Either you own what is happening inside you, or you claim that someone else owns it.
Either your identity is your own, or you believe that it is someone else's.
It's quite bizarre to recognize that we actually put our responsibility, our ownership and even our own sense of self into the hands of other people. All confusionabout who is who and who is responsible for what comes from this blurring of boundaries and it happens through what we call 'projection'.
You are responsible for all of your own reactions and perceptions. But sometimes you come to believe that someone else has caused or created these reactions, that someone else made them, that someone else put them there, and that they really belong to someone else. And then you actually believe that this stuff, which is happening inside of you, is someone else's responsibility and that they are supposed to deal with it or do something about it. And instead of doing something about it yourself you'll just stand there on the sidelines demanding that they correct it for you.
Doesn't that sound kind of crazy? That you're asking someone else to carry the burden of your own inner experiences? You want someone else to be the one to manage aspects of your own self. It's dis-ownership of your identity and a dis-empowerment of yourself.
Whenever we blame someone else or are finding someone else guilty, we start getting into this whole way of looking at the situation as though they actually are meant to clean up YOUR mess. They are meant to deal with your reaction, they are meant to change or fix your upset, and they are meant to be the ones that correct the problem. This is nothing but irresponsible. This is you shoveling your own shit onto someone else's plate and wanting them to take care of it for you so that you don't have to.
It's not anyone else's job to be responsible for your own stuff, or to own your own upsets, or to manage or fix your own dramas, or to tell you what you really are, or to correct you on your own behalf, or to set you straight, or to be you for you. You quite literally are shifting your own identity into someone else's hands when you fail to take responsibility. It's like saying, I'm not going to be myself, you be me for me and I'll just sit back and wait for you to be me for me so that I don't have to deal with myself.
This is also why people are all up in each other's business like they have some kind of a say or input to what other people's responsibilities are. When people come along and give all their opinions and tell you what you should be doing or wearing or looking like or behaving like, etc, it's all to do with violating these basic boundaries and trying to fix you, change you, or be the one who is responsible for you. When you are not being responsible for yourself you will attract this, but also when you are not being responsible for yourself you will enter into this behavior and start launching into fixing other people on their behalf. My own sense of `having to be burdened with being responsible for others` has led only to attempts to fix and change and correct and feel pressured (by myself) to make other people be what they are - all a cover-up for me not claiming full ownership of my own stuff - of myself.
Deal with your own shit and shut the fuck up about everyone else's lives!
This is why everyone that meddles in your life or the life of those who have they no business even commenting on, go to great lengths to control or prevent those people from having the freedom to be themselves (e.g. people against homosexuals or other kinds of bigotry, people who think other people are not allowed to do certain things, etc). It's none of their dam business, and is evidence that they are not being responsible for their own shit and so they actually fear that other people have an influence over them and threaten them with the power to have responsibility for them, which they themselves have granted.
No matter how the situation seems, if you are in any way placing responsibility, burden, ownership, blame, cause or power for what you are experiencing or feeling or reacting, into someone else's hands, then you are stepping across healthy boundaries and are lacking responsibility. You are basically saying that you refuse to be corrected, you refuse to own what you think you did, you refuse to acknowledge who you are and you refuse God's love. So then you want someone else to come along and clean up your mess for you or fix you or change on your behalf. And woe-betide if they refuse to play along.
Your problems aren't anyone else's problems. Your upsets are your own. Your reactions are your reactions. Your beliefs are your beliefs. Your ideas leave not your own mind. Your are choosing all the time and everything you are experiencing you have chosen and everything that's happening you asked for and nothing else is happening. Nobody else is doing anything against your will and you are not a victim. You can't be a victim and you can't be insane if you are really really clear about the fact that all of your responsibility is in your own hands and all of who and what you are is in your own hands, in God's hands.
How can you be yourself if you are someone else's fault?
Something which I've been finding very helpful lately, is to focus on "already" being as God created me.
It's a recognition, that what God created has already been established, has not changed, and therefore all I need to do is acknowledge and accept it.
This is quite different from trying to "become" it or to "seek" for it outside of myself, or away from what I already am.
There is a bit of a knack to this because our ego thinking is so used to moving away from Self, away from God, away from what already is.
Even all of our spiritual "searching" or trying to find oneself, is for the most part based on believing that we are not spiritual "yet", and so becoming spiritual is in the future, and so there are steps we need to take to get there.
Enlightenment is but a recognition and not a change at all. It is a recognition of what is, of what is true, of what already exists.
It completely aligns with the atonement, which asserts that nothing has even happened. We didn't even START to really separate form God, we haven't gone anywhere, we haven't even begun to sin, our innocence is still totally intact, and we are STILL completely perfect as God created us.
For me getting in touch with this has been greatly amplified by acceptance that God created many Sons, that I am a Son of God, and that I have a soul. I've started to be more and more curious about my soul and thus my "true self", in its pristine state - absolutely perfect, lacking nothing, joyful, loving, powerful, peaceful, etc.
Sometimes when I am in the midst of ego confusion and I think shit, I've got to do all kinds of stuff to get out of this, if I then remember... wait a minute, I am already as God created me, I am still as God created me, inside of me there is already a perfect self which has nothing wrong with it. It cuts through the entire ego bullshit like a knife. Simply because, if the end goal is ALREADY ACCOMPLISHED, then all this bullshit about "something is wrong" is shown to be completely pointless, meaningless, futile and ridiculous.
It's like, holy shit, I AM ALREADY PERFECT. I am already the way God created me. My soul is already in heaven. My real self is already completely awakened.
And that can be a bit of a mind fuck as well because here I am believing that awakening is a long process, it takes time, I have stuff to undo, there is forgiveness to be done, healing that isn't finished, etc... and yet, IT IS ALREADY COMPLETE because it never even really started.
It almost seems like, we've come to believe that being perfectly awakened is 'hard' or rare or difficult, when in fact, the totally hilarious thing is... we ALREADY ARE.
Underneath all the bullshit that says "you are not awake", you are aware. Underneath all the bullshit that says "you are not perfect", you are already totally perfect.
You have this 'higher self', this soul or spirit, which is already immortal, it's already innocent, it's already in perfect health, it's already accepted eternal life, it's already in heaven with God, it's already holy, it's already free of all sin and guilt and fear and death, and it needs to "do nothing" because it is already absolutely divine. Like... it's already a done deal!
So it's never a question of, well, I might not wake up or there's lots to do or I haven't finished yet, bla bla bla... it's it hilarious that the END GOAL is already DONE? Because all of this stuff that seemed to happen to undo our divine state, has not actually happened at all!
So our awakened self is ALREADY HERE. Your higher self is ALREADY "with you". Your immortal spirit is ALREADY perfectly in a state of grace forever. You CANNOT die and have never died. And all this other "stuff" is an illusion.
So here you find yourself seemingly "in time", with a whole bucketload of stuff that you think you need to "do" in order to "become spiritual" when in fact, inside of you, you are already ABSOLUTELY IMMACULATE and totally as God intended and have not changed at all. And that perfect self is just seemingly hidden from view behind all these layers of ego nonsense. All the ego nonsenses does is claim that you are not what you already are.
You can already talk to your ascended-master self. You can already tap into your perfect soul. You already are FINISHED. You are already with God. You are already in heaven. Isn't that hilarious? The only "job" that we seem to have is UNDOING the false beliefs that this isn't true, that we have work to do, that there is stuff to forgive and heal, that something went wrong, that we're off the rails and can't get home, that we don't deserve to be what we actually already are, lol. ... just all these cover-ups for the underlying ALREADY ESTABLISHED TRUTH.
I am as God created me, NOW, ALREADY, and ALWAYS HAVE BEEN. The "end goal" is IN THE PAST. It has ALWAYS BEEN. So all this other stuff, it's all a lie. You are already guaranteed to be with God because YOU ARE. Literally. Right now. Behind all the nonsense and FAKE unconsciousness, you are already done, already finished "waking up".
YOU NEVER REALLY SLEPT!
God created you by using his infinite power, and you therefore inherited his infinite power. And that means you are infinitely powerful. You have the power of God in you, and there is nothing the power of God cannot do.
Having power means that you can CAUSE things to happen. You can create life. It means there's an expression of a kind of "force" that comes out of you which is so strong that it can cause anything to occur.
This in turn means that you are not something that is just passive. You are not some observer or some fence-sitting person that just watches stuff. The idea of the mind being passive was the state of consciousness produces by the first split in the mind at the separation from God. It made the mind a perceiver, as though things happen to it and tell it what exists, rather than as a creator which simply chooses and causes what to exist and puts it in place. What you say goes, and no thing else goes.
"Consciousness was the first split that man introduced into himself. He became a PERCEIVER rather than a creator in the true sense."
The truth though is that you are not a perceiver, you are a knower. And knowledge is power. You do not need senses to sense the world and report back what they find, as though you do not know anything at all and have to wait to be told. Instead, you are the cause of what exists, you put it in place, you will it with your mind, with the power of God that you share.
You should think of yourself as an extremely powerful, causal, creative force, which has the power to create entire worlds through will alone. You mis-created space and time, and the planets, and the bodies.
There are no neutral thoughts. Your thoughts have power to produce effects. You are not alone in experiencing the effects of your thoughts. Your mind has the power of God in it that can part oceans, raise the dead, heal the sick, convert objects, move planets, without limit.
The course is geared towards you learning to take back your power, and to reclaim your inheritance from God, which includes the power of God. This means regaining the ability to do anything through your holiness. You should think of yourself as a powerful causal being, so strong (God is your strength) such that things only come out of you, they do not come into you from the outside. You are cause, not effect.
"People prefer to believe that their thoughts cannot exert real control because they are literally AFRAID of them."
"If you deny Him, you bring sin, pain, and suffering into your OWN mind, because of the power He gave it. Your mind is capable of creating worlds, but it can also DENY what it creates, because it is free."
"My Self is ruler of the universe. --- It is impossible that anything should come to me unbidden by myself. Even in this world, it is I who rule my destiny. What happens is what I desire. What does not occur is what I do not want to happen. This must I accept."
"It is your thoughts alone that cause you pain. Nothing external to your mind can hurt or injure you in any way. There is no cause beyond yourself that can reach down and bring oppression. No one but yourself affects you. There is nothing in the world which has the power to make you ill or sad, or weak or frail. But it is you who have the power to dominate all things you see by merely recognizing what you are."
"The Soul's functions are NOT relative. They are ABSOLUTE. They are OF God and FROM God, and therefore God-like."
"Therefore, being is never threatened. Your Godlike mind can never be defiled."
"It was only my DECISION that gave me all power in Heaven and earth. My only gift to you is to help you make the same decision FOR YOURSELF."
"You who perceive yourself as weak and frail, with futile hopes and devastated dreams, born but to die, to weep and suffer pain, hear this: All power is given you in earth and Heaven. There is nothing that you cannot do."
"God is my strength."
"Knowledge is power, and all power is of God. You who have tried to keep power for yourselves, have lost it. You still HAVE the power, but you have interposed so much between it and your AWARENESS of it, that you cannot use it. EVERYTHING you have taught yourselves has made your power more and more obscure to you. You know not WHAT it is, nor WHERE."
"Here again is the paradox often referred to in the course. To say, "Of myself I can do nothing" is to gain all power. And yet it is but a seeming paradox. As God created you, you have all power. The image you made of yourself has none."
"I am not weak, but strong."
"I am not helpless, but all powerful."
"Your holiness reverses all the laws of the world. It is beyond every restriction of time, space, distance, and limits of any kind. Your holiness is totally unlimited in its power because it establishes you as a Son of God, at one with the Mind of his Creator. Through your holiness the power of God is made manifest. Through your holiness the power of God is made available. And there is nothing the power of God cannot do."
"The power of God, and NOT of you, engenders miracles. The miracle ITSELF is but the witness that you HAVE the power of God in you."
"It is impossible the Son of God be merely driven by events OUTSIDE him. It is impossible that the happenings that come to him were NOT his choice. His power of decision is the DETERMINER of every situation in which he seems to FIND himself"
Jesus uses the word "reflection" quite often when talking about the state of seeing this physical world "perfectly" (overlooking it with forgiveness), a state of true perception looking at a forgiven world, and preparing for Heaven. This reflection is actually an IMAGE, just as your reflection in a mirror is an image. It isn't the actual thing itself - it is within the realm of perception which is still a separated state.
Holiness, love, purity, sanity, peace, etc can all be reflected "on Earth", symbolically. This can temporarily render Earth as a kind of "Heaven on Earth" or, more accurately, Heaven being glimpsed beyond Earth where forms no longer mean anything. But this state is still once removed from Heaven itself. Those who perceive still need healing, are not in communion with God, have not fully embraced the Atonement, and are lacking in certainty and knowledge. Perception, and the forgiven world, the reflection of Heaven, must end. Only Heaven is my home.
All these quotes are distinctly CLEAR, that the THING is Heaven, and ITS REFLECTION is on Earth. And every quote is consistent in this. Reflections are second-hand information, and reflections are STILL illusions.
"In this world you can become a spotless mirror, in which the Holiness of your Creator shines forth from you to all around you. 2 You can REFLECT Heaven here."
"Earth can REFLECT Heaven or hell; God or the ego. 5 You need but leave the mirror clean and clear of all the images of hidden darkness you have drawn upon it. 6 God will shine upon it of Himself. 7 Only the clear REFLECTION of Himself can be perceived upon it."
"REFLECTIONS are SEEN in light."
"Could you but realize for a single instant the power of healing that the REFLECTION of God, shining in you, can bring to all the world, you could not wait to make the mirror of your mind clean to receive the IMAGE of the holiness that heals the world."
"Those who have learned to offer only healing, because of the REFLECTION of holiness in them, are ready at last for Heaven. 5 There, holiness is NOT A REFLECTION, but rather the ACTUAL CONDITION of what was but REFLECTED to them here. 6 God is NO IMAGE, and His creations, as part of Him, hold Him in them in truth. 7 They DO NOT MERELY REFLECT truth, for they ARE truth."
"God's laws DO NOT obtain directly to a world perception rules, for such a world could NOT HAVE BEEN CREATED by the Mind to which perception has no meaning. 2 Yet are His laws REFLECTED everywhere. 3 *********NOT that the world where this REFLECTION is, is REAL at all."**********
"Yet forgiveness is the means by which I will recognize my innocence. 5 It is the REFLECTION of God's Love on earth. 6 It will bring me NEAR enough to Heaven that the Love of God can reach down to me and raise me up to Him."
"As I begin to see, I recognize His REFLECTION on earth."
"The perfect equality of the Holy Spirit's perception is the REFLECTION of the perfect equality of God's knowing. 2 The ego's perception has no counterpart in God, but the Holy Spirit remains the Bridge between perception and knowledge. 3 By enabling you to use perception in a way that REFLECTS knowledge, you will ultimately remember it."
"I am God's Son, complete and healed and whole, shining in the REFLECTION of His Love."
"The miracle itself is a REFLECTION of this union of Will between Father and Son"
"It is His Holiness that lights up Heaven, and that brings to earth the pure REFLECTION of the LIGHT ABOVE, wherein are earth and Heaven joined as one." (careful!)
"Forgiveness is this world's equivalent of Heaven's justice. 2 It translates the world of sin into a simple world, where justice can be REFLECTED from beyond the gate behind which total lack of limits lies. 3 Nothing in boundless love could need forgiveness. 4 And what is charity within the world gives way to simple justice past the gate that opens into Heaven."
"Then let the Son of God awaken from his sleep, and opening his holy eyes, return again to bless THE WORLD HE MADE. 2 In ERROR it began, but it will end in the REFLECTION of his holiness. 3 And he will sleep no more and dream of death. 4 Then join with me today. 5 Your glory is the light that saves the world. 6 Do not withhold salvation longer. 7 Look about the world, and see the suffering there. 8 Is not your heart willing to bring your weary brothers rest?"
"All names are unified; all space is filled with truth's REFLECTION. 4 Every gap is closed, and separation healed. 5 The Name of God is the inheritance He gave to those who chose the teaching of the world to TAKE THE PLACE OF Heaven."
"If we accept an unforgiving thought, it will be soon replaced by love's REFLECTION. 5 And if we are tempted to attack, we will appeal to Him Who guards our rest to make the choice for us that leaves temptation far behind."
"Charity is really a weaker REFLECTION of a much more powerful love-encompassment that is far beyond any form of charity you can conceive of as yet. 7 Charity is essential to right-mindedness in the limited sense in which it can now be attained."
"Forgiveness is a SYMBOL, too, but as the symbol of His Will alone it cannot be divided. 2 And so the unity that it REFLECTS becomes His Will. 3 It is the only thing still in the world in part, and yet the bridge to Heaven."
"How lovely does the world become in just that single instant when you see the truth about yourself REFLECTED there. 2 Now you are sinless and behold your sinlessness. 3 Now you are holy and PERCEIVE it so. 4 And now the mind returns to its Creator; the joining of the Father and the Son, the Unity of unities that stands behind all joining but beyond them all. 5 God is NOT SEEN but only understood. 6 His Son is not attacked but recognized."
Forget the world for a moment, and think only of heaven existing. You are in heaven with God.
Then we had this separation event where we dreamed of spacetime and made up a physical universe. This world was like a small area of heaven which we fenced off with police tape and tried to keep God out of it.
"The body is a tiny fence around a little part of a glorious and completely limitless idea. It draws a circle, infinitely small, around a very little segment of Heaven, splintered from the whole, proclaiming that, within it, is YOUR Kingdom, where God can enter not. Within this kingdom the ego rules, and cruelly. And, to defend this little speck of dust, it bids you fight against the universe."
We blocked off heaven's light from shining upon it, we tried to insist that God was not inside the walls, we insisted on it being a barren empty desert, and used whatever means we could to make its seem like an area of darkness and death.
This little area of attempted lifelessness houses Earth and bodies and physical objects etc. But more to the point it's an area where mind rejects love and tries to keep God out.
To overcome this, what needs to happen basically is the walls have to come down, the flood waters of love have to be allowed to come rushing in, the light of heaven has to be allowed to shine on the barren wasteland, God has to be allowed to infuse and be present in the place where the illusion of a world was, and the entire area has to be resurrected into a state of heaven.
This means that while you are seeming to be a prisoner inside the walls, occupying the desert, you have to find ways to let heaven flood the prison. To let the light in, to have God be acknowledged in your mind, to grant access to heaven to occupy the seeming space where the world was.
And heaven will enter and shine upon the desert and seem to give it life, seen in a new light, forgiven and blessed. We uncover the light of God so that the light can shine upon the world, that we may be the light of the world, in order ultimately to shine the world away. To erase the walls, melt the prison cells, undo the separations, and cancel out the idea of a place where God can enter not.
"A world forgiven cannot last. It was the home of bodies. But forgiveness looks past bodies. This is its holiness; this is how it heals. The world of bodies is the world of sin, for only if there is a body is sin possible. From sin comes guilt as surely as forgiveness takes all guilt away. And once all guilt is gone what more remains to keep a separated world in place? For place has gone as well, along with time."
Along the way, this means we are in a sense bringing heaven to Earth, but more accurately we're allowing heaven to occupy the space that Earth was made to block. To let the light of Christ shine through the body. To bring as much of heaven to Earth as possible such that you may reflect heaven here and see through a more heavenly vision. To be a kind of walking emissary of God - a Teacher of God, a healer.
As this inner awareness of heaven increases, the outward projection of it increases also. God begins to be seen as though "in" all things because God is in your mind. This means God is becoming visible, and the world is becoming invisible.
The solidity of the physical is diffusing and fading into the light of reality, because light shines away darkness. And what once seemed solid turns transparent and eventually to nothing. At first seen with the love and light that we bring into this "space", and then replaced by that love and light.
Our goal is ultimately to return entirely to heaven, in which the world is no more. But to get there, we have to first uncover the light within, and secondly allow this light to shine without. We first go to God to let the light shine, and then we bring the light of God into the world to shine the world away. It's not about escaping the world, it's about replacing it with God.
"Christ is within a frame of holiness, whose ONLY purpose is that He may be made manifest to those who know Him not; that He may call to them to come to Him, and see Him where they THOUGHT their bodies were. Then will their bodies melt away, that they may frame His holiness in them."
"Through your holiness the power of God is made manifest. Through your holiness the power of God is made available. And there is nothing the power of God cannot do."
"From here we give salvation to the world, for it is here salvation was received. The song of our rejoicing is the call to all the world that freedom is returned, that time is almost over, and God's Son has but an instant more to wait until his Father is remembered, dreams are done, eternity has shined away the world, and only Heaven now exists at all."
"And from this light will the Great Rays extend back into darkness and forward unto God, to shine away the past and so make room for His Eternal Presence, in which everything is radiant in the light."
"Because my feet are on the ground and my hands are in heaven, I can bring down the glories of Heaven to my brothers on earth."
"Everyone on earth has formed special relationships, and, although this is not so in Heaven, the Holy Spirit knows how to bring a touch of Heaven to them here."
"Each spot HIS reason touches, grows alive with beauty. And what SEEMED ugly, in the darkness of your LACK of reason, is suddenly released to loveliness. Not even what the Son of God made in insanity, could be without a hidden spark of beauty, that gentleness could release."
"Miracles fall like drops of healing rain from Heaven on a dry and dusty world, where starved and thirsty creatures came to die. Now they have water. Now the world is green. And everywhere the signs of life spring up, to show that what is born can never die, for what has life has immortality."
"Fail not in your function of loving in a loveless place, made out of darkness and deceit, for thus are darkness and deception UNdone."
"In your relationship, you have joined with me in bringing Heaven to the Son of God, who hid in darkness. You have been willing to bring the darkness to light, and this willingness has given strength to everyone who would REMAIN in darkness."
"The Thought of God surrounds your little kingdom, waiting at the barrier you built, to come in and shine upon the barren ground. See how life springs up everywhere! The desert becomes a garden, green and deep and quiet, offering rest to those who lost their way, and wander in the dust. Give them a place of refuge, prepared by love for them, where once a desert was. And every one you welcome will bring love with him, from Heaven for you. They enter one by one into this holy place, but they will not depart as they had come, alone."
"As faithlessness will keep your little kingdoms barren and separate, so will faith help the Holy Spirit prepare the ground for the most holy garden that He would make of it. For faith brings peace, and so it calls on truth to enter and make lovely, what has already BEEN prepared for loveliness."
"In the world you, can become a spotless mirror, in which the holiness of your Creator shines forth from you, to all around you. You can REFLECT HEAVEN here. But no reflections of the images of other gods must dim the mirror that would hold God's reflection in it. Earth can reflect Heaven or hell; God or the ego. You need but leave the mirror clean, and clear of all the images of hidden darkness you have drawn upon it. God will shine upon it of Himself. Only the clear reflection OF Himself can BE perceived upon it. Reflections are seen in light. In darkness, they are obscure, and their meaning seems to lie only in shifting interpretations, rather than in themselves."
"All this beauty will rise to bless your sight, as you look upon the world with forgiving eyes. For forgiveness literally TRANSFORMS vision, and lets you see the real world, reaching quietly and gently across chaos, and removing all illusions that had twisted your perception, and fixed it on the past. The smallest leaf becomes a thing of wonder, and a blade of grass a sign of God's perfection. From the forgiven world, the Son of God is lifted easily to his home. And there, he knows that he has ALWAYS rested there in peace."
"And now God's KNOWLEDGE, changeless, certain, pure and wholly understandable, enters its Kingdom. Gone is perception, false and true alike. Gone is forgiveness, for its task is done. And gone are bodies in the blazing light upon the altar to the Son of God. God knows it is His Own, as it is his. And here They join, for here the face of Christ has shone away time's final instant, and now is the last perception of the world without a purpose and without a cause. For where God's memory has come at last there is no journey, no belief in sin, no walls, no bodies, and the grim appeal of guilt and death is there snuffed out forever."
This is quite an interesting teaching. As God created you, you are always the same. You are immortal, eternal, permanently you.
In your spiritual self there is no sense of change, no disturbance, fluctuation, alteration, changes. No tensions, no upsets, no parts that malfunction, no things that fall off, no breakage or damage. There is in fact nothing happening as such, within your self, at all.
You just remain exactly the same, all the time. And because of this total lack of disturbance, of transformation, or changes of any kind, you re totally at peace.
This is not a peace that results from achievements or striving or accumulating or learning. You just are simply the same all the time, and this alone is a stillness so constant and so unaffected that it is totally peaceful.
In the world we keep trying to do a whole lot of stuff. Learn more, become something, accumulate stuff, achieve goals, turn into something, improve yourself, apply techniques, learn concepts, increase understanding, even healing. We keep trying to CHANGE ourselves.
And this leads to the idea that if you change yourself enough, you'll become enlightened. With enough transformation and learning, you'll end up at the ultimate goal. But this doesn't actually work. This is not what is needed.
You see, God has already perfectly accomplished his will. He created you to be a perfect being that is ALWAYS THE SAME FOREVER. A permanently perfect creation, perfect innocence, perfect invulnerability, never changing or turning into anything.
Just BEING that is all you need to do. That is what is natural. You just know yourself as God created you and just be that, always the same, never changing. Just being you, living happily, creating freely, loving endlessly.
There is nothing that you can really DO that can put this in place. You do not establish this. You cannot create it yourself. You cannot cultivate it or make it happen or cause it. You cannot get to that point through tons of polish or perfecting or training or learning.
In fact the whole purpose of learning is to learn to stop learning. Learning is supposed to expire itself and outlive its usefulness. The aim of learning is to learn that there is nothing to learn, and that learning itself is actually preventing you from accepting what you are.
The whole RE-PURPOSING of learning is to try to use learning, which was made as a weapon against yourself, to try to lead to the REALIZATION that you need do nothing. Or that you need learn nothing, because you're already perfect.
So this whole business of an ultimate goal, of spiritual awakening, it's NOT about accumulating stuff and getting yourself to change into something. It's in fact just a matter of realising what you already are, what God already created, recognizing the existing truth about yourself. It's an uncovering, an unlearning, an undoing of everything that interferes with that awareness.
This waking up, it's not the same thing as a producing. You don't cause or create or produce your perfect self. God did that already. So the journey isn't about you starting out with nothing and ending up with everything. You already had everything before the separation. It's just about being RESTORED to what you already are, REMEMBERING what is already true, and sort of coming to your senses again.
You don't need to do God's job of creating yourself. That was the whole ego problem to begin with - believing that you could CHANGE YOURSELF, that you could change what God created, and thus turn yourself INTO what you wanted. And now you are using that same approach to try to turn your ego self into what you want - some kind of more spiritual self. It won't work.
It's not your job to create or put in place the enlightened self that you want to be. God has willed that you be that forever, and you ARE that right now. All you are doing is being in denial of it and trying not to accept it. So all you have to do is be willing to accept what is ALREADY true of you. That is just a matter of realisation and recognition, not a matter of accomplishment or achievement or some kind of skill you learn.
So basically what you really need to do is to GO AGAINST everything that says you are not perfect already. That includes learning, it includes denial, it includes trying to be a body, it includes identifying with form, it includes any sense of self that is limited or not permanent. And instead it asks only that you simply JUST BE THE SAME ALL THE TIME. Just carry on being absolutely perfect. In other words, STOP TRYING TO CHANGE.
All this seeking, striving, learning, accumulating, perfecting, studying, conceptualising, thinking, it's all ultimately in and of itself getting in the way of you JUST BEING YOU. Enlightenment has NOTHING to do with changing or transforming or achieving. It is NOT a change. Your spiritual self is already in the light. It IS light. When you seek to change you are seeking to move AWAY FROM the changelessness that you are.
Consider instead that you are perfect now. Continue being perfect. You are constantly perfect. You don't NEED anything. You don't lack anything, you haven't lost anything, you haven't turned into evil, you haven't stopped being innocent and holy, you can never change or become lost or degrade or malfunction. You just are always the same. Always you. Always unchanging. And that is why your soul is at peace.
"Why wait for Heaven? Those who seek the light are merely covering their eyes. The light is in them now. Enlightenment is but a recognition, not a change at all." UrW188L1
"The response of holiness, to ANY form of error, is ALWAYS the same. There is no contradiction in what holiness CALLS FORTH. Its ONE response is healing, without ANY regard for what is brought TO it." UrT14E7
"This may threaten my ego, but cannot change my function in any way." UrW82L6
"You were NOT born to die. You CANNOT change, because your Function HAS been fixed by God." UrT29G4
"The mind can think it sleeps, but that is all. It cannot change what is its waking state." UrW167L6
"You cannot change laws you did not make, and the laws of happiness were created FOR you, NOT BY you." UrT8J13
"It is impossible that God lose His identity, for if He did, YOU WOULD LOSE YOURS. And BEING yours, He cannot change Himself, for your identity IS changeless." UrT14G8
"Whatever is true and real is eternal, and CANNOT change or be changed. The Soul is therefore unalterable because it is ALREADY perfect, but the mind can elect the level it chooses to serve. The only limit which is put on its choice is that it CANNOT serve two masters." UrT1B37C
Jesus writes: "See the point about miracles as a perception corrector (for himself) ***before*** he can effect (perform) miracles as CREATIVE ENERGIZERS (for others), which they are."
Becoming a miracle worker has two phases. As Jesus writes here, in the first phase there is an emphasis on the correction of YOUR perceptual flaws. This GIVES WAY, to the second phase, which is the ability to EXTEND love to others as a creative energizing power, which can heal them.
This is because miracles express FROM a loving state of mind, and in the initial phase you are NOT loving enough to express them yourself. You have to shift perception FIRST, to get INTO a loving state, before you can PERFORM a miracle.
This all hinges around a very simple mechanic. The question of, are you in a state of mind in which you are willing to EXTEND?
When you are in the first phase, you are still much too selfish, too in the dark, too afraid, too unwilling, and riddled with sin, to be able to truly extend maximal love to others. You can't PERFORM miracles very effectively. The mind is deluded with false perception and temptation. In this stage, your mind is very much IN NEED of help itself. It can't effectively get out of the way or give or supply the lack in others, because it itself is too lacking.
In this first phase, our main function is PURIFICATION. We need to RECEIVE healing for ourselves. The mind has to be trained. Fear has to be undone. Sin has to be forgiven. Blocks to awareness have to be removed. All the ways that we are HOLDING BACK THE LIGHT have to be dissolved. It's kind of like, you are a light of healing, but while your light is covered up with ego bullshit you cannot SHINE enough to effectively "shed light" onto others. You are too dark.
"Miracles are everyone's right (the right to PERFORM them), but purification is necessary first."
So you have to go through a phase, which could be quite extensive, of purification for yourself. Here you can RECEIVE miracles, ie outside help, FROM those who are already miraculously powerful. That could be another miracle worker who can SUPPLY YOUR LACK, because they "temporarily have more" than you, or it might be healing received from Jesus or the Holy Spirit. Our task here is also to practice forgiveness and learn to undo sin through atonement.
Now, you can probably imagine what's going to happen as, over time, your mind becomes LIGHTER. Or rather, the various ways that you are unwilling to EXTEND LIGHT into the minds of others, unwilling to join, and are too focused on separation, is removed. What's going to happen as you open up, develop trust in your brother, forgive yourself and him, and remove the blocks to unconditional love?
You're going to gradually SHINE more, becoming brighter and more able and willing to ALLOW love to extend through you. You're learning to line up with God's will. To let go of ego. To connect and communicate. To express love more unconditionally. Special relationships are melting into holy relationships. And your mind is becoming UNBLOCKED. So it's not getting in the way of the extension of the mind itself.
As this progresses, you are gradually approaching the second state of miracle mindedness and more consistently "being the light of the world." As you UNVEIL yourself, you are more willing and able to express love and extend LIFE. You start becoming more able to GIVE to others and to serve, to be truly helpful. And you begin to represent God and Christ more. Your mind is reconnecting with other minds and your heart is opening to love.
By becoming less blocked, less inhibited, less afraid, less selfish and less separated off, you are resuming your NATURAL FUNCTION of miraculousness. Being miraculous is actually permanent. Even God is miraculous and so are all His creations. "Miracles are a universal blessing from God" "God's miracles" "You are a miracle" "The miraculous nature of the soul" etc. Miracles are supposed to naturally be happening ALL the time.
When we talk of miracles as ONLY the shifts in perception which LEAD UP TO the state of miracle mindedness, we are missing half the story. This would imply that once your mind IS shifted into truth, you STOP being miraculous. This is not AT ALL true. In fact what happens is you are uncovering your PERMANENT and natural innate miraculous NATURE, which puts you back in touch with being ALWAYS miraculous.
As your mind becomes healed, YOU become able TO heal others. As you become more loving and unafraid, you are able to GIVE the miracles you have received. As you become more in line with the Golden Rule, you are able to recognize that giving and receiving are ONE. As you remove the blocks to awareness, you become more JOINED with other minds and SUPPORT and STRENGTHEN them.
"Those who are healed become instruments of healing."
So the first phase is all about uncovering your natural miracle working ability and nature, and the second phase is about starting to get in touch with and EXPRESSING that nature. First becoming stronger in the truth, then GIVING that truth to others. First receiving healing that you need in order to BE healed, then GIVING that healing to others effortlessly.
Some people focus only on the aspect of ACIM which discusses the "benefits to you" of reaching the atonement "for yourself". Your sole responsibility. But this misses an entire other half of the story. The rest of the story tells us of how, having been restored to our natural condition, we become empowered to WORK MIRACLES ourselves, by being able once again to EXTEND God's Power to others.
"Having been restored to your original state, you naturally ***become part of the Atonement yourself***. You now share MY inability to tolerate the lack of love in yourself and in everyone else, and MUST join the GREAT CRUSADE to correct it. The slogan for this Crusade is "Listen, Learn, and DO.""
Jesus is ALSO clear in the course that he does not intend for us to WAIT until we reach 100% atonement before working any miracles. In fact, he describes it as an ability to be PRACTICED.
"The power to work Miracles BELONGS to you. I will create the right opportunities for you to do them. But you must be ready and willing to do them, since you are already able to. Doing them will bring conviction in the ability."
He states that as we ATTEMPT to perform miracles, sometimes we will have successes and that DOING THEM will BRING conviction in the ability. That we need a bit of convincing and the only way to get that is to TRY to perform them. Perhaps we will fail at first. Perhaps we will be too involved in the ego to get a result. But if we don't TRY, we will not discover what we can do or learn from mistakes.
"Miracles are taken first on faith" also tells us that initially we have to TRUST and have faith in order to perform miracles, because we are OUT OF TOUCH with the miracle-minded state. And so we need Holy Spirit or Jesus to do the work for us. To help us out where we fail. But LATER, as we get more in touch with our innate miraculousness, we become more able to directly PERFORM them ourselves.
He also describes how if we were to just TEMPORARILY suspend fear, or uses words to focus the mind in prayer, that this would be sufficient to bring about a miracle. EVEN IF we then return to a state of fear afterwards. He also discusses how "some of you have healed the sick at times but have not raised the dead because your faith was not whole." A PARTIAL faith can bring about "minor miracles", while a FULLER faith (a more healed mind) can bring about what would seem to be "more difficult" miracles such as raising the dead.
Becoming ABLE to perform a miracle, is clearly a PROGRESSION, something to be experimented with, explored, discovered, learned, strengthened, so that we can GAIN confidence in the ability. We will see lesser miracles and later more significant ones as we hone the ability. As our mind becomes more purified, it becomes easier. As our ego gets more out of the way, we become more powerful. As we trust more, we gain God's Power more. And as we become more truly loving, we are able to supply a lack of love in others, healing and enlightening them.
This is also why Jesus says "an untrained mind can accomplish nothing." Meaning that a trained mind CAN accomplish something. A trained mind is more ABLE to perform miracles for others.
We are to gradually unlock our potential as miracle workers. We are to "test the waters" and dabble and TRY to perform them. We are to experiment with working with the Holy Spirit. And we are to learn from our failures and forgive our faults and fears, so that we can become more effective healers. Once we reach consistent miracle mindedness we'll be so empowered that we can effortlessly perform miracles all day every day. "Every day should be devoted to miracles."
So miracles "benefit both the giver and the receiver". As you attempt to give them, even from a non 100%-atoned state, they LIFT YOU UP, as well as lifting others up. As you flow and give the love that you DO NOT have, you tap into the flow and it starts to move, and it starts to LIFT YOU out of the darkness. You get healed as well as the other person. But once you have BEEN healed, and are sustaining a higher level of functioning, the healing you extend has less need to heal YOU, and focuses more on the healing you GIVE to others.
"Miracles are the maximal SERVICE you can render to others."
Being miraculously MINDED, as a state, is distinct from miracle DOING/WORKING, which is an EXPRESSION FROM that state.
"The distinction has also been made here between "miracle-mindedness" as a STATE, and "miracle-doing" as its expression. "
Becoming closer to the miracle-minded STATE is the first PHASE of learning to be a miracle worker. Miracle DOING/WORKING is the EXPRESSION/extension of that state, which entails the PERFORMING of miracles for others. This second state is completely natural and automatic and effortless and MANDATORY. You cannot become loving WITHOUT being willing to GIVE love. You cannot be healed without a willingness TO HEAL. And you cannot accept atonement or miracles without a recognition that it is to be SHARED with others.
The truth of the reality of God's Kingdom is the true nature of your soul. Every property, quality and characteristic of what you are, is given by God. God creates only like himself, and God is immortal.
The result is that you have inherited God's nature and are like God. You have every property and characteristic that God has. This includes immortality, eternal life, permanence, invulnerability, perfection, holiness, innocence, peace, joy, love, happiness, safety, certainty, knowing, power and unlimited existence.
Because this is true of who and what you are, if you are to return to enjoying these qualities, you simply need to open up to accepting that this is the truth of you. The truth of you is BEYOND the ego, beyond space and time, beyond the separation, and was established by God before there ever was a problem to solve.
Forgiveness then, is a REFLECTION of your natural condition in heaven, in which you are as true to your true nature as possible, while being in this dream world. It is a state of mind in which you are accepting what is really true, about you, about others, about God, and about the world. It is clarity, recognition, sanity and accuracy.
"Misperception is a BLOCK to knowledge, while ACCURATE perception is a stepping-stone TOWARDS it."
"The term "right-mindedness" is properly used as the correction for wrong-mindedness, and applies to the state of mind which induces accurate perception."
Accurate perception is also referred to as TRUE perception. And true perception is ALSO referred to as forgiveness, atonement, the miracle, right mindedness, miracle mindedness, salvation, forgiveness, sanity, recognition, the real world, the face of Christ and Christ vision. These are all the same thing - the same state of mind.
"Forgiveness, salvation, Atonement, true perception, all are one. They are the one beginning, with the end to lead to oneness far beyond themselves."This one state of mind, of a corrected mind, which is still dreaming and perceiving but is ALIGNED with the truth within the Kingdom, REFLECTING your true nature as a reflection of heaven on earth, is the state of forgiveness. It simply means that you are being as close to how you are in heaven, just short of being there in person.
Forgiveness then, is really a symbol, because it is a means to an end and a tool for awakening. It really DERIVES its meaning from the reality of the Kingdom that it is BASED ON. It symbolizes or represents, mirrors or reflects, the truth of your reality. It is not an end or thing in itself, FORGIVENESS IS SYMBOLIC!
"Forgiveness is a symbol, too, but as the symbol of His Will alone it cannot be divided."
"Forgiving dreams remind you that you live in safety, and have NOT attacked yourself."
"Forgiving dreams are kind to everyone who figures in the dream. And so they bring the dreamer full release from dreams of fear."
"Only forgiving dreams can enter here, for time is almost over. And the forms which enter in the dreams are now perceived as brothers, not in judgment, but in love."
Since forgiveness, atonement, salvation, true perception etc is a SYMBOL, a REFLECTION or once-removed representation of the truth of God, you have to look to what it POINTS TO or represents in order to understand what its qualities must be. Because it derives its qualities FROM the knowledge that it is based on. The question is then, what does forgiveness SYMBOLIZE?"True perception is the BASIS for knowledge, but KNOWING is the affirmation of truth."
So if you look to heaven, look to the qualities of God, to how creation happens, to what souls are like, to the real truth and nature and composition of reality, you will find the BLUEPRINT that forgiving dreams are BASED ON. And this will tell you what forgiveness is and what its qualities should be.
Forgiveness, if based on REALITY, as a reflection of your true nature, should be a state of mind in which you are acknowledging and accepting how you are in heaven. This includes holy relationships which reflect the real relationships in heaven. And it includes the recognition of your immortality, invulnerability, perfection, sinlessness, the incapability of being sick or dying, the assertion of eternal life, and the presence of love.
To be forgiving, is to be heaven-like. It entails complete vigilance for the Kingdom, which means full faith and trust in what is actually true IN the Kingdom, in proper denial of the lies presented by illusions.
Forgiveness should bring with it:
Acknowledgement of your immortality and invulnerability
Love, peace, joy, happiness
Strength and power and the absence of suffering
The end of the victim role and any sense of being affected
Sanity, clarity, accurate perception and right mindedness
Miraculous power to break the laws of space and time
Assertion of life capable of raising the dead and healing the sick
Security, calm, peace-of-mind, certainty, trust and protection
A sense of permanence and the impossibility of death
Knowing that the world has no ability to change you in any way
The absence of pain, suffering, damage or malfunction in the body
Wholeness, innocence, integration, single-mindedness, unified-will
Extension and expression of God's nature
Being plugged into, directed by and healed by spirit
Thinking like God and aligned with God's will
Alignment with the Holy Spirit's thought system
Gratitude and joy that you are still as God created you
Recognition that nothing has ever gone wrong
The complete denial of attack or sin in all its forms
The list goes on. If there is a quality that is true in heaven, then forgiveness should be based on that quality also.
Your brother is innocent not merely because he is not the one who attacked you, but because in heaven you cannot BE attacked. Your suffering is self-made because only you can seem to attack yourself by your free will. And nothing happens without your consent, not even death. Everyone is innocent because you are immortal and cannot be attacked. Forgiveness derives all of its meaning from your heavenly nature.
Forgiveness is the REFLECTION OF HEAVEN. And being a reflection, it gets all of its meaning FROM heaven itself.
"In Heaven, reality is SHARED, and not reflected. By sharing its reflection HERE, its truth becomes the only perception which the Son of God accepts."
"You can REFLECT HEAVEN here. But no reflections of the images of other gods must dim the mirror that would hold God's reflection in it."
"We see the light, and in it we see Heaven's reflection lie across the world."
"Yet forgiveness is the means by which I will recognize my innocence. It is the reflection of God's Love on earth. It will bring me near enough to Heaven that the Love of God can reach down to me and raise me to my home."
"This aching world has not the power to touch the living world at all. You could not give it that, and so, although you turn in sadness from it, you cannot find in it the road that leads AWAY from it, into another world. But the REAL world HAS the power to touch you even here, BECAUSE YOU LOVE IT.
And what you call with love WILL come to you. Love always answers, being unable to deny a call for help, or not to hear the cries of pain that rise to it, from every part of this strange world you made, and do not want. The only effort you need make, to give this world away in glad exchange for what you did NOT make, is willingness to learn THE ONE YOU MADE IS FALSE."
"You can REFLECT HEAVEN here. But no reflections of the images of other gods must dim the mirror that would hold God's reflection in it. Earth can reflect Heaven or hell; God or the ego. You need but leave the mirror clean, and clear of all the images of hidden darkness you have drawn upon it. God will shine upon it of Himself. Only the clear reflection OF Himself can BE perceived upon it."
"The reflection of God NEEDS no interpretation. IT IS CLEAR. Clear but the mirror, and the message which shines forth from what the mirror holds out for everyone to see, NO-ONE will fail to understand. It is the message that the Holy Spirit is holding to the mirror that is in HIM."
"Could you but realize, for a single instant, the power of healing that the reflection of God, shining in YOU, can bring to all the world, you COULD not wait to make the mirror of your mind clean, to receive the image of the Holiness that heals the world.
The image of holiness that shines in YOUR mind is NOT obscure, and will NOT change. Its meaning, to those who look upon it, is not obscure, for everyone perceives it AS THE SAME. All bring their DIFFERENT problems to its healing light, but ALL their problems are met ONLY with healing there."
This is a simple logical premise deeply rooted in the Course. Heaven was all that existed, and WE MADE UP an opposite to Heaven. And that opposite is ALWAYS opposed to Heaven, totally UNLIKE Heaven in every way, and is the idea of HELL, no matter how you perceive it or look at it or think about it. An opposite to heaven DOES NOT EXIST. Therefore there is no world - Earth, as Heaven's OPPOSITE, does not exist.
Below are a selection of quotes, which all highlight that Earth and Heaven are OPPOSITE. They will NOT EVER BE "one thing", or the "same thing". Earth was made to OPPOSE the one possibility of Heaven in every way. "The world was made as an attack on God." In no way, at no time, will the Earth merge with Heaven. "Love, which is all encompassing, HAS NO OPPOSITE", and so the opposite to Heaven, which is Earth, shall simply disappear into the nothingness from which it came.
You are either "in heaven", without an opposite, or you are "in hell" (Earth) with an opposite. If you are in the Earth, Heaven must then HAVE an opposite, Earth is now hell, and there is no escape from duality.
Perception has nothing to do with that fact. Perceiving hell in a heavenly way is only a temporary state in order to prepare you for the reality that Heaven is the only reality and THERE IS NO WORLD. Earth, as Heaven's total opposite, CANNOT CONTINUE being "Earth" in any recognizable way, which is MADE OF OPPOSITION (which is attack), while also being "equated" with or identical to Heaven. Heaven HAS no opposite. Earth DOES NOT EXIST.
---------------
"For THIS WORLD IS THE OPPOSITE OF HEAVEN, having been made to BE its opposite. And EVERYTHING here takes a direction EXACTLY OPPOSITE to what is true."
"Heaven remains your one ALTERNATIVE to this strange world YOU MADE and all its ways; its shifting patterns and uncertain goals, its painful pleasures and its tragic joys. 2 God made no contradictions. 3 What denies its own existence and attacks itself is not of Him. 4 He did NOT make two minds, with Heaven as the glad effect of one, and EARTH the other's sorry outcome WHICH IS HEAVEN'S OPPOSITE IN EVERY WAY."
"FOR THIS WORLD IS THE OPPOSITE OF HEAVEN, being MADE TO BE ITS OPPOSITE, and everything here takes a direction EXACTLY OPPOSITE of what is true. 7 In Heaven, where the meaning of love is known, love is the same as union. 8 Here, where the illusion of love is accepted in love's place, love is perceived as separation and exclusion."
"It applies to everything that God created, and ONLY what He created is real. It is beyond learning because it is BEYOND TIME AND PROCESS. It HAS NO OPPOSITE; no beginning and no end. It merely is."
"How could the Son of God make time to take away the Will of God? 3 He thus denies himself, and contradicts what HAS NO OPPOSITE. 4 HE THINKS HE MADE A HELL OPPOSING HEAVEN, and believes that HE ABIDES IN what DOES NOT EXIST, while Heaven is the place he cannot find."
"From knowledge and perception respectively, two distinct thought systems arise which are OPPOSITE IN EVERY RESPECT. In the realm of knowledge no thoughts exist apart from God, because God and His Creation share one Will. The WORLD OF PERCEPTION, however, is MADE BY THE BELIEF IN OPPOSITES AND SEPARATE WILLS, in PERPETUAL CONFLICT with each other and with God. What perception sees and hears appears to be real because it permits into awareness only what conforms to the WISHES of the perceiver. This leads to a WORLD OF ILLUSIONS, a world which needs constant defense precisely BECAUSE IT IS NOT REAL."
"In this world Heaven is a choice, because here we believe there are ALTERNATIVES to choose between. We think that all things have an OPPOSITE, and what we want we choose. If Heaven exists there must be HELL as well, for contradiction is the way we make what we perceive, and what we THINK is real."
"CREATION KNOWS NO OPPOSITE. 2 But here is OPPOSITION part of being "real." 3 It is this strange perception of the truth that makes the choice of Heaven seem to be the same as the relinquishment of hell. 4 It is not really thus." (because hell doesn't exist)
"For truth is true, and NOTHING ELSE is true. 7 THERE IS NO OPPOSITE to choose instead. 8 There is no contradiction to the truth."
"IN DEATH ALONE ARE OPPOSITES resolved, for ending OPPOSITION is to die. 4 And thus salvation must be seen as death, for LIFE IS SEEN AS CONFLICT. 5 To resolve the conflict is to end your life as well."
"In me is love perfected, fear impossible, and joy established WITHOUT OPPOSITE. 4 I am the holy home of God Himself. 5 I am the HEAVEN where His Love resides."
"Now the light has come: ITS OPPOSITE HAS GONE WITHOUT A TRACE. 9 Where evil was there now is holiness. 10 What is the ego? 11 What the evil was. 12 Where is the ego? 13 In an EVIL DREAM that but SEEMED REAL WHILE YOU WERE DREAMING IT."
"The OPPOSITE OF SEEING through the body's eyes is the vision of Christ, which reflects strength rather than weakness, unity rather than separation, and love rather than fear. The OPPOSITE OF HEARING through the body's ears is communication through the Voice for God, the Holy Spirit, which abides in each of us."
"The Holy Spirit uses logic as easily and as well as does the ego, except that His conclusions are not insane. 5 They take a direction EXACTLY OPPOSITE, pointing as clearly TO HEAVEN as the ego points to darkness and to death (earth)."
"What could you choose between but life or death, waking or sleeping, peace or war, your dreams or your reality? 2 There is a risk of thinking death is peace, because THE WORLD EQUATES THE BODY WITH THE SELF WHICH GOD CREATED. 3 Yet a thing can NEVER BE ITS OPPOSITE. 4 AND DEATH IS OPPOSITE TO PEACE, because it is the OPPOSITE OF LIFE."
"The perception of goodness is NOT knowledge, but the denial of the OPPOSITE of goodness enables you to recognize a condition in which OPPOSITES DO NOT EXIST."
"The Thought of peace was given to God's Son the instant that HIS MIND HAD THOUGHT OF WAR. 2 There was no need for such a Thought before, for peace was given WITHOUT OPPOSITE, and merely was."
"From here we give salvation to the world, for it is here salvation was received. 2 The song of our rejoicing is the call to all the world that freedom is returned, that time is almost over, and God's Son has but an instant more to wait until his Father is remembered, DREAMS ARE DONE, ETERNITY HAS ****SHINED AWAY THE WORLD**** , and ONLY HEAVEN NOW EXISTS AT ALL."
Worth repeating:
"There is NO LIFE OUTSIDE OF HEAVEN. 2 Where God created life, there life must be. 3 In any state APART from Heaven LIFE IS ILLUSION. 4 At best it SEEMS LIKE LIFE; at worst, like death. 5 Yet both are judgments on what is NOT LIFE, equal in their inaccuracy and lack of meaning. 6 LIFE NOT IN HEAVEN IS IMPOSSIBLE, and what is not in Heaven is NOT ANYWHERE. 7 Outside of Heaven, only the conflict of illusion stands; senseless, impossible and beyond all reason, and yet PERCEIVED as an eternal barrier to Heaven. 8 Illusions are BUT FORMS (life forms). 9 Their content is never true."
There are some things which ACIM states are not possible in this world, and which is only possible upon leaving this world, leaving the body, and returning to Heaven with God.
1. Creation
2. Your creations
3. Totally freed will
4. Knowledge
5. Eternal Life
6. The peace of God
7. Communion with God
8. Extension of Spirit
9. Oneness with the Sonship and God
10. Being Christ
11. The condition of Holiness
12. Being permanently miraculous
13. Being in your natural environment
14. Nothing unreal exists
15. There is no world
16. No time or space
17. Immortality
18. Being unlimited
e.g.
"God cannot enter a body, nor can you join him there."
"Indeed you cannot remain in this world with this knowledge."
"To be without a body is to be in your natural state."
"For thus am I led past this world to my creations, children of my Will, in Heaven where my holy Self abides with them, and Him Who has created me."
"The body cannot create"
"You CANNOT create in this divided state, and you MUST be vigilant AGAINST this divided state because ONLY peace CAN BE extended."
"As long as perception lasts, prayer has a place. Since perception rests on lack, those who perceive have not totally accepted the Atonement and given over themselves to truth. Perception IS a separated state, and the perceiver DOES need healing.
Communion, not prayer, is the natural state of those who know. God and HIS miracles are inseparable."
"Perception of the truth is not the same as knowing it"
"In this world, it is impossible to create."
"And gone are bodies in the blazing light upon the altar to the Son of God."
"Gone is perception, false and true alike."
"the face of Christ has shone away time's final instant"
"no belief in sin, no walls, no bodies, and the grim appeal of guilt and death is there snuffed out forever."
"The Soul never loses its communion with God. Only the mind and body need Atonement."
"Communion, not prayer, is the natural state of those who know."
"The Holy Spirit's temple is not a body, but a relationship."
"You CANNOT make the body the Holy Spirit's temple, and it will NEVER be the seat of love. It is the home of the idolater, and of love's condemnation."
"Those who have learned to offer ONLY healing, because of the reflection of holiness in them, are ready at last for Heaven. There, holiness is not a reflection, but rather the ACTUAL CONDITION of what was but reflected TO them here."
"The body cannot contain you who are love."
"When we are all united in Heaven, you will value NOTHING that you value here."
"As your function in Heaven is creation, so your function on earth is healing. God shares His function with you in Heaven, and the Holy Spirit shares His with you on Earth."
"Life not in Heaven is impossible, and what is not in Heaven is not anywhere."
"Even the perception of the Holy Spirit, as perfect as perception CAN be, is without meaning in Heaven. "
"In Heaven God's Son is NOT imprisoned in a body, nor is sacrificed in solitude to sin. And as he is in Heaven, so MUST he be eternally and everywhere."
"Father, in Heaven it is different, for there, there are no needs."
"In Heaven, where the meaning of love is known, love is the same as UNION."
"great is the joy in Heaven"
"The holiness of your relationship is established in Heaven."
"Your Father knoweth that you have need of nothing. In Heaven this is so. For what could you need in eternity? In YOUR world you DO need things"
"In this form you can fulfill your function even here, although what love will mean to you when formlessness has been restored to you is greater still."
"Learning must lead beyond the body"
"Unity alone is not a thing of dreams. And it is this God's teachers acknowledge as behind the dream, beyond all seeming and yet surely theirs."
"Let your awareness of your brother not be blocked by your perception of his sins, and of his body. "
"For it is only in Heaven that God would have you be. "
"There IS no life outside of Heaven. Where God created life, there life must be. In any state apart from Heaven, life is illusion. At best, it seems like life; at worst, like death."
"In the holy instant, where the Great Rays REPLACE the body in awareness, the recognition of relationships WITHOUT limits is given you."
"Love's meaning is your own, and shared by God Himself. For what you are is what He is. There is no love but His, and what He is is everything there is. There is no limit placed upon Himself, and so are you unlimited as well."
"Grace is the natural state of every Son of God. When he is not in a state of grace he IS out of his natural environment, and does NOT function well. Everything he does becomes a strain, because he was not created for the environment which he has made. He therefore cannot adapt to it, nor can he adapt it to him. There is no point in trying. A Son of God is happy only when he knows he is WITH God. That is the only environment in which he will not experience strain, because that is where he belongs. It is also the only environment that is worthy of him, because his own worth is beyond ANYTHING that he can make.
Consider the Kingdom which you have made, and judge its worth fairly. Is it worthy to be a home for a Child of God? Does it protect his peace, and shine love upon him? Does it keep his heart untouched by fear, and allow him to give always without any sense of loss? Does it teach him that this giving is his joy, and that God Himself thanks him for his giving?
That is the only environment in which you can be happy. You cannot make it, anymore than you can make yourselves."
"The joy of Heaven, which HAS no limit, is INCREASED with each light that returns, to take its rightful place within it. Wait no longer, for the Love of God and YOU."
"Joy is unlimited"
"The mind that serves the Holy Spirit is unlimited forever, in all ways, beyond the laws of time and space, unbound by any preconceptions, and with strength and power to do whatever it is asked."
"The Will of God is without limit, and all power and glory lie within it. It is boundless in strength and in love and in peace. It has no boundaries because its extension is unlimited, and it encompasses all things because it CREATED all things. By CREATING all things, it made them PART OF ITSELF. You are the Will of God, because this is how you were created. Because your Creator creates only like Himself, you are like Him.
You are part of Him who is all power and glory, and are therefore as unlimited as He is."
"The extension of God's Being is the Soul's only function. ITS fullness cannot be contained any more than can the fullness of its Creator. Fullness IS extension."
"God extends outward beyond limits and beyond time"
"The creative power of both God AND His Creations is limitless"