The ego uses a acim patterns because the basis of its thought system is judgment whose origin stems from sin, fear and guilt. Judgment is always one or the other. As you perceive a brother through judgment, you will project and judge on that brother until you perceive the results back. Once those results are perceived, you will use perception repeatedly to project and judge them even more.
Unfortunately, this uses both sides of the ego wrong mind and compounds the original error until the truth is well hidden. Handing over judgments for correction (forgiveness) stops the cycle.
Holy Relationships:
The ego uses special love and hate relationships, as well as specialness (being different), to keep the illusion of separation going. Use of these types of relationships as cause, is also the ego mind as cause; and the effect is to continue separation between brothers because they are based on the original separation. Remember cause and effect: The mind you choose from, as cause, will result in the corresponding consequences (effect).
This is not about you having to be alone or avoid relationships in life. It is, however, all about how you enter and use them within the mind.
The choice that will set you free is to choose to have your relationships be Holy Relationships. You must be the person practicing forgiveness in all of your relationships, even if you are the only one. It is “special” until you turn it “Holy.” To see another as a brother, a prerequisite to going home, is True Perception which shines a light of truth on you both. The ego cannot prevail against Oneness because it is not real.
Form and Content:
A Course in Miracles (ACIM) is very clear that form does not matter. There is nothing in ACIM about behavior and when you judge a brother on his or her behavior, that is the same side of the ego mind. They may be acting from the ego “wrong” mind; but you are judging from the ego “right” mind. To the ego, one judgment is the same as any other.
What the Course says is that content matters. Content is the mind. ACIM concerns itself with you understanding that you can choose the Holy Spirit Right Mind as your internal Teacher thereby producing a different cause and effect.
What you or another does in form (behavior) does not matter. However here are two questions to ask yourself:
When I acted, did I act from the Holy Spirit Right Mind? (Content)
Is my interpretation of my brother from the Holy Spirit Right Mind? (Content)
You won’t have peace unless you can answer “yes” to both. Choose again if you need to. It is never too late.
There is Only One of Us:
When you judge a brother, you are using the ego mind as cause for that judgment to become a real effect. This is why we emphasize that what you see in another needs to be forgiven in yourself first. Here’s why: (1) You cannot see fault (judgment) in another unless you chose from that portion of the split mind to begin with; (2) You cannot judge what you don’t already believe to be true as it is based on the mind you chose from; and (3) Judgment about another is a statement of the guilt retained in your mind from the original separation because you are choosing to use the ego mind. It is where you are still holding onto fear and guilt instead of choosing correction (forgiveness) for the truth.