Now we have a new question which is Question #6, "What is the Christ?" We will be reading this Section for the next ten days in conjunction with each Lesson. Quite simply, as the first line says, "Christ is God's Son as He created Him." (W.PII.Q6.1.1) As such, Christ is the Self we share, that unites us in Oneness. It is what we are. It is the part of the mind that is pure awareness and the part that has never fallen into the sleep of this illusion. It is the awake mind that we share, and unites us with each other and with God. We are still a Thought in the Mind of God, never having left our Source, forever innocent and forever unchanged.
 

Christ is spoken of in two ways here. While Jesus talks here of Christ as pure Spirit in Heaven, with no awareness of this world, he also talks of Christ, in another way, as "the link that keeps you one with God, and guarantees that separation is no more than an illusion of despair, for hope forever will abide in Him." (W.PII.Q6.2.1) In that sense, Christ is pure Spirit in Heaven as well as in the right mind and described in the same way as is the Holy Spirit. Like all terms in the Course, we must remember it is the content of the symbol that is important, which points us to the truth, rather than the form that can be and often is debated. What is important is the assurance Jesus gives us that the separation from God never happened. This is the Atonement Principle, which says there is nothing we can do, or have done, that can change the truth about ourselves. "He remains untouched by anything the body's eyes perceive." (W.PII.Q6.2.4)

In spite of the fact that we think we have changed ourselves, Jesus reminds us our reality remains untouched. Jesus is aware we see ourselves as bodies, yet still he tells us our Father placed the means for our salvation within us. We think we have changed ourselves, and we have corrupted our innocence. Isn't it a relief to know this is impossible and when we awaken from this dream, we will know the Self we are is still the same as it always has been? It is the I Am Self---perfect, divine, constant, holy and innocent.

We were at a party where everyone dressed up with masks and altered appearances of various kinds. Yet we knew the mask did not define who was under it. In the same way, we have painted an image over God's masterpiece, the Christ, and now believe we have remade ourselves into something we are not. We have identified with this image for so long, we have come to believe it is the truth of who we are, but we are not the characters we pretend to be in this dream. The truth is we can't remake what God created, no matter how much we try and what masks we seem to wear.

We thought we could separate from God and become our own god and author of our own life. We thought the body and the world were safe places to hide from what we perceived as God's wrath. But what safety can there be in a body that will die? The ego has set up a lie we have bought into. While it said the body would be a safe place to hide from God, we know it is anything but safe, yet we don't question the ego on this. We accept death as a certainty, which is how we demonstrate to God He must be wrong about us. He says we are eternal, but death seems to be a demonstration that we are not eternal after all. Now we must choose whether we accept death as reality or indeed to come to see that there is only life.

The ego does not want us to question any of this because its intent is to survive the death of the body, but Jesus invites us to look at the source of all of this and question how and why the body was made. We are ready to do this when we get disillusioned and weary of this game we call the cycle of birth and death. Course-based forgiveness is the means we are given to awaken from this sleep-this dream we are dreaming. We keep ourselves asleep by still believing there is something worthwhile to be found in this playground of ours. We want to play just a little while longer while faintly recalling somewhere in the mind that there is a more beautiful state awaiting us, which is the Self that unites us with one another in the Oneness of the Christ Mind.

"Home of the Holy Spirit, and at home in God alone, does Christ remain at peace within the Heaven of your holy mind. This is the only part of you that has reality in truth. The rest is dreams. Yet will these dreams be given unto Christ, to fade before His glory and reveal your holy Self, the Christ, to you at last." (W.PII.Q6.3.1-4) Thus, it is up to us to bring our dreams (illusions) to the truth and our darkness to the light, so that all hindrances to who we are as the Christ can be removed from the mind that believes it has changed itself. When our forgiveness work is done, we reach the real world, which is the final dream where there is no more choice to be made. "The Holy Spirit reaches from the Christ in you to all your dreams, and bids them come to Him, to be translated into truth. He will exchange them for the final dream which God appointed as the end of dreams." (W.PII.Q6.4.1-2)

What would the world look like if we just looked at it today with Christ's vision? In this Lesson, we are reminded what we see is what we choose to see. "Each day, each hour, every instant, I am choosing what I want to look upon, the sounds I want to hear, the witnesses to what I want to be the truth for me." (W.271.1.1) If we see a world of pain, misery, suffering, cruelty, and injustice, and we are outraged by all the sin "out there," then we are calling forth the witnesses to sin, guilt and fear. Jesus is saying if we see the world in this way, we actually want this to be the truth for us! How can that be? Do we really want to see the world as victimizing us and putting us at its mercy? That does not seem possible. At a conscious level, we resist the idea. However, we want the payoff from being the victim of the world, which is why we don't want to take total responsibility for everything that seems to happen to us. Our attraction to being a victim of a cruel world is that we do not have to take responsibility for our own existence and for the separation from God. We can make someone else responsible for our condition. Now they are the guilty ones.

This morning I went down for coffee, which Don usually has ready for me. But today there was no coffee and he was focusing on the laptop while I sat down expecting some attention. When he did not even look up, I commented that he seemed very invested in what he was doing. Without even looking up, he told me he was trying to get the laptop connected to the internet. The thought crossed my mind that I was being neglected. The next thought was to ask myself who was speaking, and of course I saw it was the ego. While I was thinking I wanted to have Don engaged with me, I realized I was simply in relationship with my own ego. Now I could make the choice to join with the Holy Spirit instead and be at peace. While we think we are in relationship with another body, in fact, we are constantly in relationship with either our own ego or with the holiness of our own mind. It is a choice we make again and again. It is not a sin to be engaged with the ego, but it is a mistake that will never bring peace.

Jesus is constantly and consistently inviting us to call forth witnesses to our true innocence and not the innocence that is bought at our brother's expense when we decide our brother is guilty. Each day, each hour and every instant we can choose the resurrection instead of the crucifixion of our brother and thus experience the Holy Spirit's joy, peace and holiness for ourselves.

What we see is just a projection of our own thoughts. If we can accept this picture is in our own minds, that the outrage is in us, we can choose to release it with each temptation to see the problem out there, so we can see and know the innocent, the lovely, and the guiltless. This does not mean all behaviors we witness are good. It only means we are called to see beyond the behaviors and see the call for love and know the innocence that lies beyond the image that covers God's masterpiece. When we are able to see others in this way, we will know this same love and purity is in us. This is seeing with Christ's vision and not with our own eyes, and it will only come through us when we have done the forgiveness work.

I remember watching a TV show called Joan of Arcadia, which was about a young woman to whom God appeared in various disguises as ordinary people. Imagine going through our own lives and seeing everyone in disguise. Imagine seeing Jesus disguised as that beggar on the street, or as that guy filling our gas tank, or serving us breakfast, or sharing the bed with us. Seeing the Christ in everyone allows us to see the beauty of our own Self reflected back at us through each brother. Jesus asks us what we would choose for the truth about ourselves. "Today I choose to look upon what Christ would have me see, to listen to God's Voice, and seek the witnesses to what is true in God's creation." (W.271.1.2)

Wayne Dyer used to say, "Believe it and you will see it." We need to first change our minds and then we will see witnesses to this new perception. Do you notice how the ego rags on you not to forgive, reminding you continuously that your anger is totally justified? And all the while the Holy Spirit reminds us of the forgotten song calling us home. "Listen,---perhaps you catch a hint of an ancient state not quite forgotten; dim, perhaps, and yet not altogether unfamiliar, like a song whose name is long forgotten, and the circumstances in which you heard completely unremembered. Not the whole song has stayed with you, but just a little wisp of melody, attached not to a person or a place or anything particular. But you remember, from just this little part, how lovely was the song, how wonderful the setting where you heard it, and how you loved those who were there and listened with you." (T.21.I.6.1-3)(ACIM OE T.21.II.8)

This forgotten song in our right mind is calling us to remember who we are. We are afraid to remember it, believing if we did, we would lose what we have given value to. What we value is nothing. The result is we feel lonely and disconnected from each other. We feel separate and different, and while we try to "reach each other,"  (T.21.I.5.3)(ACIM OE T.21.II.7) we fail and fail again and then adjust to the loneliness. Jesus teaches this need not be. We can see it another way. We can learn to see each other beyond the limitations of what the eyes show us.

I had an experience recently of releasing the judgments and grievances I had toward my frail mother, who demands a lot of care and attention as she is old and frail. One night I was tucking her into bed and looked deeply into her eyes and felt a shock of recognition as I literally experienced the eyes of Christ shining their radiance back at me. It was such a powerful moment of joining. I will never forget the impact of the light that shone through her. "Christ's vision has one law. It does not look upon a body, and mistake it for the Son whom God created. It beholds a light beyond the body; an idea beyond what can be touched, a purity undimmed by errors, pitiful mistakes, and fearful thoughts of guilt from dreams of sin. It sees no separation. And it looks on everyone, on every circumstance, all happenings,  and all events without the slightest fading of the light it sees." (W.158.7)