PART 2 out of 16 from the course on miracles: 2. We tried to attack reality, to separate from it, thus making a separate identity—the ego—and the world of space and time. * We tried to separate, motivated by a desire to elevate ourselves above our brothers and above God. * The ego is the belief behind the separation; it is our core self-concept which says we are separate, autonomous beings. * When we tried to separate, we seemed to shatter reality into countless separate fragments. * We made the world by selecting and organizing the fragments. * The world we made is the diametric opposite of Heaven in every way. * God did not make the world; we did. * The ego has one need: to stay in business, to confirm itself, to reinforce its reality, to protect itself from God’s Love. * We made this world of separate places and different moments to confirm the ego by “proving” that separation is an objective reality.