Separation is the mistaken belief that we are separate from our Creator and from Creation. This error can be divided into two sub-errors: the belief that we are bodies and the belief that the world is real. Together, these errors make the experience that we call self and world – lives which are embedded in singular bodies themselves embedded in environments (cultural, historical, political, economic, geographical et cetera) that together are “the world.” Identifying with a body in the world makes for suffering at many scales and in many forms.
The underlying error is relatively simple to see through but ego – which is the author of the mistaken belief, responsible for all its negative effects, and its sole defender – works diligently to keep us from looking closely at our belief in separation. It does this primarily through projection, by which we avoid looking at difficult things within by projecting them outside of us. For example, rather than look at our own anger, we will focus on the anger of others – a neighbor or a co-worker. This allows for the illusion that we are rid of the problem, but at the expense of maintaining separation between our self and creation.
On our own, the problem of separation is all but insurmountable. A Course in Miracles is one form of help.
Related Posts: Light on the Separation from God, Are We One or Are We Separate