“ideas leave not their source”
The key concept that thoughts cannot leave the mind that thinks them. This means:
- As Thoughts of God, we cannot leave His Mind, we cannot separate from Him (see CE T-26.VII.13:3-4).
- Our own thoughts of separation did not leave our minds and thus had no effect on reality.
- The world we made has no existence independent of our thoughts and so cannot govern our existence nor cause us to feel pain (see CE W-132.4:6-5:3). To change our experience, then, we must change our thoughts, not the world.
- The ego says that we can direct attack or project guilt outside our minds and escape the attack and guilt ourselves (see projection). Yet these ideas remain within our mind and are reinforced (see CE T-26.VII.14).
- When we give an idea to others we do not lose it. It stays in our minds and becomes reinforced (see giving/receiving). Thus, forgiving others makes us feel more forgiven.
See cause and effect and extension. See CE W-167.3-5.