything you perceive will include characteristics that appear to be the opposite of that which you have apparently separated from. What you have seemingly separated from – Heaven – has one set of characteristics, and what you are perceiving as your reality has an opposite set of characteristics.” D.U p.p 138-139
Pursah: “Heaven, although it is beyond all words, has these kind of characteristics: It is perfect, formless, changeless, abstract, eternal, innocent, whole, abundant, complete Love. It is reality; it is Life. God and Christ and Christ’s Creations are perfect Oneness. There is nothing else. This is the domain of God’s Will – The Knowledge of the Father. To describe the experience of your awareness of this perfect oneness is not really possible, but I assure you that you will know it when you have a temporary experience of it. It’s not quite like anything else you are familiar with.” D.U p.139
Pursah: “The domain of perception, on the other hand, being Heaven’s seeming opposite, includes very different characteristics. Keeping in mind we are still speaking on a metaphysical level here, these attributes include: individuality, form, shapes, specifics, changes, time, separation, division, illusion, wishes, scarcity and death. That’s why in the Book of Genesis 2:16-17, which comes right out of the writers unconscious mind, it says, “You may eat freely of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Good and evil are opposites, and once you have a seeming opposite to Heaven, you have death. But, as the Course consistently says in a thousand different ways, beginning right in its introduction, “…what is all encompassing can have no opposite.” D.U p.139
Pursah: “Once you’ve chosen to listen to the egos temptation to be a separate individual, your belief in the reality of the separation begins to cause some very serious problems for you. God now seems to be outside of you, and everything you experience tells you that you’ve separated from Him. That’s a problem you still have this very second. Practically all of your mind is unconscious to you, just like almost all of an iceberg is underneath the surface of the water. As long as you believe in the reality of the physical universe…, then everything you perceive will be a constant, unconscious reminder to you that you’ve committed the act of separating yourself from God.” D.U p.140
Arten: “…the ego-voice in your mind has told you some things about your condition and also about God that simply aren’t true. You’ve brought into it partly because you like the idea of being an individual with a seemingly separate will – even though that’s not really possible. By taking the separation and the egos voice seriously, that translates within your seemingly separate mind as a sin against God, now if you’ve sinned, that means you’re guilty, and on this metaphysical level you feel it – even though on the level of the world you will not always feel it. Being the guilty bastard you think you are, it means you think you’re going to be punished, big time. Even on the level of this world, a psychologist would explain to you that guilt unconsciously demands punishment – and if you really think about it, it will explain a lot. On the metaphysical level we’re talking about how you sincerely believe that you’re about to be attacked and punished by God Himself!” D.U p.140
Arten: “The anticipation of this fate-worse-than-death kind of punishment from God creates fear – a fear so terrible you can’t even comprehend it. Yet you’ve been running away from it for what seems like billions of years. So now we’re at a point where we can tell you why your universe, your world, and your body were made by the mind in the first place. They were all made simultaneously even though in a linear dream, things seem to happen separately.” D.U p.p. 140-141
Arten: “The egos voice speaks to you as though it’s your friend and is watching out for your best interests. You’ll recall we’ve already said that the ego has convinced you that God is going to get you and you better run for it to a place where you’ll be safe. That place is this universe. As far as the ego is concerned, the best defense is a good offense. In fact, defense and offense are two sides of the same coin.” D.U p.141
Arten: “So, believing that the separation has actually happened, and given your fear of Gods punishment and retaliation that you desperately think you need to defend yourself against, you’ve already developed – by listening to the ego – a thought system that says you’ve sinned, you’re guilty, and Gods inevitable punishment requires a defense. You feel completely vulnerable, and the ego has told you that it has an idea – a place where you can go where God will never be able to find you. In your confused state, you are now a follower of the ego instead of Gods Will, and you listen to the egos brilliant but twisted idea to make you safe from that which you no longer remember is actually your own true reality – but which you now live in mortal fear of instead.” D.U p.142
Arten: “So now the instant has arrived in our spectacular revue where the ego is about to give you it’s grand answer to your nightmarish predicament.
The awesome magnitude of painful shame and acute guilt in your mind, resulting from what you believe you’ve done, appear to require an immediate and complete escape. So you join with the ego, and then the incomprehensible power of your mind to make illusions as a perceiver – rather than spirit as a creator – causes the method of your escape to become manifest. At this point the ego, which you are now totally identified with, uses the ingenious but illusory method of projection to hurl the thought of separation out of your mind, and you – or at least the part of you that seems to have consciousness – appears to be projected right along with it. This instantly causes what is popularly referred to as the Big Bang, or the creation of the universe. Now you appear to be in the universe, while you do not realize you are literally out of your mind.” D.U p.p. 142-143
Arten: “Now the enemy you live in terror of, God, no longer seems to be in the mind with you – where you thought you wouldn’t have had a chance against Him. Instead God, and for that matter everything else, is now apparently completely outside of you. The source of your problems, including your guilt, are now someplace else – even though we’ve already made it clear that there can’t possibly be anyplace else. The making of the cosmos is your protection from God, your ingenious hiding place. At the same time, the universe itself becomes the ultimate scapegoat.” D.U p.143
Arten: “There is no other spiritual discipline that understands and explains the motivation behind the making of this world, the same motivation that runs it today. That motivation is fear, always ultimately traceable to the fear of God. The trans-temporal, non-spatial, seemingly separate mind is in a paralysing state of fear because of a punishment you believe is coming from God. So the ego convinces you that you need a defense, without bothering to mention that the defense it offers is designed to ensure its own survival through your individuality.” D.U p.141
Arten: “Now, both the cause and the blame for your problem of separation, not to mention the blame for all of your new, illusory replacements problems, can be found – if you look hard enough along with the ego – somewhere outside of you. Indeed, a whole new level has been made in which the thought system of sin, guilt, fear, attack, and defense can be acted out in such as way as to protect your seemingly separated mind, which you presently think of as your soul, from your terrible, yet completely unconscious guilt and fear.” D.U p.143
Arten: “This universe, the world, and your body give form to a defense structure in which you hide from your imagined sin, guilt, and the resulting fear. The ego has a method firmly in place to deal with this now-unconscious sin, guilt, and fear – by projecting it onto others.” D.U p.143-144
Arten: “Now, as the crowning achievement in its grand scheme, the ego makes – drum roll, please – the body. This allows the ego to permit into awareness, almost exclusively, only those things which testify to the reality of its cherished illusion. Yet the body itself is just another part of the illusion, and to ask it to explain the illusion to you is no different than asking the illusion to explain itself – and of course the ego is more than happy to furnish you with its answers.” D.U p.143
Arten: “Once we explain to you…how this thought system is acted out on the level of this world, you’ll be able to clearly observe it in action everywhere – in all of your personal relationships, the relationships of others, in international relationships, in politics and other professions, and anywhere else you care to look. Then you’ll begin to see that the message of the Course is true. In discussing this, we’re going to be telling you some things that are not for the squeamish. The ego isn’t pretty.
After that, we can start to have some fun.” D.U p.144
Arten: ” When you’re capable of observing the ego’s thought system in action – which is certainly interesting enough to begin with – then we’ll be able to explain to you how you can help the Holy Spirit turn the tables on the ego, hasten your own salvation at the same time, and eventually break the cycle of birth and death.” D.U p.144