"Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists.
Herein Lies the peace of God."
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A
Course in Miracles
TEXT
CHAPTER 20
The Promise of the Resurrection
VI. Heralds of Eternity
37
In this world, God's Son comes closest to himself in a holy relationship. There he begins to find the certainty his Father has in him. And there he finds his function of restoring his Father's laws to what was held outside them and finding what was lost. Only in time can
anything
be lost, and
never
lost forever. So do the parts of God's Son gradually join in time, and with each joining is the end of time brought nearer. Each miracle of joining is a mighty herald of eternity. No one who has a single purpose, unified and sure, can be afraid. No one who shares his purpose with him can
not
be one with him.
38
Each herald of eternity sings of the end of sin and fear. Each speaks in time of what is far beyond it. Two voices raised together call to the hearts of everyone and let them beat as one. And in that single heart beat is the unity of love proclaimed and given welcome. Peace to your holy relationship, which has the power to hold the unity of the Son of God together. You give to one another for everyone, and in your gift is everyone made glad. Forget not Who has given you the gifts you give, and through your not forgetting this will you remember Who gave the gifts to Him to give to you.
39
It is impossible to overestimate your brother's value. Only the ego does this, but all it means is that it wants the other for itself and therefore values him too
little
. What is inestimable clearly cannot
be
evaluated. Do you recognize the fear that rises from the meaningless attempt to judge what lies so far beyond your judgment you cannot even see it? Judge not what is invisible to you or you will never see it, but wait in patience for its coming. It will be given you to see your brother's worth when all you want for him is peace. And what you want for him, you will receive.
40
How can you estimate the worth of him who offers peace to you? What would you want except his offering? His worth has been established by his Father, and you will recognize it as you receive his Father's gift through him. What is in him will shine so brightly in your grateful vision that you will merely love him and be glad. You will not think to judge him, for who would see the face of Christ and yet insist that judgment still has meaning? For this insistence is of those who do not see. Vision or judgment is your choice, but never both of these.
41
Your brother's body is as little use to you as it is to him. When it is used only as the Holy Spirit teaches, it
has
no function, for minds need not the body to communicate. The sight that sees the body has no use which serves the purpose of a holy relationship. And while you look upon each other thus, the means and end have not been brought in line. Why should it take so many holy instants to let this be accomplished, when one would do? There is but one. The little breath of eternity that runs through time like golden light is all the same—nothing before it, nothing afterwards.
42
You
look upon each holy instant as a different point in time.
It
never changes. All that it ever held or will ever hold is here right now. The past takes nothing from it, and the future will add no more. Here, then, is everything. Here is the loveliness of your relationship, with means and end in perfect harmony already. Here is the perfect faith that you will one day offer to each other
already
offered you. And here the limitless forgiveness you will give each other
already
given; the face of Christ you yet will look upon
already
seen.
43
Can you evaluate the giver of a gift like this? Would you exchange this gift for any other? This gift returns the laws of God to your remembrance. And merely by remembering them, the laws that held you prisoner to pain and death must be forgotten. This is no gift your brother's body offers you. The veil that hides the gift hides him as well. He is the gift, and yet he knows it not. No more do you. And yet, have faith that He Who sees the gift in both of you will offer and receive it for you both. And through His vision will you see it, and through His understanding recognize it and love it as your own.
44
Be comforted and feel the Holy Spirit watching over you in love and perfect confidence in what He sees. He knows the Son of God and shares his Father's certainty the universe rests in his gentle hands in safety and in peace. Let us consider now what he must learn, to share his Father's confidence in him. What is he, that the Creator of the universe should offer it to him and know it rests in safety? He looks upon himself not as his Father knows him. And yet it is impossible the confidence of God should be misplaced.
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A Course in Miracles
WORKBOOK
Lesson 228
God has condemned me not.
No more do I.
1
My Father knows my holiness. Shall I deny His knowledge and believe in what His knowledge makes impossible? Shall I accept as true what He proclaims as false? Or shall I take His Word for what I am since He is my Creator and the One Who knows the true condition of His Son?
2
Father, I was mistaken in myself because I failed to realize the Source from Which I came. I have not left that Source to enter in a body and to die. My holiness remains a part of me, as I am part of You. And my mistakes about myself are dreams. I let them go today. And I stand ready to receive Your Word alone for what I really am.
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ACIM Edmonton
Sarah's Reflections
Lesson 228
God has condemned me not.
No more do I.
Sarah's Commentary:
God knows our holiness, yet we question it. We live in denial of the truth about ourselves, and now we need to make a decision. Who is right---God or me? There can only be one reality. Is God's knowledge about us the truth, or do we accept as true what He proclaims as false, which is this body and world? In Lesson 186.6, we read,
"Arrogance makes an image of yourself that is not real. It is this image which quails and retreats in terror, as the Voice for God assures you that you have the strength, the wisdom and the holiness to go beyond all images. You are not weak, as is the image of yourself. You are not ignorant and helpless. Sin can not tarnish the truth in you, and misery can come not near the holy home of God."
(W.186.6.1-5)
What does this mean? It means calling ourselves humble sinners is an arrogant thought. Believing our own description of ourselves is arrogant. Feeling unworthy, ashamed, and distressed is all part of this made-up image we have come to believe is the truth about ourselves. We are not weak. We are made in the image of God. God knows the truth about us. We do not. The observations we make about ourselves are false. God reassures us of the truth, but we are afraid to hear it.
"And as He speaks, the image trembles and seeks to attack the threat it does not know, sensing its basis crumble."
(W.186.7.2)
What are we asked to do in the face of this?
"Let it go."
(W.186.7.3) As we read in Chapter 31,
"I do not know the thing I am, and therefore do not know what I am doing, where I am, or how to look upon the world or on myself."
(T.31.V.17.7) (ACIM OE T.31.V.60) To us, this is a terrifying thought. Yet when we think we do know and maintain that we are right about the self we think we are, we make our purpose one of distortion, where we hold onto this image and listen to its thoughts, instead of the Thought of God. To start, we have to admit, we don't know. All of our perceptions are wrong. We need to have the willingness to question everything we think we know and every value and belief we hold and bring our false thoughts and beliefs to awareness without judging ourselves for our perceptions. Judgment is always of the ego. Jesus looks with us at everything we have made, but he has no judgment and declares what we are thinking is false. We can be glad we are wrong about everything.
Why is this important? Jesus tells us again in Lesson 186,
"Salvation of the world depends on you, and not upon this little pile of dust."
(W.186.7.4) Our function is to release the little self and accept our magnitude. The only way to peace is to look to the Self and not to the "little pile of dust" for answers. When we focus on our self-made roles, we are very unstable, shifting from grief to ecstatic bliss and from tears to laughter with a thousand shifting moods. Such instability is not who we are. Thank God!!
Today, let me be willing to
"take His Word for what I am."
(W.228.1.4) When the arguments arise in your mind that you are flawed in any way, be willing to let them go. Deny their power to affect you.
"And my mistakes about myself are dreams. I let them go today."
(W.228.2.4-5) We are not our stories. We are not the dream, but the dreamer. We are not what we tell ourselves we are. We do not deserve condemnation, nor does anyone else. When we attack, then the love that we are is blocked from our awareness, and we can no longer know the truth. God's Love is what we are. We have forgotten our Source. When judgmental thoughts arise, ask for help to forgive yourself for blocking the reality of your holiness.
When you are tempted to judge or attack today, to hold a grievance when you have thoughts of specialness and wanting to meet your needs at the expense of others, of manipulating, of comparing yourself, and of seeing your brothers as guilty, remember that if any of these thoughts are true, God is not. Both cannot be true. Either we are the One Self at one with our Creator with all of His attributes, or we are children of the ego. The thoughts we choose determine who we think we are. This is the decision we need to make with each unforgiving thought.
Today, we wait in silent expectation and in quiet readiness to receive His Word of what we are. God, I am willing to release my judgments of myself and accept your love. I am willing to take responsibility for all the guilt I project onto others and recognize that no one, including myself, is guilty. I have not left You to enter into a body and to die. Now,
"I stand ready to receive Your Word alone for what I really am."
(W.228.2.6) When all illusions are brought to truth, my mind is clear to hear God's Word assure me---I am His Son and have never left Him.
Love and blessings, Sarah
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