59 It is impossible not to believe what you see, but it is equally impossible to see what you do
not believe. Perceptions are built up on the basis of experience, and experience leads to beliefs. It is not until beliefs are fixed that perceptions stabilize. In effect, then, what you believe, you
do see. That is what I meant when I said, "Blessed are ye who have not seen and still believe," for those who believe in the resurrection
will see it. The resurrection is the complete triumph of Christ over the ego, not by attack but by transcendence. For Christ
does rise above the ego and all its works and ascends to the Father and
His Kingdom.
60 Would you join in the resurrection or the crucifixion? Would you condemn your brothers or free them? Would you transcend
your prison and ascend to the Father? For these questions are all the same and are answered together. There has been much confusion about what perception means because the same word is used both for awareness and for the
interpretation of awareness. Yet you cannot
be aware without interpretation, and what you perceive
is your interpretation. This course is perfectly clear. You do not see it clearly because you are interpreting
against it and therefore do not
believe it. And if belief determines perception, you do
not perceive what it means and therefore do not
accept it.
61 Yet different experiences lead to different beliefs, [and with them, different perceptions. For perceptions are learned with beliefs,] and experience teaches. I am leading you to a new kind of experience, which you will become less and less willing to deny. Learning of Christ is easy, for to perceive with Him involves no strain at all.
His perceptions are your
natural awareness, and it is only distortions which
you introduce that tire you. Let the Christ in you interpret
for you, and do not try to limit what you see by narrow little beliefs which are unworthy of God's Son. For until Christ comes into His own, the Son of God
will see himself as fatherless.
62 I am
your resurrection and
your life. You live in me because you live in God. And everyone lives in
you, as
you live in everyone. Can you, then, perceive unworthiness in a brother and
not perceive it in yourself? And can you perceive it in yourself and
not perceive it in God? Believe in the resurrection because it has
been accomplished, and it has been accomplished
in you. This is as true now as it will ever be, for the resurrection is the Will of God, which knows no time and no exceptions. But make no exceptions yourself, or you will not perceive what has been accomplished
for you. For we ascend unto the Father together, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, for such is the nature of God's Son as His Father created him.
63 Do not underestimate the power of the devotion of God's Son nor the power of the god he worships over him. For he places
himself at the altar of his god, whether it be the god he made or the God Who created him. That is why his slavery is as complete as his freedom, for he will obey
only the god he accepts. The god of the crucifixion demands that he crucify, and his worshipers obey. In his name they crucify
themselves, believing that the power of the Son of God is born of sacrifice and pain. The God of the resurrection demands
nothing, for He does not will to take away. He does not require obedience, for obedience implies submission. He would only have you learn your
own will and follow it, not in the spirit of sacrifice and submission, but in the gladness of freedom.
64 Resurrection must compel your allegiance gladly because it is the symbol of joy. Its whole compelling power lies in the fact that it represents what
you want to be. The freedom to leave behind everything that hurts you and humbles you and frightens you cannot be thrust upon you, but it
can be offered you through the grace of God. And you can
accept it by His grace, for God
is gracious to His Son, accepting him without question as His own. Who, then, is
your own? The Father has given you all that is His, and He Himself is yours
with them. Guard them in their resurrection, for otherwise you will not awake in God, safely surrounded by what is yours forever.
65 You will not find peace until you have removed the nails from the hands of God's Son and taken the last thorn from his forehead. The love of God surrounds His Son, whom the god of the crucifixion condemns. Teach not that I died in vain. Teach rather that I did
not die by demonstrating that I live
in you. For the
undoing of the crucifixion of God's Son is the work of the redemption, in which everyone has a part of equal value. God does not judge His blameless Son. Having given
Himself to him, how could it be otherwise?
66 You have nailed
yourself to a cross and placed a crown of thorns upon your
own head. Yet you
cannot crucify God's Son, for the Will of God cannot die. His Son
has been redeemed from his own crucifixion, and you cannot assign to death whom God has given eternal life. The dream of crucifixion still lies heavy on your eyes, but what you see in dreams is not reality. While you perceive the Son of God as crucified, you are asleep. And as long as you believe that
you can crucify him, you are only having nightmares. You who are beginning to wake are still aware of dreams and have not yet forgotten them. The forgetting of dreams and the awareness of Christ comes with the awakening of others to
share your redemption.
67 You will awaken to your
own call, for the Call to awake is
within you. If I live in you, you
are awake. Yet you must see the works I do through you, or you will not perceive that I have done them
unto you. Do not set limits on what you believe I can do through you, or you will not accept what I can do
for you. For it is done
already, and unless you give all that you have received, you will not know that your Redeemer liveth and that
you have awakened
with Him. Redemption is recognized
only by sharing it.
68 God's Son
is saved. Bring only
this awareness to the Sonship, and you will have a part in the redemption as valuable as mine. For your part must be
like mine if you learn it of me. If you believe that
yours is limited,
you are limiting
mine. There is no order of difficulty in miracles because all of God's Sons are of equal value, and their equality is their oneness. The whole power of God is in every part of Him, and nothing contradictory to His Will is either great or small. What does not exist has
no size and
no measure. To God
all things are possible. And to Christ it is given to be
like the Father.
