https://www.spreaker.com/show/frances-allans-tracksesSociety & CultureCopyright Frances Allanhttps://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/6fb25a4652d1724cfefa4758ece81608.jpghttps://www.spreaker.com/show/frances-allans-tracksSat, 08 Apr 2023 06:32:27 +0000Frances AllanFrances Allanfeeds@spreaker.comThis avenue of expression of the words - text and audio - given for whomever wants to read and listen, is a blessing for me. My deep gratitude to the Holy Spirit. Love, peace and joy!yesepisodichttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-1-1-principles-of-miracles-50-51
50. The miracle is a learning device which decreases the need for time. In the longitudinal or horizontal plane, the recognition of the true equality of all the members of the Sonship seems to require almost endless time. However, the sudden shift from horizontal to vertical perception, which is the miracle, brings an interval where both doer and receiver come much farther along in time than they could without the miracle.
The foundation of the miracle is recognizing the perfect holiness and equality of doer and receiver. The miracle shortens time by making the space of time it occupies unnecessary. The time a miracle takes and the time it covers are not related. The miracle can substitute for learning that may have taken thousands of years.
Outside the usual laws of time, the miracle collapses and abolishes certain intervals within the larger time sequence, literally saving time. It establishes an out-of-pattern time interval that is timeless. Similar to daylight saving time, it rearranges the distribution of light.

51. The miracle is like the body in that both are learning aids. Neither the body nor the miracle serves any purpose when the spirit's state of direct communication is reached. While man believes he is in a body, he cannot abolish his creativity. He only can choose between miraculous or loveless channels of expression. He can make an empty shell, delay, wait, paralyze himself, reduce his creativity to almost nothing, even producing a developmental arrest or regression. He can destroy his medium of communication, but he must express something. He cannot destroy his potential to create.
Man was created by the will of God and his own free will. Only what man creates is his to decide. Time can waste as well as be wasted. The basic decision of the miracle-minded is to wait on time no longer than is necessary. The miracle-worker accepts the time-control factor gladly. He recognizes that every collapse of time brings all men closer to the release from time in which the Son and the Father are one.
Equality does not mean sameness now. Individual contributions to the Sonship will no longer be necessary when everyone recognizes that he has everything. When the Atonement is completed, all talents will be shared by all the Sonship. All His Children have God's total love, and all His gifts are freely given to everyone alike. I cannot know the power of the Son in his true relationship with the Father, unless I fully recognize my complete dependence on God .
I want peace and I can find it only by giving complete forgiveness. I never wanted peace before, so there was no point in being told how to achieve it. No learning is acquired by anyone unless he wants to learn it and believes that he needs it. The idea of lack does not exist in God's creation, but lack is the basis of all that man makes. This is the essential difference. A need means a lack by definition. It is the recognition that I would be better off in a state that is different from the state I am in now.
Until the "separation" (a more accurate word than the "fall") nothing was lacking. Man had no needs at all. He deprived himself, and then experienced needs. After the separation, needs became the most powerful source of motivation for human behavior. The body is the mechanism for behavior. All behavior is motivated by needs. Behavior is not a divine attribute. The belief that he could be better off is the reason why man has this body mechanism at his disposal.
Each one acts according to the particular hierarchy of needs he establishes for himself. His hierarchy depends on his perception of what he lacks. His sense of separation from God is the only lack he needs to correct. This sense of separation would never have occurred if he had not distorted his perception of truth and perceived himself as lacking. The concept of need hierarchies is because he made a fundamental error by fragmenting himself into levels with different needs. As he integrates, he becomes one, and his needs become one.
Unified need produces unified action, because it is not split. The concept of a need hierarchy comes with the original error that man can be separated from God. It requires correction at its own level before the error of perceiving levels can be corrected. Man cannot behave effectively while he operates at split levels. However, while he does, correction must be from the bottom up. Man now operates in space, where concepts such as "up" and "down" are meaningful. Space is as meaningless as time. The concept is one of space-time belief.
Belief in a creation produces its existence. In attitude, though not in content, man resembles his own Creator, Who has perfect faith in His creations because He created them. Man can never control the effects of fear himself because he made fear and believes in what he made. The physical world exists only because man can use it to correct his unbelief, which originally placed him in it. That is why a man can believe what no one else thinks is true. It is true for him because he made it.
Every part of fear comes from upside-down perception. More truly creative men devote their efforts to correcting perceptual distortions. The neurotic ones devote their efforts to compromise. The psychotic tries to escape by 'proving' the truth of his own errors. It is most difficult to free him by ordinary means, because he is more consistent in his own denial of truth. The miracle, however, makes no such distinctions. It corrects errors because they are errors.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/6441940Mon, 03 Aug 2015 22:00:27 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-1.1-Principles of Miracles.50-51 50. The miracle is a learning device which decreases the need for time. In the longitudinal or horizontal plane, the recognition of the true equality of all the members of the Sonship seems to require almost...
50. The miracle is a learning device which decreases the need for time. In the longitudinal or horizontal plane, the recognition of the true equality of all the members of the Sonship seems to require almost endless time. However, the sudden shift from horizontal to vertical perception, which is the miracle, brings an interval where both doer and receiver come much farther along in time than they could without the miracle.
The foundation of the miracle is recognizing the perfect holiness and equality of doer and receiver. The miracle shortens time by making the space of time it occupies unnecessary. The time a miracle takes and the time it covers are not related. The miracle can substitute for learning that may have taken thousands of years.
Outside the usual laws of time, the miracle collapses and abolishes certain intervals within the larger time sequence, literally saving time. It establishes an out-of-pattern time interval that is timeless. Similar to daylight saving time, it rearranges the distribution of light.

51. The miracle is like the body in that both are learning aids. Neither the body nor the miracle serves any purpose when the spirit's state of direct communication is reached. While man believes he is in a body, he cannot abolish his creativity. He only can choose between miraculous or loveless channels of expression. He can make an empty shell, delay, wait, paralyze himself, reduce his creativity to almost nothing, even producing a developmental arrest or regression. He can destroy his medium of communication, but he must express something. He cannot destroy his potential to create.
Man was created by the will of God and his own free will. Only what man creates is his to decide. Time can waste as well as be wasted. The basic decision of the miracle-minded is to wait on time no longer than is necessary. The miracle-worker accepts the time-control factor gladly. He recognizes that every collapse of time brings all men closer to the release from time in which the Son and the Father are one.
Equality does not mean sameness now. Individual contributions to the Sonship will no longer be necessary when everyone recognizes that he has everything. When the Atonement is completed, all talents will be shared by all the Sonship. All His Children have God's total love, and all His gifts are freely given to everyone alike. I cannot know the power of the Son in his true relationship with the Father, unless I fully recognize my complete dependence on God .
I want peace and I can find it only by giving complete forgiveness. I never wanted peace before, so there was no point in being told how to achieve it. No learning is acquired by anyone unless he wants to learn it and believes that he needs it. The idea of lack does not exist in God's creation, but lack is the basis of all that man makes. This is the essential difference. A need means a lack by definition. It is the recognition that I would be better off in a state that is different from the state I am in now.
Until the "separation" (a more accurate word than the "fall") nothing was lacking. Man had no needs at all. He deprived himself, and then experienced needs. After the separation, needs became the most powerful source of motivation for human behavior. The body is the mechanism for behavior. All behavior is motivated by needs. Behavior is not a divine attribute. The belief that he could be better off is the reason why man has this body mechanism at his disposal.
Each one acts according to the particular hierarchy of needs he establishes for himself. His hierarchy depends on his perception of what he lacks. His sense of separation from God is the only lack he needs to correct. This sense of separation would never have occurred if he had not distorted his perception of truth and perceived himself...]]>622acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-1-1-principles-of-miracles-43-49
43. A major contribution of miracles is releasing man from his sense of isolation, deprivation, and lack.
Miracles are affirmations of Sonship, which is a state of completion and abundance. Whatever is true and real is eternal and cannot change or be changed. The spirit is therefore unalterable because it is already perfect. The mind can elect the level it chooses to serve. The only limit on its choice is, it cannot serve two masters.
If it chooses, the mind becomes a medium by which the spirit creates along the line of its own creation. If the mind does not freely choose to create with spirit, it keeps the creative ability that comes then under the control of tyranny instead of authority. This imprisons the mind for such are the dictates of tyrants. To change my mind means to place it in the service of true Authority.
The miracle is a sign that the mind has chosen to be led by Christ in His service. The abundance of Christ is the natural result of choosing to follow Him. All shallow roots must be uprooted because they are not deep enough to sustain me. The illusion that shallow roots can be deepened and made stable, is one of the distortions that reverses the Golden Rule. As these false foundations are given up, equilibrium is temporarily experienced as unstable. However, nothing is less stable than an orientation that is upside down, including the props that try to hold it up.

44. Miracles arise from a miraculous state of mind. As one, this mind goes out to anyone, without the awareness of the miracle worker himself. The impersonal nature of miracles is because the Atonement itself is one, uniting all creations with their Creator.

45. The miracle is an expression of inner awareness of Christ, and acceptance of His Atonement. The mind is in a state of grace, and is gracious to the host within and the stranger without. The stranger becomes my brother as he is included.

46. A miracle is never lost. It touches many I do not know, and can produce changes in forces of which I am unaware. That is not my concern. The miracle will always bless me.
The miracles I am not asked to perform still have their value, and they are expressions of my state of grace. The impersonal nature of miracle-mindedness ensures my grace, but only Christ knows where grace can be bestowed. The action part of the miracle should be Christ-controlled, because He is aware of the whole plan.

47. Miracle-mindedness means miracle-readiness. Readiness means that I should always be ready, willing, and able. These are the essentials for "listen, learn, and do." I must be ready to listen, willing to learn and able to do. Only the last is involuntary, because it is the application of miracles which must be Christ-controlled. The other two, which are the voluntary aspects of miracle mindedness, are up to me.

48. Revelation is an experience of unspeakable love. Awe should be reserved for revelation. Awe is not appropriate for miracles, because it is worshipful. It implies that one of a lesser order stands before a greater one. This is the case only when spirit stands before its Creator. Spirits are perfect creations and experience awe only in the Presence of the Creator of perfection.
The miracle is a sign of love among equals. Awe implies inequality. Equals cannot be in awe of one another. It is therefore an inappropriate reaction to Jesus. An older brother is entitled to respect for his greater experience, and obedience for his greater wisdom. It is appropriate to love him because he is a brother, and to be devoted to him, for he is devoted. Everything Jesus has comes from God. There is nothing about Jesus that I cannot have. The difference between us now is Jesus has nothing else. This leaves him in a state of true holiness, which is a potential in me.
"No man comes to the Father except by Jesus" is among the most misunderstood statements in the Bible. It does not mean that Jesus is in any way special or different from me, except in time, which does not exist. Actually, the quotation is more meaningful if it is considered on a vertical instead of a horizontal axis. Seen along the vertical, man stands below Jesus and Jesus stands below God. In the process of "rising up," Jesus is higher. This is because, without Jesus, the distance between God and man would be too great to reach.
Jesus bridges the distance as an elder brother to man on the one hand, and as a Son of God on the other. Jesus' devotion to his brothers has placed him in charge of the Sonship, which will be complete only to the extent that He can share it. This may appear to contradict the statement, "Jesus and and the Father are one," (the original statement was "of one kind"), but there are parts in the statement that acknowledge the Father is greater. The Holy Spirit is the bringer of revelations. Revelations are indirectly inspired by Jesus, because He is close to the Holy Spirit, and alert to the revelation-readiness of his brothers. He can bring down to his brothers more than they can draw down to themselves.
The Holy Spirit is the highest communication medium. The Holy Spirit mediates from above to below, keeping the direct channel from God to man open for revelation. When man returns to his original form of communion with God, the need for miracles is over. Miracles do not involve this type of communion, because they are temporary communication devices. The miracle is reciprocal because it involves equality. Revelation is not reciprocal. It is always from God to man.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/6418814Wed, 29 Jul 2015 15:59:41 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-1.1-Principles of Miracles.43-49 43. A major contribution of miracles is releasing man from his sense of isolation, deprivation, and lack. Miracles are affirmations of Sonship, which is a state of completion and abundance. Whatever is...
43. A major contribution of miracles is releasing man from his sense of isolation, deprivation, and lack.
Miracles are affirmations of Sonship, which is a state of completion and abundance. Whatever is true and real is eternal and cannot change or be changed. The spirit is therefore unalterable because it is already perfect. The mind can elect the level it chooses to serve. The only limit on its choice is, it cannot serve two masters.
If it chooses, the mind becomes a medium by which the spirit creates along the line of its own creation. If the mind does not freely choose to create with spirit, it keeps the creative ability that comes then under the control of tyranny instead of authority. This imprisons the mind for such are the dictates of tyrants. To change my mind means to place it in the service of true Authority.
The miracle is a sign that the mind has chosen to be led by Christ in His service. The abundance of Christ is the natural result of choosing to follow Him. All shallow roots must be uprooted because they are not deep enough to sustain me. The illusion that shallow roots can be deepened and made stable, is one of the distortions that reverses the Golden Rule. As these false foundations are given up, equilibrium is temporarily experienced as unstable. However, nothing is less stable than an orientation that is upside down, including the props that try to hold it up.

44. Miracles arise from a miraculous state of mind. As one, this mind goes out to anyone, without the awareness of the miracle worker himself. The impersonal nature of miracles is because the Atonement itself is one, uniting all creations with their Creator.

45. The miracle is an expression of inner awareness of Christ, and acceptance of His Atonement. The mind is in a state of grace, and is gracious to the host within and the stranger without. The stranger becomes my brother as he is included.

46. A miracle is never lost. It touches many I do not know, and can produce changes in forces of which I am unaware. That is not my concern. The miracle will always bless me.
The miracles I am not asked to perform still have their value, and they are expressions of my state of grace. The impersonal nature of miracle-mindedness ensures my grace, but only Christ knows where grace can be bestowed. The action part of the miracle should be Christ-controlled, because He is aware of the whole plan.

47. Miracle-mindedness means miracle-readiness. Readiness means that I should always be ready, willing, and able. These are the essentials for "listen, learn, and do." I must be ready to listen, willing to learn and able to do. Only the last is involuntary, because it is the application of miracles which must be Christ-controlled. The other two, which are the voluntary aspects of miracle mindedness, are up to me.

48. Revelation is an experience of unspeakable love. Awe should be reserved for revelation. Awe is not appropriate for miracles, because it is worshipful. It implies that one of a lesser order stands before a greater one. This is the case only when spirit stands before its Creator. Spirits are perfect creations and experience awe only in the Presence of the Creator of perfection.
The miracle is a sign of love among equals. Awe implies inequality. Equals cannot be in awe of one another. It is therefore an inappropriate reaction to Jesus. An older brother is entitled to respect for his greater experience, and obedience for his greater wisdom. It is appropriate to love him because he is a brother, and to be devoted to him, for he is devoted. Everything Jesus has comes from God. There is nothing about Jesus that I cannot have. The difference between us now is Jesus has nothing else. This leaves him in a state of true holiness, which is a potential in me.
"No...]]>645acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-1-1-principles-of-miracles-36-42
36. Christ-controlled miracles are part of the Atonement, but Christ-guidance is personal and leads to personal salvation. The impersonal nature of miracles is an essential ingredient, because this enables Jesus to control their distribution. Christ-guidance leads to the highly personal experience of revelation. This is why it involves personal choice. A guide does not control, but he does direct, leaving the following up to me. "Lead us not into temptation" means "guide us out of our own errors." "Take up your cross and follow me" means, "Recognize my errors and chose to abandon them by following Jesus' guidance."
I will remember that error cannot really threaten truth which can always stand against it. Only the error is vulnerable. I am free to establish my kingdom where I chose, but the right choice is inevitable if I remember this:
The spirit is in a state of grace forever.
Man's reality is only his spirit.
Therefore, man is in a state of grace forever.
Atonement undoes all errors and uproots the real source of fear. Whenever I am defending misplaced and misdirected loyalty, God's reassurances are experienced as threat. Projection always involves this experience. When man projects this onto others, he does imprison them, but only to the extent that he reinforces errors they have already made. Error is lack of love. This makes them vulnerable to the distortions of others since their own perception of themselves is distorted. The miracle worker can only bless and this undoes their distortions and frees them from prison.

37. Miracles are examples of right thinking. Contact with reality at all levels becomes strong and accurate, permitting correct recognition of intra- and interpersonal boundaries. As a result, the doer's perceptions are aligned with truth as God created it.

38. The miracle is a factor in correction introduced into false thinking by Jesus. It acts as a catalyst, shaking up erroneous perception and properly reorganizing it. This places man under the Atonement principle, where his perception is healed. Until this has occurred, revelation of the divine order is impossible.

39. The Holy Spirit is the mechanism of miracles. Because what He perceives is true, the Holy Spirit is the instrument for testing reality, which always involves the necessary distinction between true and false. He perceives both the creations of God and the creations of man. Among the creations of man, He can separate the true from the false by His ability to perceive totally rather than selectively.

40. The miracle dissolves error, for error is identified as unreal or false. Like the analogy--by perceiving light, darkness automatically disappears.
Darkness is lack of light, and sin is lack of love. They have no special properties of their own. Only error can come from the "scarcity" principle, which is untrue. Truth is always abundant. Those who perceive and acknowledge that they have everything, have no need for any kind of driven behavior.

41. The miracle acknowledges all men as Jesus' brothers and mine. The specialness of God's Sons comes from being included, not excluded. All Jesus' brothers are special. This is a way of perceiving the universal mark of God in them. If they believe they are deprived of anything, their perception becomes distorted. When this occurs, the whole family of God, the Sonship, is impaired in its relationships. Ultimately, every member of the family of God must come home. The miracle calls him to return because it blesses and honors him.
Creation is whole, and the mark of wholeness is holiness. There is assurance that "God is not mocked" on this point. God would be mocked if any of His creations lacked holiness.

42. Wholeness is the perceptual content of miracles. The miracle corrects or atones for the faulty perception of lack anywhere.
Here we begin to make the fundamental distinction between miracles and projection. The stimulus must precede the response, and will also determine the kind of response. Behavior is response, so the question "response to what?" becomes crucial. Since stimuli are identified through perception, I first perceive the stimulus and then behave accordingly. It follows, then, that:
As I perceive,
So I shall behave.
The Golden Rule asks me to behave toward others as I want them to behave toward me. This means that the perception of both must be accurate. The Golden Rule is the rule for appropriate behavior. I cannot behave appropriately unless I perceive accurately. Accurate perception for Golden Rule behavior is to look out from the perception of my own holiness, and see the holiness of others. Level confusion always results in variable reality testing, and variable appropriate behavior. Lack of level confusion fosters appropriate behavior. Since my neighbor and I are equal members of he same family, as I perceive both, so I will behave toward both.
The emptiness engendered by fear can be replaced by love, because love and its absence are in the same dimension. Correction can be made only within the dimension. Otherwise, there has been a confusion of levels. Death is a human affirmation of a belief in level confusion, or "fate". That is why the Bible says, "There is no death", and why Jesus demonstrated that death does not exist. He came to fulfill the law by reinterpreting it. The law itself offers only protection to man if properly understood.
My witnessing demonstrates my belief, and strengthens it. Those who witness for Jesus are expressing through their miracles that they have abandoned the belief in deprivation. They have learned that abundance belongs to them. Jesus assures me that he will witness for anyone who allows it, and to whatever extent permission is given.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/6389312Thu, 23 Jul 2015 00:54:40 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-1.1-Principles of Miracles.36-42 36. Christ-controlled miracles are part of the Atonement, but Christ-guidance is personal and leads to personal salvation. The impersonal nature of miracles is an essential ingredient, because this enables...
36. Christ-controlled miracles are part of the Atonement, but Christ-guidance is personal and leads to personal salvation. The impersonal nature of miracles is an essential ingredient, because this enables Jesus to control their distribution. Christ-guidance leads to the highly personal experience of revelation. This is why it involves personal choice. A guide does not control, but he does direct, leaving the following up to me. "Lead us not into temptation" means "guide us out of our own errors." "Take up your cross and follow me" means, "Recognize my errors and chose to abandon them by following Jesus' guidance."
I will remember that error cannot really threaten truth which can always stand against it. Only the error is vulnerable. I am free to establish my kingdom where I chose, but the right choice is inevitable if I remember this:
The spirit is in a state of grace forever.
Man's reality is only his spirit.
Therefore, man is in a state of grace forever.
Atonement undoes all errors and uproots the real source of fear. Whenever I am defending misplaced and misdirected loyalty, God's reassurances are experienced as threat. Projection always involves this experience. When man projects this onto others, he does imprison them, but only to the extent that he reinforces errors they have already made. Error is lack of love. This makes them vulnerable to the distortions of others since their own perception of themselves is distorted. The miracle worker can only bless and this undoes their distortions and frees them from prison.

37. Miracles are examples of right thinking. Contact with reality at all levels becomes strong and accurate, permitting correct recognition of intra- and interpersonal boundaries. As a result, the doer's perceptions are aligned with truth as God created it.

38. The miracle is a factor in correction introduced into false thinking by Jesus. It acts as a catalyst, shaking up erroneous perception and properly reorganizing it. This places man under the Atonement principle, where his perception is healed. Until this has occurred, revelation of the divine order is impossible.

39. The Holy Spirit is the mechanism of miracles. Because what He perceives is true, the Holy Spirit is the instrument for testing reality, which always involves the necessary distinction between true and false. He perceives both the creations of God and the creations of man. Among the creations of man, He can separate the true from the false by His ability to perceive totally rather than selectively.

40. The miracle dissolves error, for error is identified as unreal or false. Like the analogy--by perceiving light, darkness automatically disappears.
Darkness is lack of light, and sin is lack of love. They have no special properties of their own. Only error can come from the "scarcity" principle, which is untrue. Truth is always abundant. Those who perceive and acknowledge that they have everything, have no need for any kind of driven behavior.

41. The miracle acknowledges all men as Jesus' brothers and mine. The specialness of God's Sons comes from being included, not excluded. All Jesus' brothers are special. This is a way of perceiving the universal mark of God in them. If they believe they are deprived of anything, their perception becomes distorted. When this occurs, the whole family of God, the Sonship, is impaired in its relationships. Ultimately, every member of the family of God must come home. The miracle calls him to return because it blesses and honors him.
Creation is whole, and the mark of wholeness is holiness. There is assurance that "God is not mocked" on this point. God would be mocked if any of His creations lacked holiness.

42. Wholeness is the perceptual content of...]]>681acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-1-1-principles-of-miracles-28-35
28. Miracles are a means of organizing the different levels of consciousness.
Miracles come from the subconscious level below, and revelations come from the superconscious level above. The conscious level is in between, and responds to either the sub- or super-conscious impulses. Consciousness is the level that works in the world, and is able to respond to both above and below. Consciousness has no impulses of itself, but is only the tool for making a response. It can be very wrong.
Revelation unites spirit directly with God. Revelation causes complete but temporary removal of doubt and fear. It is like the original form of communication between God and His Creation. It involves a very personal sense of closeness to creation. Man tries, but cannot find this closeness in physical relationships. However, miracles unite minds directly with each other. The deeper subconscious impulses inspire miracles, and result in real closeness to others. However, a personally willful consciousness can misunderstand these impulses, and misinterpret them as calls for physical satisfaction.
The deeper levels of the subconscious always inspire miracles. Both miracles and revelation are experienced in consciousness, but do not begin there. Consciousness does not inspire action, but performs the action. Man is free to fill the superficial levels of the sub-conscious (which are closer to the conscious) with the thoughts and beliefs of this world, and to identify with them. He is free to believe what he chooses, and his actions witness to what he believes. This blocks access to the miracle level underneath. In his actions his relationships become superficial as well, and miracle-inspired relating becomes impossible

29. Miracles are a way of earning release from fear.
Revelation is a state where fear has been abolished. Miracles are a means, and revelation is the end. They work together. Miracles prepare for revelation, they do not depend on it. Revelation is intensely personal and cannot be translated into conscious content. That is why attempts to describe it in words is not possible. Revelation brings only experience. Miracles, on the other hand, bring interpersonal action. Miracles are more useful now because of their impersonal nature. In this phase of learning, working miracles is more important, because freedom from fear cannot be thrust on me.

30. Miracles praise God through men. They praise God by honoring His creations, recognizing their perfection. They heal because they deny body-identification and recognize spirit-identification. By seeing the spirit, they adjust the levels, and see the levels in proper alignment. This puts spirit in the center, where spirits communicate directly.

31. Miracles should inspire gratitude, not awe. Man should thank God for what he really is. The Children of God are very holy, and the miracle honors their holiness.
Although it can be hidden, God's creations never lose their holiness. The miracle uncovers it and brings it to the light where it belongs. Holiness can never be hidden in darkness, but man can deceive himself that it can. This illusion makes him fearful, because he knows in his heart it is an illusion. He makes great effort to prove the illusion is real. But the miracle sets reality where it belongs. Eternal reality belongs only to the spirit, and the miracle acknowledges only this truth. The miracle dispels man's illusions about himself, and puts him in communion with God and himself.

32. The miracle joins in the Atonement of Christ by putting the mind in the service of the spirit. The spirit never loses its communion with God, so only the mind needs Atonement. This establishes the proper function of the mind and corrects its errors.
All miracles are intercessions inspired by Christ. They intercede for man's holiness, and make his perceptions holy. They raise him into the sphere of celestial order by placing him beyond the physical laws. In this order, man is perfect.

33. Miracles honor man because he is lovable. They dispel illusions and perceive the light in him. Miracles atone for his errors by freeing him from his own nightmares. They release him from a prison that he made for himself. Man's mind can be possessed by illusions, but his spirit is eternally free. By freeing his mind from illusions, miracles restore man to sanity. If a mind perceives without love, it is unaware of the spirit within. But the Atonement restores spirit to its proper place. The mind that serves spirit is never in danger.

34. Miracles restore the mind to its fullness. They establish perfect protection by atoning for lack. The strength of the spirit leaves no room for intrusions. The forgiven are filled with the spirit, and they forgive in return. It is the duty of the released to release their brothers.
The forgiven are the means of Atonement. Those released by Christ must join in releasing their brothers, for this is the plan of the Atonement. Miracles are the way in which minds which serve the spirit unite with Christ for the salvation (or release) of all God's creations.

35. Miracles are expressions of love, but it does not follow that miracles will always have observable effects. Jesus is the only one who can perform miracles without discrimination, because he is the Atonement. I have a role in the Atonement, which Jesus will dictate to me. I will ask Jesus which miracles I should perform. This spares me exhaustion, because I will act under direct communication.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/6374034Sun, 19 Jul 2015 19:56:33 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-1.1-Principles of Miracles.28-35 28. Miracles are a means of organizing the different levels of consciousness. Miracles come from the subconscious level below, and revelations come from the superconscious level above. The conscious level...
28. Miracles are a means of organizing the different levels of consciousness.
Miracles come from the subconscious level below, and revelations come from the superconscious level above. The conscious level is in between, and responds to either the sub- or super-conscious impulses. Consciousness is the level that works in the world, and is able to respond to both above and below. Consciousness has no impulses of itself, but is only the tool for making a response. It can be very wrong.
Revelation unites spirit directly with God. Revelation causes complete but temporary removal of doubt and fear. It is like the original form of communication between God and His Creation. It involves a very personal sense of closeness to creation. Man tries, but cannot find this closeness in physical relationships. However, miracles unite minds directly with each other. The deeper subconscious impulses inspire miracles, and result in real closeness to others. However, a personally willful consciousness can misunderstand these impulses, and misinterpret them as calls for physical satisfaction.
The deeper levels of the subconscious always inspire miracles. Both miracles and revelation are experienced in consciousness, but do not begin there. Consciousness does not inspire action, but performs the action. Man is free to fill the superficial levels of the sub-conscious (which are closer to the conscious) with the thoughts and beliefs of this world, and to identify with them. He is free to believe what he chooses, and his actions witness to what he believes. This blocks access to the miracle level underneath. In his actions his relationships become superficial as well, and miracle-inspired relating becomes impossible

29. Miracles are a way of earning release from fear.
Revelation is a state where fear has been abolished. Miracles are a means, and revelation is the end. They work together. Miracles prepare for revelation, they do not depend on it. Revelation is intensely personal and cannot be translated into conscious content. That is why attempts to describe it in words is not possible. Revelation brings only experience. Miracles, on the other hand, bring interpersonal action. Miracles are more useful now because of their impersonal nature. In this phase of learning, working miracles is more important, because freedom from fear cannot be thrust on me.

30. Miracles praise God through men. They praise God by honoring His creations, recognizing their perfection. They heal because they deny body-identification and recognize spirit-identification. By seeing the spirit, they adjust the levels, and see the levels in proper alignment. This puts spirit in the center, where spirits communicate directly.

31. Miracles should inspire gratitude, not awe. Man should thank God for what he really is. The Children of God are very holy, and the miracle honors their holiness.
Although it can be hidden, God's creations never lose their holiness. The miracle uncovers it and brings it to the light where it belongs. Holiness can never be hidden in darkness, but man can deceive himself that it can. This illusion makes him fearful, because he knows in his heart it is an illusion. He makes great effort to prove the illusion is real. But the miracle sets reality where it belongs. Eternal reality belongs only to the spirit, and the miracle acknowledges only this truth. The miracle dispels man's illusions about himself, and puts him in communion with God and himself.

32. The miracle joins in the Atonement of Christ by putting the mind in the service of the spirit. The spirit never loses its communion with God, so only the mind needs Atonement. This establishes the proper function of the mind and corrects its errors.
All miracles are intercessions inspired by Christ. They intercede for man's...]]>619acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-1-1-principles-of-miracles-21-27
21. Miracles are natural expressions of total forgiveness. Through miracles, man accepts God's forgiveness by extending it to others.

22. Miracles are associated with fear only because of the wrong belief that darkness can hide. Man believes that what he cannot see does not exist, and his physical eyes can't see in the dark. This is a solution that has led to the denial of the Holy Spirit. The escape from darkness involves two stages: A.The recognition that darkness cannot hide. This step usually brings fear. B.The recognition that there is nothing I want to hide, even if I could. This step brings escape from fear.

23. Miracles rearrange perception, and place the levels of perception in true perspective. This heals at all levels, because sickness comes from confusing the levels.
When I become willing to hide nothing, then I am willing to enter into communion, and will also understand peace and joy. My commitment is not total yet, and that is why I still have more to learn than to teach. When my equilibrium stabilizes, I will be able to teach as much as I learn, which will give me proper balance. Until then, I remember that no effort is wasted. Unless I remember this, I cannot make use of the efforts of Jesus, which are limitless. Only eternity is real, but I can use the illusion of time in a constructive way.

24. Miracles enable man to heal the sick and raise the dead, because man made sickness and death himself and can abolish both. I am a miracle, capable of creating in the likeness of my Creator. Everything else is only a nightmare, and does not exist. Only the creations of light are real.

25. Miracles are part of an interlocking chain of forgiveness which, when complete, is the Atonement. This process works all the time and in all the dimensions of time.
Jesus is in charge of the process of Atonement, which he began. When I offer a miracle to any of his brothers, I do it for myself and Jesus. The reason I come first is, Jesus does not need miracles for his own Atonement, but he stands at the end in case I temporarily fail. The purpose of Jesus' part in the Atonement is the canceling of all lacks of love which men could not otherwise correct. The word "sin" should be changed to "lack of love," because "sin" is a man-made word with threatening meanings which he made up himself. No real threat is involved anywhere. Making myself afraid gains me nothing, and is very destructive.

26. Miracles represent freedom from fear. "Atoning" means "undoing." The undoing of fear is a necessary part of the Atonement value of miracles.
I was given everything when I was created, just as everyone was. The purpose of the Atonement is to restore everything to my awareness. When I have been restored to the recognition of my original state, I naturally become part of the Atonement myself. As I share Jesus' inability to tolerate lack of love in myself and others, I must join the Great Crusade to correct it. The slogan for the Crusade is "Listen, learn and do": Listen to Jesus' voice, learn to undo error and do something to correct it.
The power to work miracles belongs to me. Jesus will provide the opportunities to do them. I am already able, but I must be ready and willing. Conviction comes through accomplishment. Doing miracles will bring conviction in the ability. The ability is the potential, the Atonement is the purpose, the achievement is the expression.

27. A miracle is a universal blessing from God through Jesus to all his brothers. It is the privilege of the forgiven to forgive.
The disciples were specifically told to be physicians of the Lord and to heal others. They were also told to heal themselves, and were promised that Jesus would never leave them or forsake them. Atonement is the natural profession of the Children of God, because they have professed Jesus. "Heaven and earth shall pass away" simply means that they will not continue to exist as separate states. Jesus' word, which is the resurrection and the light, shall not pass away, because light is eternal. I am the work of God, and His work is wholly loving and wholly lovable. This is how a man must think of himself in his heart, because this is what he is.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/6351303Tue, 14 Jul 2015 20:24:51 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-1.1-Principles of Miracles.21-27 21. Miracles are natural expressions of total forgiveness. Through miracles, man accepts God's forgiveness by extending it to others. 22. Miracles are associated with fear only because of the wrong belief...
21. Miracles are natural expressions of total forgiveness. Through miracles, man accepts God's forgiveness by extending it to others.

22. Miracles are associated with fear only because of the wrong belief that darkness can hide. Man believes that what he cannot see does not exist, and his physical eyes can't see in the dark. This is a solution that has led to the denial of the Holy Spirit. The escape from darkness involves two stages: A.The recognition that darkness cannot hide. This step usually brings fear. B.The recognition that there is nothing I want to hide, even if I could. This step brings escape from fear.

23. Miracles rearrange perception, and place the levels of perception in true perspective. This heals at all levels, because sickness comes from confusing the levels.
When I become willing to hide nothing, then I am willing to enter into communion, and will also understand peace and joy. My commitment is not total yet, and that is why I still have more to learn than to teach. When my equilibrium stabilizes, I will be able to teach as much as I learn, which will give me proper balance. Until then, I remember that no effort is wasted. Unless I remember this, I cannot make use of the efforts of Jesus, which are limitless. Only eternity is real, but I can use the illusion of time in a constructive way.

24. Miracles enable man to heal the sick and raise the dead, because man made sickness and death himself and can abolish both. I am a miracle, capable of creating in the likeness of my Creator. Everything else is only a nightmare, and does not exist. Only the creations of light are real.

25. Miracles are part of an interlocking chain of forgiveness which, when complete, is the Atonement. This process works all the time and in all the dimensions of time.
Jesus is in charge of the process of Atonement, which he began. When I offer a miracle to any of his brothers, I do it for myself and Jesus. The reason I come first is, Jesus does not need miracles for his own Atonement, but he stands at the end in case I temporarily fail. The purpose of Jesus' part in the Atonement is the canceling of all lacks of love which men could not otherwise correct. The word "sin" should be changed to "lack of love," because "sin" is a man-made word with threatening meanings which he made up himself. No real threat is involved anywhere. Making myself afraid gains me nothing, and is very destructive.

26. Miracles represent freedom from fear. "Atoning" means "undoing." The undoing of fear is a necessary part of the Atonement value of miracles.
I was given everything when I was created, just as everyone was. The purpose of the Atonement is to restore everything to my awareness. When I have been restored to the recognition of my original state, I naturally become part of the Atonement myself. As I share Jesus' inability to tolerate lack of love in myself and others, I must join the Great Crusade to correct it. The slogan for the Crusade is "Listen, learn and do": Listen to Jesus' voice, learn to undo error and do something to correct it.
The power to work miracles belongs to me. Jesus will provide the opportunities to do them. I am already able, but I must be ready and willing. Conviction comes through accomplishment. Doing miracles will bring conviction in the ability. The ability is the potential, the Atonement is the purpose, the achievement is the expression.

27. A miracle is a universal blessing from God through Jesus to all his brothers. It is the privilege of the forgiven to forgive.
The disciples were specifically told to be physicians of the Lord and to heal others. They were also told to heal themselves, and were promised that Jesus would never leave them or forsake them. Atonement is the natural profession of the Children of God, because they have professed...]]>515acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-1-1-principles-of-miracles-1-20
1. There is no difference in difficulty in miracles. One is not "bigger" nor "harder" than another. All expressions of love are total. They are all the same.

2. Miracles of themselves do not matter. Their Source is all that matters, and It is far beyond human evaluation.

3. Miracles happen naturally as expressions of love. The miracle is the love that inspires them. Everything that comes from love is a miracle.

4. God is the Giver of life. All miracles support life. His Voice will specifically direct me. I will be told all I need to know.

5. Miracles are habits and should be involuntary. They should not be under conscious control. Consciously selected miracles can be misguided.

6. Miracles are natural. When they do not happen something has gone wrong.

7. Miracles are everyone's right, but it is necessary to first purify the mind.

8. Miracles are a form of healing. They are performed by those who temporarily have more for those who temporarily have less, and supply what is lacking.

9. Miracles are an exchange which reverses the physical laws. They bring more love miraculously to both giver and receiver, as do all loving expressions.

10. The use of miracles as spectacles to induce belief is wrong, and is a misunderstanding of their purpose. They are to be used for and by believers.

11. Prayer is the medium of miracles. Prayer is the natural communication of the created with the Creator. Through prayer, love is received, and through miracles, love is expressed.

12. Miracles are thoughts. Thoughts can be about lower or higher reality. This is the main difference between intellectualizing and thinking. The intellect makes the physical, and thinking creates the spiritual. Then, we believe in what we make or create.

13. Miracles are both beginnings and endings, supporting rebirth, which seems to go back, but really goes forward, changing time. In the present, miracles undo the past, and release the future.

14. Miracles show us the truth. They are believable because they come from belief. Without belief they become magic, which is mindless and harmful, and the uncreative use of mind.

15. Every day can be devoted to miracles. Time can be used to help man learn to use time wisely. Time is a teaching tool, and a means to a goal. Time will be finished when it no longer helps learning.

16. Miracles are teaching tools to show that giving is more blessed than receiving. They give strength to the giver and the receiver alike.

17. Miracles go beyond the body. They are shifts into Spirit, away from lower-order reality. That is how they heal.

18. A miracle is a service. It is the greatest service one individual can do for another. It is a way of loving my neighbor as myself. The doer sees his own worth, and his neighbor's worth, at the same time.

19. Miracles depend on co-operation. Miracles make minds one in God. The Sonship is the total of all God's creation. Miracles do not rest on the laws of time, but on the laws of eternity.

20. Spirit is the altar of truth, not the body. Miracles awaken the awareness of this truth, and lead to the healing power of the miracle.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/6343197Sun, 12 Jul 2015 21:45:33 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-1.1-Principles of Miracles.1-20 1. There is no difference in difficulty in miracles. One is not "bigger" nor "harder" than another. All expressions of love are total. They are all the same. 2. Miracles of themselves do not matter....
1. There is no difference in difficulty in miracles. One is not "bigger" nor "harder" than another. All expressions of love are total. They are all the same.

2. Miracles of themselves do not matter. Their Source is all that matters, and It is far beyond human evaluation.

3. Miracles happen naturally as expressions of love. The miracle is the love that inspires them. Everything that comes from love is a miracle.

4. God is the Giver of life. All miracles support life. His Voice will specifically direct me. I will be told all I need to know.

5. Miracles are habits and should be involuntary. They should not be under conscious control. Consciously selected miracles can be misguided.

6. Miracles are natural. When they do not happen something has gone wrong.

7. Miracles are everyone's right, but it is necessary to first purify the mind.

8. Miracles are a form of healing. They are performed by those who temporarily have more for those who temporarily have less, and supply what is lacking.

9. Miracles are an exchange which reverses the physical laws. They bring more love miraculously to both giver and receiver, as do all loving expressions.

10. The use of miracles as spectacles to induce belief is wrong, and is a misunderstanding of their purpose. They are to be used for and by believers.

11. Prayer is the medium of miracles. Prayer is the natural communication of the created with the Creator. Through prayer, love is received, and through miracles, love is expressed.

12. Miracles are thoughts. Thoughts can be about lower or higher reality. This is the main difference between intellectualizing and thinking. The intellect makes the physical, and thinking creates the spiritual. Then, we believe in what we make or create.

13. Miracles are both beginnings and endings, supporting rebirth, which seems to go back, but really goes forward, changing time. In the present, miracles undo the past, and release the future.

14. Miracles show us the truth. They are believable because they come from belief. Without belief they become magic, which is mindless and harmful, and the uncreative use of mind.

15. Every day can be devoted to miracles. Time can be used to help man learn to use time wisely. Time is a teaching tool, and a means to a goal. Time will be finished when it no longer helps learning.

16. Miracles are teaching tools to show that giving is more blessed than receiving. They give strength to the giver and the receiver alike.

17. Miracles go beyond the body. They are shifts into Spirit, away from lower-order reality. That is how they heal.

18. A miracle is a service. It is the greatest service one individual can do for another. It is a way of loving my neighbor as myself. The doer sees his own worth, and his neighbor's worth, at the same time.

19. Miracles depend on co-operation. Miracles make minds one in God. The Sonship is the total of all God's creation. Miracles do not rest on the laws of time, but on the laws of eternity.

20. Spirit is the altar of truth, not the body. Miracles awaken the awareness of this truth, and lead to the healing power of the miracle.]]>430acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-1-0-forward-and-introduction
Forward:

This course is a beginning, not an end. My Friend goes with me. I am not alone. No one who calls on Him can call in vain. Whatever troubles me, I am certain that He has the answer, and will gladly give it to me, if I turn to Him and ask. He will give all answers that I need for anything that seems to trouble me. He knows the way to solve all problems and resolve all doubts. His certainty is for me, and will be given to me. I only need to ask.

I am as certain of arriving home as is the path of the sun. My pathway is even more certain, for it is not possible to change the course of those that Gad has called to Him. So, I obey my will, and follow Him. I accept His Voice that speaks of what I really want and really need. His is the Voice for God, and also for me. He speaks of truth and of freedom. (Workbook Epilogue: 1-2)

Introduction:

This is a course in miracles, and it is a required course. I cannot decide what the lessons will be, but I can decide when I want to take them.

As my inheritance from God, love's meaning and presence cannot be learned. However, there are blocks of fear that hide love's presence from my awareness. The goal of this course is to learn to remove these blocks of fear. Fear seems to be the opposite of love, but love is All, and has no opposite.

A summary of this course can be this: Love is never in danger, and only love exists. This is the peace of God.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/6341709Sun, 12 Jul 2015 14:29:36 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-1.0-Forward and Introduction Forward: This course is a beginning, not an end. My Friend goes with me. I am not alone. No one who calls on Him can call in vain. Whatever troubles me, I am certain that He has the answer, and will gladly...
Forward:

This course is a beginning, not an end. My Friend goes with me. I am not alone. No one who calls on Him can call in vain. Whatever troubles me, I am certain that He has the answer, and will gladly give it to me, if I turn to Him and ask. He will give all answers that I need for anything that seems to trouble me. He knows the way to solve all problems and resolve all doubts. His certainty is for me, and will be given to me. I only need to ask.

I am as certain of arriving home as is the path of the sun. My pathway is even more certain, for it is not possible to change the course of those that Gad has called to Him. So, I obey my will, and follow Him. I accept His Voice that speaks of what I really want and really need. His is the Voice for God, and also for me. He speaks of truth and of freedom. (Workbook Epilogue: 1-2)

Introduction:

This is a course in miracles, and it is a required course. I cannot decide what the lessons will be, but I can decide when I want to take them.

As my inheritance from God, love's meaning and presence cannot be learned. However, there are blocks of fear that hide love's presence from my awareness. The goal of this course is to learn to remove these blocks of fear. Fear seems to be the opposite of love, but love is All, and has no opposite.

A summary of this course can be this: Love is never in danger, and only love exists. This is the peace of God.]]>181acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-25-5-the-joining-of-minds
32. Minds that are joined and recognize they are can feel no guilt. For they cannot attack, and seeing their safety in this happy fact, they rejoice that this is so. They seek for joy because it is their purpose to behold it and rejoice. Their joy is in the innocence they see. Everyone seeks for what brings him joy as he defines it. Yet, the way the aim is seen makes the choice of means inevitable. The choice of means is beyond hope of change, unless the aim is changed. Then the
means are chosen once again. And what will bring rejoicing is defined another way and sought for differently.

33. Perception's basic law could be said, "I rejoice at what I see because I see it to rejoice." And while I think that suffering and sin will bring me joy, so long will they be there for me to see. Nothing is harmful or beneficent apart from what I wish. It is my wish that makes it what it is, in its effects on me. My choice is a means to gain these same effects, believing the effects to be the bringers of rejoicing and joy. Even in Heaven this law is true. Sharing his Father's purpose, the Son of God creates to bring joy, that his joy might be increased and God's along with his.

34. We makers of a world that is not so, will take rest and comfort in another world where peace abides. We bring this world with us for all the weary hearts that see and hear sin beat its sad refrain. Their rest can come from us. A world can rise from us they will rejoice to see and where their hearts are glad. There is a vision in us which extends to all of them and covers them in gentleness and light. And in the widening world of light, the darkness they thought was there is pushed away until it is only distant shadows, far away, not long to be remembered as the sun shines them to nothingness. And all their "evil" thoughts and "sinful" hopes, their dreams of guilt and merciless revenge, and every wish to hurt and kill and die will disappear before the sun we bring.

35. Would we not do this for the love of God? And for ourselves? We think what it would do for us. Our "evil" thoughts that haunt us now will seem increasingly remote and far away from us. And they become more distant, because the sun in us has pushed away these thoughts before its light. They linger a while in twisted forms, then are gone forever. We stand in quiet innocence, in the sunlight, unafraid. And quiet peace extends from us, so our peace can never fall and leave us homeless. Those who offer peace to everyone have a home in Heaven that the world cannot destroy. For within its peace, the home is large enough to hold the world.

36. In us is all of Heaven. Every leaf that falls is given life in us. Each bird that ever sang will sing again in us. And every flower that ever bloomed has saved its perfume and its loveliness for us. No aim can supersede the Will of God and of His Son. Heaven was created as his only home, and is restored to him. Nothing before and nothing after it. No other place, no other state nor time. Nothing beyond nor nearer. Nothing else. In any form. We can bring this to all the thoughts that entered the world, and were mistaken for a while. Our own mistakes are brought to truth by our willingness to bring the light of Heaven with us, as we walk beyond the world of darkness into light.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/6033346Wed, 06 May 2015 23:10:04 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-25.5-The Joining of Minds.mp3 32. Minds that are joined and recognize they are can feel no guilt. For they cannot attack, and seeing their safety in this happy fact, they rejoice that this is so. They seek for joy because it is their...
32. Minds that are joined and recognize they are can feel no guilt. For they cannot attack, and seeing their safety in this happy fact, they rejoice that this is so. They seek for joy because it is their purpose to behold it and rejoice. Their joy is in the innocence they see. Everyone seeks for what brings him joy as he defines it. Yet, the way the aim is seen makes the choice of means inevitable. The choice of means is beyond hope of change, unless the aim is changed. Then the
means are chosen once again. And what will bring rejoicing is defined another way and sought for differently.

33. Perception's basic law could be said, "I rejoice at what I see because I see it to rejoice." And while I think that suffering and sin will bring me joy, so long will they be there for me to see. Nothing is harmful or beneficent apart from what I wish. It is my wish that makes it what it is, in its effects on me. My choice is a means to gain these same effects, believing the effects to be the bringers of rejoicing and joy. Even in Heaven this law is true. Sharing his Father's purpose, the Son of God creates to bring joy, that his joy might be increased and God's along with his.

34. We makers of a world that is not so, will take rest and comfort in another world where peace abides. We bring this world with us for all the weary hearts that see and hear sin beat its sad refrain. Their rest can come from us. A world can rise from us they will rejoice to see and where their hearts are glad. There is a vision in us which extends to all of them and covers them in gentleness and light. And in the widening world of light, the darkness they thought was there is pushed away until it is only distant shadows, far away, not long to be remembered as the sun shines them to nothingness. And all their "evil" thoughts and "sinful" hopes, their dreams of guilt and merciless revenge, and every wish to hurt and kill and die will disappear before the sun we bring.

35. Would we not do this for the love of God? And for ourselves? We think what it would do for us. Our "evil" thoughts that haunt us now will seem increasingly remote and far away from us. And they become more distant, because the sun in us has pushed away these thoughts before its light. They linger a while in twisted forms, then are gone forever. We stand in quiet innocence, in the sunlight, unafraid. And quiet peace extends from us, so our peace can never fall and leave us homeless. Those who offer peace to everyone have a home in Heaven that the world cannot destroy. For within its peace, the home is large enough to hold the world.

36. In us is all of Heaven. Every leaf that falls is given life in us. Each bird that ever sang will sing again in us. And every flower that ever bloomed has saved its perfume and its loveliness for us. No aim can supersede the Will of God and of His Son. Heaven was created as his only home, and is restored to him. Nothing before and nothing after it. No other place, no other state nor time. Nothing beyond nor nearer. Nothing else. In any form. We can bring this to all the thoughts that entered the world, and were mistaken for a while. Our own mistakes are brought to truth by our willingness to bring the light of Heaven with us, as we walk beyond the world of darkness into light.]]>359acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-25-4-fundamental-law-perception
23. The extent to which I value guilt, to that extent I will perceive a world in which attack is justified. The extent to which I recognize that guilt is meaningless, to that extent I will perceive attack cannot be justified. This is in strict accord with vision's fundamental law: I see what I believe is there, and I believe it is there because I want it there. Perception has no other law than this. The rest stems from this, to hold it up and offer it support. Adapted to this world, this is perception's form of God's more basic law, that love creates itself and nothing but itself.

24. This world could not have been created by the Mind for which perception has no meaning. Therefore, God's laws do not pertain directly to this world ruled by perception. Yet His laws are reflected everywhere here, though the world is not real at all. God could not separate Himself entirely from His son's belief, because His Son believes the world is real. God can not enter His Son's insanity with him, but He could be sure sanity went there with him, so the Son would not be lost forever in the madness of his wish.

25. Knowledge does not rest on choosing. Knowledge has only one Creator, and only one law. However, this world was made by two, and these two see things differently. To each, perception has a different purpose and serves a different goal. Perception is determined by the purpose and the goal I choose. Perception is the perfect frame to set off specialness--the battleground to wage its wars, the shelter for the illusions it would make real. Every illusion is upheld and justified in its perception.

26. There is another Maker of the world. It is the link to the laws of God, adapted to the needs the Son of God believes he has in form. He corrects the false belief that a world can be made without a link to keep it within the laws of God. Corrected error is the end of error. Thus God has protected His Son, even in error. In the world made by error, this other Maker has another purpose, that can reconcile perception's goal with His Creator's purpose. He perceives only perfect sinlessness, giving instant and complete forgiveness to all.

27. Nothing remains even an instant, to obscure the sinlessness that shines unchanged. Specialness attempts to put sinlessness out of mind, and light up the body instead. But the lamps of Heaven are not for specialness to see them where it will. If specialness chooses to see them where they could never be, and I agree, then the Maker of the world must correct my error, lest I remain in darkness. Everyone here has entered darkness, but not alone. For he has come with Heaven's Help within him, ready to lead him out of darkness into light at any instant.

28. The instant he chooses can be any instant, for help is there, awaiting only his choice. And when he chooses to avail himself of what is given him, he will see each situation that he thought justified anger before, turned into an event which justifies love. He will hear plainly that the calls to war he heard before are really calls to peace. He will perceive that where he attacked there is another altar where he can equally and happily bestow forgiveness. And he will reinterpret all temptation as just another chance to bring him joy. How can a misperception be a sin? I let all my brother's errors be a chance for me to see the workings of the Helper, helping me see the world He made, instead of mine.

29. What is justified? What do I want? These two questions are the same. And when I see them as the same, my choice is made. For it is seeing them as one that brings release from the belief that there are two ways to see. This world has much to offer to my peace, and many chances to extend my own forgiveness. Such is its purpose for those who want to see peace and forgiveness come to them, and offer them the light.

30. The Maker of the world of gentleness has perfect power to offset the world of violence and hate that seems to stand between me and His gentleness. There is no hate in His forgiving eyes. And it need not be in mine. Sin is the fixed belief perception cannot change. What has been damned is damned and damned forever, being forever unforgivable. If then it is forgiven, the perception of sin must have been a mistake. And thus change is made possible. The Holy Spirit knows that what He sees is far beyond the chance of change. Sin cannot encroach on His vision, for sin has been corrected by His sight. And thus it must have been an error, not a sin. What specialness claimed could never be, is done. Sin is always preserved when attacked by punishment. But to forgive is to change it from error into truth.

31. The Son of God could never sin, but he can wish for what would hurt him. And he is able to think that he can be hurt. But this could only be a misperception of himself. Is this a damning sin or a forgivable mistake? Does he need condemnation or help? Is it my purpose that he be damned or saved? I will remember that what my brother is to me, is my choice for my future. For I make this choice now, the instant when all time becomes a means to reach a goal. I will recognize that in this choice the purpose of the world I see is chosen and will be justified. Then I will make my choice.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/6013464Sat, 02 May 2015 20:12:34 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-25.4-Fundamental Law-Perception 23. The extent to which I value guilt, to that extent I will perceive a world in which attack is justified. The extent to which I recognize that guilt is meaningless, to that extent I will perceive attack...
23. The extent to which I value guilt, to that extent I will perceive a world in which attack is justified. The extent to which I recognize that guilt is meaningless, to that extent I will perceive attack cannot be justified. This is in strict accord with vision's fundamental law: I see what I believe is there, and I believe it is there because I want it there. Perception has no other law than this. The rest stems from this, to hold it up and offer it support. Adapted to this world, this is perception's form of God's more basic law, that love creates itself and nothing but itself.

24. This world could not have been created by the Mind for which perception has no meaning. Therefore, God's laws do not pertain directly to this world ruled by perception. Yet His laws are reflected everywhere here, though the world is not real at all. God could not separate Himself entirely from His son's belief, because His Son believes the world is real. God can not enter His Son's insanity with him, but He could be sure sanity went there with him, so the Son would not be lost forever in the madness of his wish.

25. Knowledge does not rest on choosing. Knowledge has only one Creator, and only one law. However, this world was made by two, and these two see things differently. To each, perception has a different purpose and serves a different goal. Perception is determined by the purpose and the goal I choose. Perception is the perfect frame to set off specialness--the battleground to wage its wars, the shelter for the illusions it would make real. Every illusion is upheld and justified in its perception.

26. There is another Maker of the world. It is the link to the laws of God, adapted to the needs the Son of God believes he has in form. He corrects the false belief that a world can be made without a link to keep it within the laws of God. Corrected error is the end of error. Thus God has protected His Son, even in error. In the world made by error, this other Maker has another purpose, that can reconcile perception's goal with His Creator's purpose. He perceives only perfect sinlessness, giving instant and complete forgiveness to all.

27. Nothing remains even an instant, to obscure the sinlessness that shines unchanged. Specialness attempts to put sinlessness out of mind, and light up the body instead. But the lamps of Heaven are not for specialness to see them where it will. If specialness chooses to see them where they could never be, and I agree, then the Maker of the world must correct my error, lest I remain in darkness. Everyone here has entered darkness, but not alone. For he has come with Heaven's Help within him, ready to lead him out of darkness into light at any instant.

28. The instant he chooses can be any instant, for help is there, awaiting only his choice. And when he chooses to avail himself of what is given him, he will see each situation that he thought justified anger before, turned into an event which justifies love. He will hear plainly that the calls to war he heard before are really calls to peace. He will perceive that where he attacked there is another altar where he can equally and happily bestow forgiveness. And he will reinterpret all temptation as just another chance to bring him joy. How can a misperception be a sin? I let all my brother's errors be a chance for me to see the workings of the Helper, helping me see the world He made, instead of mine.

29. What is justified? What do I want? These two questions are the same. And when I see them as the same, my choice is made. For it is seeing them as one that brings release from the belief that there are two ways to see. This world has much to offer to my peace, and many chances to extend my own forgiveness. Such is its purpose for those who want to see peace and forgiveness come to them, and...]]>522acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-25-3-savior-from-the-dark-2
17. The Holy Spirit is the frame God set around the part of Him that I would see as separate. Yet the frame is joined to its Creator, one with Him, and with His masterpiece. This is the frame's purpose, and I do not make the frame into the picture when I choose to see the Holy Spirit in place of the picture. The frame that God has given serves His purpose, and not my purpose which is apart from His. It is my separate purpose that obscures the picture, and cherishes the frame instead of the picture. God has set His masterpiece within a frame that will endure forever, when mine has crumbled into dust. Yet I will not think that the picture is in any way harmed. What God creates is safe from all corruption, unchanged and perfect in eternity.

18. As I accept the Holy Spirit as my brother's frame, instead of the body, I will see God's masterpiece. Seeing its loveliness, I understand the Mind that thought it, not in flesh and bones, but in a frame as lovely as Itself. The Holy Spirit's holiness lights up the sinlessness the frame of darkness hides, and casts a veil of light across the picture's face, and reflects the light that shines from the picture to its Creator. This face was never darkened because I saw it in a frame of death. God kept it safe, so I might look on it and see the holiness that He gave it.

19. Within the darkness, I see the savior from the dark, and understand my brother as our Father's Mind shows him to me. He will step out of the darkness as I look on him, and I will see the dark no more. The darkness did not touch him, nor me who brought him forth to see. Our sinlessness is one. His gentleness becomes my strength, and we gladly look within and see the holiness that is there, because of what I saw in my brother. He is the frame in which my holiness is set, and what God gave is given both of us. If my brother does not see the masterpiece in himself, and only sees a frame of darkness, it is my holy function to see in him what he does not see. This is the shared vision that looks on Christ, instead of seeing death.

20. How could the Lord of Heaven not be glad if I appreciate His masterpiece? He could only offer thanks to me who love His Son as he does. He would make known to me His love if I share His praise of what He loves. God cherishes creation as the perfect Father that He is. And His joy is made complete when any part of Him joins in His praise, and shares His joy. This brother is His perfect gift to me. And He is glad and thankful when I thank His Son for being what he is. And all His thanks and gladness shine on me who would complete His joy. And thus is my joy completed. No ray of darkness can be seen by those who make their Father's happiness complete and theirs with His. The gratitude of God Himself is freely offered to everyone who shares His purpose. It is not His Will, nor mine, to be alone.

21. By forgiving my brother, I cannot separate myself from him nor his Father. I need no forgiveness, for the wholly pure have never sinned. I give then, what He has given me, so I may see God's Son as one, thanking the Father as He thanks me. All God's praise is given me, for what I give is His, and giving it, I learn to understand His gift to me. And I give to the Holy Spirit what He offers to the Father and the Son alike. Nothing has power over me except His Will and mine, who only extend His Will. It was for this I was created and my brother with me, and at one with me.

22. We are the same, as God Himself is one, and not divided in His Will. And we must have one purpose, since God gave the same to both of us. His Will is brought together as we join in will, that we be made complete, by offering completion to our brother. I will not see in him the sinfulness he sees, but give him honor that I may esteem myself and him. To each of us is given the power of salvation, that escape from darkness into light is ours to share. May we see as one, what has never been separate, nor apart from all God's equally given love.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/6005296Thu, 30 Apr 2015 23:18:37 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-25.3-Savior From the Dark.2 17. The Holy Spirit is the frame God set around the part of Him that I would see as separate. Yet the frame is joined to its Creator, one with Him, and with His masterpiece. This is the frame's purpose, and I do...
17. The Holy Spirit is the frame God set around the part of Him that I would see as separate. Yet the frame is joined to its Creator, one with Him, and with His masterpiece. This is the frame's purpose, and I do not make the frame into the picture when I choose to see the Holy Spirit in place of the picture. The frame that God has given serves His purpose, and not my purpose which is apart from His. It is my separate purpose that obscures the picture, and cherishes the frame instead of the picture. God has set His masterpiece within a frame that will endure forever, when mine has crumbled into dust. Yet I will not think that the picture is in any way harmed. What God creates is safe from all corruption, unchanged and perfect in eternity.

18. As I accept the Holy Spirit as my brother's frame, instead of the body, I will see God's masterpiece. Seeing its loveliness, I understand the Mind that thought it, not in flesh and bones, but in a frame as lovely as Itself. The Holy Spirit's holiness lights up the sinlessness the frame of darkness hides, and casts a veil of light across the picture's face, and reflects the light that shines from the picture to its Creator. This face was never darkened because I saw it in a frame of death. God kept it safe, so I might look on it and see the holiness that He gave it.

19. Within the darkness, I see the savior from the dark, and understand my brother as our Father's Mind shows him to me. He will step out of the darkness as I look on him, and I will see the dark no more. The darkness did not touch him, nor me who brought him forth to see. Our sinlessness is one. His gentleness becomes my strength, and we gladly look within and see the holiness that is there, because of what I saw in my brother. He is the frame in which my holiness is set, and what God gave is given both of us. If my brother does not see the masterpiece in himself, and only sees a frame of darkness, it is my holy function to see in him what he does not see. This is the shared vision that looks on Christ, instead of seeing death.

20. How could the Lord of Heaven not be glad if I appreciate His masterpiece? He could only offer thanks to me who love His Son as he does. He would make known to me His love if I share His praise of what He loves. God cherishes creation as the perfect Father that He is. And His joy is made complete when any part of Him joins in His praise, and shares His joy. This brother is His perfect gift to me. And He is glad and thankful when I thank His Son for being what he is. And all His thanks and gladness shine on me who would complete His joy. And thus is my joy completed. No ray of darkness can be seen by those who make their Father's happiness complete and theirs with His. The gratitude of God Himself is freely offered to everyone who shares His purpose. It is not His Will, nor mine, to be alone.

21. By forgiving my brother, I cannot separate myself from him nor his Father. I need no forgiveness, for the wholly pure have never sinned. I give then, what He has given me, so I may see God's Son as one, thanking the Father as He thanks me. All God's praise is given me, for what I give is His, and giving it, I learn to understand His gift to me. And I give to the Holy Spirit what He offers to the Father and the Son alike. Nothing has power over me except His Will and mine, who only extend His Will. It was for this I was created and my brother with me, and at one with me.

22. We are the same, as God Himself is one, and not divided in His Will. And we must have one purpose, since God gave the same to both of us. His Will is brought together as we join in will, that we be made complete, by offering completion to our brother. I will not see in him the sinfulness he sees, but give him honor that I may esteem myself and him. To each of us is given the power of...]]>438acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-25-3-savior-from-the-dark-1
12. What the body's eyes perceive does fill me with fear. Perhaps I fancy to attain some peace and satisfaction in the world as I perceive it. Yet, it is evident the outcome does not change. Despair is always the result, despite my hopes and wishes. There is no exception, and never will be. The past gave me no rewards that I wish to keep. My learning this is the only value the past can have. This makes me willing to relinquish it and have it gone forever.

13. It is strange that I would cherish hope of satisfaction from the world I see. Fear and guilt has always been my reward. How long is needed for me to realize the chance of change in this respect is not worth delaying the change that might result in a better outcome? The way I see now gives no support to future hope and success. This makes me hopeless. Yet this is my choice, while I seek for hope where none is ever found.

14. But it is also true that I have found some hope apart from this--some glimmering, wavering, yet dimly seen, that hope is warranted on grounds that are not in this world. But, I still hope that rewards may still be here, preventing me from giving up the hopeless, unrewarding task I set for myself. It does not make sense to keep doing what has never succeeded, believing that this time it will be different.

15. The past has failed. I am glad that it is gone from my mind. Because form is only a means for content, now I must not confuse form and content. The frame is only a means to hold up a picture so it can be seen. There is no purpose to a frame that hides the picture. If the frame is all I see, it cannot be a frame. A frame without a picture has no meaning. The purpose of a frame is to show the picture.

16. Who hangs an empty frame, and stands gazing as if seeing a masterpiece? Yet, if I see my brother as a body, this is what I do. The masterpiece that God set within the frame (his body), is all there is to see. The body holds it for a while without obscuring it in any way. Yet, what God created needs no frame, for He supports and frames within Himself what He created. He offers His masterpiece for me to see. I would rather see God's masterpiece than the frame.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/6005251Thu, 30 Apr 2015 23:06:48 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-25.3-Savior From the Dark.1 12. What the body's eyes perceive does fill me with fear. Perhaps I fancy to attain some peace and satisfaction in the world as I perceive it. Yet, it is evident the outcome does not change. Despair is always...
12. What the body's eyes perceive does fill me with fear. Perhaps I fancy to attain some peace and satisfaction in the world as I perceive it. Yet, it is evident the outcome does not change. Despair is always the result, despite my hopes and wishes. There is no exception, and never will be. The past gave me no rewards that I wish to keep. My learning this is the only value the past can have. This makes me willing to relinquish it and have it gone forever.

13. It is strange that I would cherish hope of satisfaction from the world I see. Fear and guilt has always been my reward. How long is needed for me to realize the chance of change in this respect is not worth delaying the change that might result in a better outcome? The way I see now gives no support to future hope and success. This makes me hopeless. Yet this is my choice, while I seek for hope where none is ever found.

14. But it is also true that I have found some hope apart from this--some glimmering, wavering, yet dimly seen, that hope is warranted on grounds that are not in this world. But, I still hope that rewards may still be here, preventing me from giving up the hopeless, unrewarding task I set for myself. It does not make sense to keep doing what has never succeeded, believing that this time it will be different.

15. The past has failed. I am glad that it is gone from my mind. Because form is only a means for content, now I must not confuse form and content. The frame is only a means to hold up a picture so it can be seen. There is no purpose to a frame that hides the picture. If the frame is all I see, it cannot be a frame. A frame without a picture has no meaning. The purpose of a frame is to show the picture.

16. Who hangs an empty frame, and stands gazing as if seeing a masterpiece? Yet, if I see my brother as a body, this is what I do. The masterpiece that God set within the frame (his body), is all there is to see. The body holds it for a while without obscuring it in any way. Yet, what God created needs no frame, for He supports and frames within Himself what He created. He offers His masterpiece for me to see. I would rather see God's masterpiece than the frame.]]>250acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-25-2-the-appointed-task
4. The task that Christ appointed to me is not hard to do, for He is the one Who does it. And in doing it I will learn the body only seems to be the means to do it. For the Mind is Christ's, and mine, as His holiness directs the body through the mind at one with Him. And I am manifest to my holy brother, as he is to me. This is the meeting of the holy Christ with Himself. No differences are perceived to stand between the aspects of His holiness, which meet and join, and raise Him to His Father, whole and pure and worthy of His everlasting Love.

5. The way I can manifest the Christ in myself is to look on holiness and see Christ there. Perception tells me that I am manifest in what I see--look on the body, and I will believe that I am there. And every body that I look on reminds me of myself--my sinfulness, my evil, and above all, my death. And I would despise the one who tells me this and seek his death instead. The message and the messenger are one. And framed in his body, I must see my brother as myself, sinful and condemned. Yet in my brother's holiness, the Christ proclaims himself as myself.

6. Perception is the choice of what I want to be, the world I will live in, and the mental condition that will make me content and satisfied. At my decision, perception chooses where I think my safety lies. It shows myself to me as I want to be. It is always faithful to my purpose. Perception never gives the slightest witness to anything that does not follow the purpose in my mind. Perceiving perception itself is part of my purpose, for means and end are not separate. This is how I learn that what seems to have a separate life, has no life.

7. I am the means for God--not separate, nor with a life apart from His. His Life is manifest in myself who is His Son. Each aspect of Himself is framed in holiness and perfect purity, in love celestial and so complete it wishes only that it may release all that it looks upon unto itself. Its radiance shines through each body that it looks upon and brushes all darkness into light merely by looking past it to the light. The veil is lifted through its gentleness, and nothing hides the face of Christ from those who see. My brother and I stand there before Him now, to let Him draw aside the veil that seems to keep us separate and apart.

8. Since we believe that we are separate, Heaven seems separate too. Not that it is in truth, but so the link that is given to join the truth may reach us through what we already understand. Father, Son, Holy Spirit are as One, as all our brothers join as one in truth. Christ and His Father never have been separate, and Christ abides within our understanding in the part of us that shares the Father's Will. The Holy Spirit links the other part, the tiny mad desire to be separate, different, and special, to the Christ, to make the oneness clear to what is really one. In this world, this is not understood but can be taught.

9. The Holy Spirit serves Christ's purpose in my mind, so that the aim of specialness can be corrected where the error is. The Holy Spirit knows the Will of God, and what I really will, because His purpose is one with both the Father and the Son. However, this is understood only by mind perceived and experienced as one. It is the Holy Spirit's function to teach me what I must do, and where I should go to do it, so this oneness is experienced.

10. All this speaks of time and place as if they were separate. For while I think a part of myself is separate, the concept of a oneness joined as one is meaningless. It is apparent that a mind so split could never be the teacher of Oneness which unites all things within itself. So That which is within the mind, and does unite all things together, must be its Teacher. And, this Teacher must use language which the mind, in the condition it thinks it is in, can understand.

11. What is the same cannot be different,
And what is one cannot have separate parts.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5983025Sun, 26 Apr 2015 13:25:10 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-25.2-The Appointed Task 4. The task that Christ appointed to me is not hard to do, for He is the one Who does it. And in doing it I will learn the body only seems to be the means to do it. For the Mind is Christ's, and mine, as His holiness...
4. The task that Christ appointed to me is not hard to do, for He is the one Who does it. And in doing it I will learn the body only seems to be the means to do it. For the Mind is Christ's, and mine, as His holiness directs the body through the mind at one with Him. And I am manifest to my holy brother, as he is to me. This is the meeting of the holy Christ with Himself. No differences are perceived to stand between the aspects of His holiness, which meet and join, and raise Him to His Father, whole and pure and worthy of His everlasting Love.

5. The way I can manifest the Christ in myself is to look on holiness and see Christ there. Perception tells me that I am manifest in what I see--look on the body, and I will believe that I am there. And every body that I look on reminds me of myself--my sinfulness, my evil, and above all, my death. And I would despise the one who tells me this and seek his death instead. The message and the messenger are one. And framed in his body, I must see my brother as myself, sinful and condemned. Yet in my brother's holiness, the Christ proclaims himself as myself.

6. Perception is the choice of what I want to be, the world I will live in, and the mental condition that will make me content and satisfied. At my decision, perception chooses where I think my safety lies. It shows myself to me as I want to be. It is always faithful to my purpose. Perception never gives the slightest witness to anything that does not follow the purpose in my mind. Perceiving perception itself is part of my purpose, for means and end are not separate. This is how I learn that what seems to have a separate life, has no life.

7. I am the means for God--not separate, nor with a life apart from His. His Life is manifest in myself who is His Son. Each aspect of Himself is framed in holiness and perfect purity, in love celestial and so complete it wishes only that it may release all that it looks upon unto itself. Its radiance shines through each body that it looks upon and brushes all darkness into light merely by looking past it to the light. The veil is lifted through its gentleness, and nothing hides the face of Christ from those who see. My brother and I stand there before Him now, to let Him draw aside the veil that seems to keep us separate and apart.

8. Since we believe that we are separate, Heaven seems separate too. Not that it is in truth, but so the link that is given to join the truth may reach us through what we already understand. Father, Son, Holy Spirit are as One, as all our brothers join as one in truth. Christ and His Father never have been separate, and Christ abides within our understanding in the part of us that shares the Father's Will. The Holy Spirit links the other part, the tiny mad desire to be separate, different, and special, to the Christ, to make the oneness clear to what is really one. In this world, this is not understood but can be taught.

9. The Holy Spirit serves Christ's purpose in my mind, so that the aim of specialness can be corrected where the error is. The Holy Spirit knows the Will of God, and what I really will, because His purpose is one with both the Father and the Son. However, this is understood only by mind perceived and experienced as one. It is the Holy Spirit's function to teach me what I must do, and where I should go to do it, so this oneness is experienced.

10. All this speaks of time and place as if they were separate. For while I think a part of myself is separate, the concept of a oneness joined as one is meaningless. It is apparent that a mind so split could never be the teacher of Oneness which unites all things within itself. So That which is within the mind, and does unite all things together, must be its Teacher. And, this Teacher must use language which the mind, in the condition it thinks it is...]]>411acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-25-1-introduction-the-remedy
1. The Christ in me does not inhabit a body. He is in me, so it must be that I am not within a body. What is within cannot be without. And it is certain that I cannot be apart from what is at the very center of my life. What gives me life cannot be housed in death. No more can I be housed in death. Christ is within a frame of holiness. It's only purpose is so He may be made manifest to those who do not know Him. 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 within themselves.

2. Everyone who carries Christ within him recognizes Him everywhere--except in bodies. As long as we believe we are in bodies, we carry him unknowingly, and do not make Him manifest. And we do not recognize Him where He is. Yet the Son of God walks with us, plain to see within our holiness, as specialness is seen within the body.

3. The body needs no healing. The mind that thinks it is a body is sick and in need of healing. Christ gives the remedy in the mind. His purpose of peace folds the body in His light, filling it with holiness that shines from Him. Then everything that the body says or does makes Him manifest. To those who do not know Him, the light carries Him in gentleness and love to heal their minds. This is the mission my brother has for me. And it is the mission I have for him.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5974466Fri, 24 Apr 2015 15:51:44 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-25.1-Introduction, The Remedy 1. The Christ in me does not inhabit a body. He is in me, so it must be that I am not within a body. What is within cannot be without. And it is certain that I cannot be apart from what is at the very center of...
1. The Christ in me does not inhabit a body. He is in me, so it must be that I am not within a body. What is within cannot be without. And it is certain that I cannot be apart from what is at the very center of my life. What gives me life cannot be housed in death. No more can I be housed in death. Christ is within a frame of holiness. It's only purpose is so He may be made manifest to those who do not know Him. 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 within themselves.

2. Everyone who carries Christ within him recognizes Him everywhere--except in bodies. As long as we believe we are in bodies, we carry him unknowingly, and do not make Him manifest. And we do not recognize Him where He is. Yet the Son of God walks with us, plain to see within our holiness, as specialness is seen within the body.

3. The body needs no healing. The mind that thinks it is a body is sick and in need of healing. Christ gives the remedy in the mind. His purpose of peace folds the body in His light, filling it with holiness that shines from Him. Then everything that the body says or does makes Him manifest. To those who do not know Him, the light carries Him in gentleness and love to heal their minds. This is the mission my brother has for me. And it is the mission I have for him.]]>172acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-24-8-the-meeting-place-2
68. A co-creator must have a Son. This Son must have been created like it's father, a perfect being, all-encompassing and all-encompassed, nothing to add and nothing taken away. It is not born of size nor weight nor time nor held to limits or uncertainties of any kind. Here the means and end unite as one. This one has no end. All this is true, but has no meaning to one with uncertain purpose, divided aim, and/or an unlearned lesson in his memory.

69. This course only attempts to teach what can be learned easily. Its scope does not exceed mine. What is mine will come to me when I am ready. Here, the means and the purpose are separated. They were made so, are so perceived, and we deal with them as if they are separate. Perception does not seem to be a means. But it witnesses to what I taught, and seems to show me what I 'see'. All perception is upside down until its purpose has been understood. My perception depends on the purpose I see for it. Perception is the outward picture of a wish--an image that I want to be true.

70. I look at myself, and I see a body. I look at this body in different lights and it looks different. And without a light, it seems to be gone. I am reassured that it is there, because I can feel it with my hands and feel it move. The body gives me the eyes to look on it, the hands to feel it, the ears to hear the sounds it makes. It self-proves its reality to me. This is the image that I want to be myself. The body is the means to make my wish come true.

71. Thus the body is made a theory of myself, with no evidence beyond itself, and no escape within its sight. The body's course is sure when seen through its own eyes. It grows and withers, flourishes and dies. The body is branded sinful. Its acts are hated and judged as evil. And I cannot conceive of myself apart from it. Yet specialness whispers, 'Here is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.' Thus the 'son' becomes the means to serve his 'father's' purpose. Not identical, not even like, but still a means to offer to the 'father' what he wants. So the body testifies to the 'reality and truth' of the idea that made it. Such is the travesty on God's creation. Gods Son's creation gave Him joy, witnessed to His love, and shared His purpose.

72. Thus two sons are made. Each seems to walk this earth with no encounter with the other, and no meeting-place. One, I see outside myself, my own beloved son (body/world). The other is resting within, His Father's Son, within my brother as in me. Their difference does not lie in how they look, where they go, or even what they do. Their difference lies in purpose. The Son of God keeps His Father's Will and purpose. It is this that joins them to ones like themselves, and separates them from everything with a different purpose. But, the son of man wants an alien will, and perceives it to be true. Perception serves his special wish by giving it the appearance of truth. But specialness does not bind perception. By my choice, perception can serve another goal, and a different purpose. And I will perceive that which will prove its own reality and truth to me.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5728038Wed, 04 Mar 2015 02:52:46 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-24.8-The Meeting Place.2 68. A co-creator must have a Son. This Son must have been created like it's father, a perfect being, all-encompassing and all-encompassed, nothing to add and nothing taken away. It is not born of size nor weight nor...
68. A co-creator must have a Son. This Son must have been created like it's father, a perfect being, all-encompassing and all-encompassed, nothing to add and nothing taken away. It is not born of size nor weight nor time nor held to limits or uncertainties of any kind. Here the means and end unite as one. This one has no end. All this is true, but has no meaning to one with uncertain purpose, divided aim, and/or an unlearned lesson in his memory.

69. This course only attempts to teach what can be learned easily. Its scope does not exceed mine. What is mine will come to me when I am ready. Here, the means and the purpose are separated. They were made so, are so perceived, and we deal with them as if they are separate. Perception does not seem to be a means. But it witnesses to what I taught, and seems to show me what I 'see'. All perception is upside down until its purpose has been understood. My perception depends on the purpose I see for it. Perception is the outward picture of a wish--an image that I want to be true.

70. I look at myself, and I see a body. I look at this body in different lights and it looks different. And without a light, it seems to be gone. I am reassured that it is there, because I can feel it with my hands and feel it move. The body gives me the eyes to look on it, the hands to feel it, the ears to hear the sounds it makes. It self-proves its reality to me. This is the image that I want to be myself. The body is the means to make my wish come true.

71. Thus the body is made a theory of myself, with no evidence beyond itself, and no escape within its sight. The body's course is sure when seen through its own eyes. It grows and withers, flourishes and dies. The body is branded sinful. Its acts are hated and judged as evil. And I cannot conceive of myself apart from it. Yet specialness whispers, 'Here is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.' Thus the 'son' becomes the means to serve his 'father's' purpose. Not identical, not even like, but still a means to offer to the 'father' what he wants. So the body testifies to the 'reality and truth' of the idea that made it. Such is the travesty on God's creation. Gods Son's creation gave Him joy, witnessed to His love, and shared His purpose.

72. Thus two sons are made. Each seems to walk this earth with no encounter with the other, and no meeting-place. One, I see outside myself, my own beloved son (body/world). The other is resting within, His Father's Son, within my brother as in me. Their difference does not lie in how they look, where they go, or even what they do. Their difference lies in purpose. The Son of God keeps His Father's Will and purpose. It is this that joins them to ones like themselves, and separates them from everything with a different purpose. But, the son of man wants an alien will, and perceives it to be true. Perception serves his special wish by giving it the appearance of truth. But specialness does not bind perception. By my choice, perception can serve another goal, and a different purpose. And I will perceive that which will prove its own reality and truth to me.]]>379acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-24-8-the-meeting-place-1
62. Everyone tied to this world defends the specialness he wants to be the truth! Its wish is law to him, and he obeys. He provides everything his specialness demands. He loves it, and denies nothing it needs. While it calls to him, he hears no other Voice. And he protects it from attack with every resource available. This is my son, beloved of me as I am to my Father. However, it has taken the place of my creations, who are son to me, that I might share the Fatherhood of God, not take it from Him. What is this son that I have made to be my strength? What is this child of earth I love so much? What is this parody of God's creation that takes the place of my creations? And where are my creations, now that the host of God has found another son which he prefers to them?

63. The memory of God does not shine alone. All of creation is contained within my brother, everything created and creating, born and unborn, still in the future, or apparently gone by. What is in my brother is changeless, and my changelessness is recognized by acknowledging his. The holiness in me belongs to him. And it returns to me by my seeing it in him. All of the tribute I have given specialness belongs to my brother, and thus it returns to me. All of the love, care, strong protection, concern, thoughtfulness, and the conviction specialness is myself, belongs to my brother. Everything I gave to specialness belongs to my brother, and to me.

64. I cannot know my worth while specialness claims me instead. My worth is in my brother's holiness. I will not seek to make my specialness the truth, for it it were, I would surely be lost. I am thankful, rather, it is given me to see my brother's holiness because it is the truth. And what is true in him must be as true in me.

65. Can I protect the mind? The body, yes, a little--not from time, but temporarily. And much that I think I save, I hurt instead. What would I save it for? For in that choice lie both the body's health and harm. If I save it for show, as bait to catch another fish, to house my specialness in better style, or weave a frame of loveliness around my hate, I condemn the body to decay and death. And if I see this purpose in my brother's body, I condemn mine as well. Instead, I will weave a frame of holiness around him, that truth may shine on him and give us both safety from decay.

66. The Father keeps what He created safe. I cannot touch God's creation with the false ideas I made, because it was not created by me. I will not let my foolish fancies frighten me. What is immortal cannot be attacked, and what is temporal has no effect. Only the purpose of anything I see has meaning, and if the purpose is true, its safety rests secure. If not, it has no purpose and is means for nothing. Whatever is perceived as means for truth shares in its holiness and rests in light as safely as truth itself. Nor will that light go out when it is gone. Its holy purpose gave it immortality, setting another light in Heaven, where my creations recognize a gift from me, a sign that I have not forgotten them.

67. The test of everything on earth is simply this: "What is it for?" This answer makes it what it is for me. It has no meaning of itself, yet I can give it reality according to the purpose which I serve. Here I am only means, along with it. God is a Means as well as End. In Heaven, means and end are one, and one with Him. This is the state of true creation, not found within time, only in eternity. No one here can understand this, nor is there any way to learn what this condition means. Not till I go past learning to the Given, not till I make again a holy home for my creations is it understood.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5709966Sat, 28 Feb 2015 01:45:31 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-24.8-The Meeting Place.1 62. Everyone tied to this world defends the specialness he wants to be the truth! Its wish is law to him, and he obeys. He provides everything his specialness demands. He loves it, and denies nothing it needs....
62. Everyone tied to this world defends the specialness he wants to be the truth! Its wish is law to him, and he obeys. He provides everything his specialness demands. He loves it, and denies nothing it needs. While it calls to him, he hears no other Voice. And he protects it from attack with every resource available. This is my son, beloved of me as I am to my Father. However, it has taken the place of my creations, who are son to me, that I might share the Fatherhood of God, not take it from Him. What is this son that I have made to be my strength? What is this child of earth I love so much? What is this parody of God's creation that takes the place of my creations? And where are my creations, now that the host of God has found another son which he prefers to them?

63. The memory of God does not shine alone. All of creation is contained within my brother, everything created and creating, born and unborn, still in the future, or apparently gone by. What is in my brother is changeless, and my changelessness is recognized by acknowledging his. The holiness in me belongs to him. And it returns to me by my seeing it in him. All of the tribute I have given specialness belongs to my brother, and thus it returns to me. All of the love, care, strong protection, concern, thoughtfulness, and the conviction specialness is myself, belongs to my brother. Everything I gave to specialness belongs to my brother, and to me.

64. I cannot know my worth while specialness claims me instead. My worth is in my brother's holiness. I will not seek to make my specialness the truth, for it it were, I would surely be lost. I am thankful, rather, it is given me to see my brother's holiness because it is the truth. And what is true in him must be as true in me.

65. Can I protect the mind? The body, yes, a little--not from time, but temporarily. And much that I think I save, I hurt instead. What would I save it for? For in that choice lie both the body's health and harm. If I save it for show, as bait to catch another fish, to house my specialness in better style, or weave a frame of loveliness around my hate, I condemn the body to decay and death. And if I see this purpose in my brother's body, I condemn mine as well. Instead, I will weave a frame of holiness around him, that truth may shine on him and give us both safety from decay.

66. The Father keeps what He created safe. I cannot touch God's creation with the false ideas I made, because it was not created by me. I will not let my foolish fancies frighten me. What is immortal cannot be attacked, and what is temporal has no effect. Only the purpose of anything I see has meaning, and if the purpose is true, its safety rests secure. If not, it has no purpose and is means for nothing. Whatever is perceived as means for truth shares in its holiness and rests in light as safely as truth itself. Nor will that light go out when it is gone. Its holy purpose gave it immortality, setting another light in Heaven, where my creations recognize a gift from me, a sign that I have not forgotten them.

67. The test of everything on earth is simply this: "What is it for?" This answer makes it what it is for me. It has no meaning of itself, yet I can give it reality according to the purpose which I serve. Here I am only means, along with it. God is a Means as well as End. In Heaven, means and end are one, and one with Him. This is the state of true creation, not found within time, only in eternity. No one here can understand this, nor is there any way to learn what this condition means. Not till I go past learning to the Given, not till I make again a holy home for my creations is it understood.]]>436acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-24-7-salvation-from-fear-2
55. Eternity is regained by recognizing the Christ in my brother. I must choose between his body or his holiness, as what I will see. My salvation and peace are only in his holiness, not in a body. God set Himself forever in my brother's holiness, that I mighty see the truth about myself in terms I recognize and understand. I will choose in countless situations, throughout seemingly endless time, until the truth is my decision.

56. Specialness looks on my brother's body and does not see him. The Christ in me beholds my brother's holiness as sacrament and benediction to me, but my brother's mistakes can cause delay. They are for me to take from him, so we both may end a journey that never began, and needs no end. His errors do not withhold God's blessing from him, nor from me who see him truly. Until I realize that the body is not a part of him who stands beside me, I will think the body is a part of me. My brother is the mirror of myself, where I see the judgment I have laid on both of us.

57. Futility of function not fulfilled will haunt me, till what has been assigned to me is done, and my brother, who lies asleep, is risen from the past. The other choice offers me a senseless wandering, without a purpose and without accomplishment of any kind. I mistook a body to be my brother, bound to laws that have no power over him at all. He, who condemned himself, and me as well, is given to me to save from condemnation along with me. I will see my brother as what he is, so my deliverance may be soon. And we both shall see God's glory in His Son!

58. I will never doubt that my specialness will disappear before the Will of God, Who loves each part of Himself with equal love and care. It cannot be that what governs part of God does not apply to all the rest. However, I place myself under the same laws I see as ruling my brother. Gladly I would realize these laws are not for me, then I will not see my brother as prisoner to them. I will think how great God's love for me must be, that He has given me a part of Himself to save from pain, and give me happiness. I would decide for the holiness He sees. The Christ in me can see my brother truly.

59. Specialness is the function I gave myself, self-created and maintained, and joined with nothing beyond the body. In its eyes, I am a separate universe, complete within itself, with no opening to the light. I have pursued this goal with ceaseless effort and attachment, unyielding vigilance, and with anger always fully justified. And all this grim determination was for this--I wanted specialness to be the truth.

60. Now, I am asked to choose another goal. This pursuit requires little effort, far less time and vigilance, and it has the power of God maintaining it and promising success. Yet, the second goal is the one I resist, and find more difficult. I find acknowledging God, and greeting the Christ in me, a wearisome burden, too tedious and heavy to be borne. The 'sacrifice' of self I understand, nor do I deem this cost too heavy. Yet, no sacrifice or strain is required for dedication to the truth as God established it. All the power of Heaven and the might of truth is given to provide the means, and guarantee the goal's accomplishment.

61. Specialness judges that it is easier to see my brother's body than it is to see his holiness. The voice of specialness is heard clearly, judging against the Christ. It sets my purpose for me, what I can attain, and what I cannot do. I must remember that this judgment applies to all I do with specialness as my ally. Yet, specialness does not know what Christ does through me. To Christ, this judgment makes no sense at all, for only what His Father wills is possible. There is no alternative for Him to see. His lack of conflict becomes my peace. And His purpose brings the means for effortless accomplishment and rest.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5699228Wed, 25 Feb 2015 21:29:23 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-24.7-Salvation From Fear.2 55. Eternity is regained by recognizing the Christ in my brother. I must choose between his body or his holiness, as what I will see. My salvation and peace are only in his holiness, not in a body. God set...
55. Eternity is regained by recognizing the Christ in my brother. I must choose between his body or his holiness, as what I will see. My salvation and peace are only in his holiness, not in a body. God set Himself forever in my brother's holiness, that I mighty see the truth about myself in terms I recognize and understand. I will choose in countless situations, throughout seemingly endless time, until the truth is my decision.

56. Specialness looks on my brother's body and does not see him. The Christ in me beholds my brother's holiness as sacrament and benediction to me, but my brother's mistakes can cause delay. They are for me to take from him, so we both may end a journey that never began, and needs no end. His errors do not withhold God's blessing from him, nor from me who see him truly. Until I realize that the body is not a part of him who stands beside me, I will think the body is a part of me. My brother is the mirror of myself, where I see the judgment I have laid on both of us.

57. Futility of function not fulfilled will haunt me, till what has been assigned to me is done, and my brother, who lies asleep, is risen from the past. The other choice offers me a senseless wandering, without a purpose and without accomplishment of any kind. I mistook a body to be my brother, bound to laws that have no power over him at all. He, who condemned himself, and me as well, is given to me to save from condemnation along with me. I will see my brother as what he is, so my deliverance may be soon. And we both shall see God's glory in His Son!

58. I will never doubt that my specialness will disappear before the Will of God, Who loves each part of Himself with equal love and care. It cannot be that what governs part of God does not apply to all the rest. However, I place myself under the same laws I see as ruling my brother. Gladly I would realize these laws are not for me, then I will not see my brother as prisoner to them. I will think how great God's love for me must be, that He has given me a part of Himself to save from pain, and give me happiness. I would decide for the holiness He sees. The Christ in me can see my brother truly.

59. Specialness is the function I gave myself, self-created and maintained, and joined with nothing beyond the body. In its eyes, I am a separate universe, complete within itself, with no opening to the light. I have pursued this goal with ceaseless effort and attachment, unyielding vigilance, and with anger always fully justified. And all this grim determination was for this--I wanted specialness to be the truth.

60. Now, I am asked to choose another goal. This pursuit requires little effort, far less time and vigilance, and it has the power of God maintaining it and promising success. Yet, the second goal is the one I resist, and find more difficult. I find acknowledging God, and greeting the Christ in me, a wearisome burden, too tedious and heavy to be borne. The 'sacrifice' of self I understand, nor do I deem this cost too heavy. Yet, no sacrifice or strain is required for dedication to the truth as God established it. All the power of Heaven and the might of truth is given to provide the means, and guarantee the goal's accomplishment.

61. Specialness judges that it is easier to see my brother's body than it is to see his holiness. The voice of specialness is heard clearly, judging against the Christ. It sets my purpose for me, what I can attain, and what I cannot do. I must remember that this judgment applies to all I do with specialness as my ally. Yet, specialness does not know what Christ does through me. To Christ, this judgment makes no sense at all, for only what His Father wills is possible. There is no alternative for Him to see. His lack of conflict...]]>424acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-24-7-salvation-from-fear-1
49. The world is still before my brother's holiness. Peace and blessings descend gently on the world, so complete not one trace of conflict remains to haunt me in the night. My brother is my savior from the dreams of fear. He heals my sense of sacrifice and fear, that what I have will disappear. In him is my assurance God is here, and with me now. While my brother is what he is, I can be sure that God is knowable and will be known to me. For God could never leave His own creation. And the sign that this is so lies in my brother, offered to me that all my doubts about myself may disappear before his holiness. I see God's creation in him. For in my brother, his Father waits for my acknowledgment, that He created me as part of Him.

50. Without me there would be a lack in God, a Heaven incomplete, a Son without a Father. There could be no universe and no reality. For what God wills is whole and part of Him, because His Will is One. Everything alive is part of Him, and everything that is, is alive in Him. My brother's holiness shows me that God is one with him and me--that what he has is mine. I am not separate from him nor from his Father.

51. Everything is given to me in all the universe. Everything that God created, He has laid before me lovingly as mine forever. And every thought within His Mind is present in my own mind. It is His Will that I share His love for me, and look upon myself as lovingly as He conceived of me before the world began, and as He knows me still. God does not change His mind about His Son with passing circumstances. They have no meaning in eternity where He abides and I with Him. My brother is as God created him, and this saves me from a world that God did not create.

52. If I use the world for what is not its purpose, I will not escape its laws of violence and death. Yet, it is given me to be beyond the world's laws in all respects, in every way, and every circumstance--in all temptation to perceive what is not there, and all belief that God's Son can suffer, because he does not see himself as he is. I will remember that the healing of God's Son is all the world is for. That is the only purpose the Holy Spirit sees in it, and truly the only one it has. I will know the Father, and myself, when all I wish to be accomplished by the world, by time, and all appearances, is the healing of the Son.

53. I will not let my brother's specialness obscure the truth in him. I will not escape one law of death I bind to him, and every sin I see in him keeps us both in hell. I will look on my brother, and behold in him the whole reversal of the laws that seem to rule this world. I will see my freedom in his freedom, for such it is. My brother's perfect sinlessness will release us both, for holiness is quite impartial. One judgment is made for everything that lives and shares His Being, and this judgment is made by the Voice that speaks for God.

54. It is God's sinlessness that seeing eyes can see. It is God's loveliness that they see in everything. And it is He they look for everywhere, and they find no place, nor time where He is not. My brother's holiness is the perfect frame for my salvation and the world's. In it is set the shining memory of Him in Whom my brother lives, and I along with him. I will not let my eyes be blinded by the veil of specialness that hides the face of Christ from me and my brother. And I will not let the fear of God block the vision I was meant to see. My brother's body does not reveal the Christ to me, for Christ is seen within his holiness.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5687322Mon, 23 Feb 2015 13:39:54 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-24.7-Salvation from Fear.1 49. The world is still before my brother's holiness. Peace and blessings descend gently on the world, so complete not one trace of conflict remains to haunt me in the night. My brother is my savior from the dreams...
49. The world is still before my brother's holiness. Peace and blessings descend gently on the world, so complete not one trace of conflict remains to haunt me in the night. My brother is my savior from the dreams of fear. He heals my sense of sacrifice and fear, that what I have will disappear. In him is my assurance God is here, and with me now. While my brother is what he is, I can be sure that God is knowable and will be known to me. For God could never leave His own creation. And the sign that this is so lies in my brother, offered to me that all my doubts about myself may disappear before his holiness. I see God's creation in him. For in my brother, his Father waits for my acknowledgment, that He created me as part of Him.

50. Without me there would be a lack in God, a Heaven incomplete, a Son without a Father. There could be no universe and no reality. For what God wills is whole and part of Him, because His Will is One. Everything alive is part of Him, and everything that is, is alive in Him. My brother's holiness shows me that God is one with him and me--that what he has is mine. I am not separate from him nor from his Father.

51. Everything is given to me in all the universe. Everything that God created, He has laid before me lovingly as mine forever. And every thought within His Mind is present in my own mind. It is His Will that I share His love for me, and look upon myself as lovingly as He conceived of me before the world began, and as He knows me still. God does not change His mind about His Son with passing circumstances. They have no meaning in eternity where He abides and I with Him. My brother is as God created him, and this saves me from a world that God did not create.

52. If I use the world for what is not its purpose, I will not escape its laws of violence and death. Yet, it is given me to be beyond the world's laws in all respects, in every way, and every circumstance--in all temptation to perceive what is not there, and all belief that God's Son can suffer, because he does not see himself as he is. I will remember that the healing of God's Son is all the world is for. That is the only purpose the Holy Spirit sees in it, and truly the only one it has. I will know the Father, and myself, when all I wish to be accomplished by the world, by time, and all appearances, is the healing of the Son.

53. I will not let my brother's specialness obscure the truth in him. I will not escape one law of death I bind to him, and every sin I see in him keeps us both in hell. I will look on my brother, and behold in him the whole reversal of the laws that seem to rule this world. I will see my freedom in his freedom, for such it is. My brother's perfect sinlessness will release us both, for holiness is quite impartial. One judgment is made for everything that lives and shares His Being, and this judgment is made by the Voice that speaks for God.

54. It is God's sinlessness that seeing eyes can see. It is God's loveliness that they see in everything. And it is He they look for everywhere, and they find no place, nor time where He is not. My brother's holiness is the perfect frame for my salvation and the world's. In it is set the shining memory of Him in Whom my brother lives, and I along with him. I will not let my eyes be blinded by the veil of specialness that hides the face of Christ from me and my brother. And I will not let the fear of God block the vision I was meant to see. My brother's body does not reveal the Christ to me, for Christ is seen within his holiness.]]>429acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-24-6-resolution-of-the-dream
40. The Christ in me is very still. He looks on what He loves and knows it as Himself. And He rejoices at what He sees, because He knows that it is one with Him and with His Father. Specialness, too, takes joy in what it sees, although it is not true. Yet, what it seeks is a source of joy as I conceive joy. What I wish is true for me. It is not possible that I can wish for something, and lack faith that it is so. Wishing makes real, as surely as willing creates. The power of a wish upholds illusions, just as much as love extends itself, except that one deludes, and the other heals.

41. However lovely the dream may seem to be, however much it offers hope of peace, escape from pain, freedom from self condemnation, however hidden or disguised the form--there is no dream of specialness. In dreams, effect and cause are interchanged, for the maker of the dream believes that what he made is happening to him. He does not realize he picked a thread from here, a scrap from there, and wove a picture out of nothing. For the parts do not belong together, and the whole contributes nothing to the parts to give them meaning.

42. Where could my peace arise except in forgiveness? The Christ in me looks only on the truth and sees no condemnation that could need forgiveness. He is at peace, because He sees no sin. If I identify with Him, I have everything that He has. He is my eyes, my ears, my hands, my feet. How gentle are the sights He sees, the sounds He hears. How beautiful His hand that holds His brother's hand, and how lovingly Christ walks beside him, showing him what can be seen and heard, and where he will see nothing, and hear no sound.

43. Yet, if I let my specialness direct his way, I will follow. And we both will walk in danger, each intent to lead the other to a nameless precipice and hurl him over it, in the dark forest of the sightless, unlit except by tiny gleams from fireflies of sin that spark an instant and then go out. For specialness leads only to destruction, delights to kill and seeks the sight of death. However, specialness did not look on my brother first, hating him before it hated me. The sin its eyes beheld in him, it saw in me, and still looks on with joy. Yet, it is not joyful to look on decay and madness, and believe this crumbling thing is like myself, with flesh already loosened from the bone and sightless holes for eyes.

44. I rejoice that I have no eyes with which to see, no ears to listen, and no hands to hold nor feet to guide. I am glad that Christ can lend me His, while I have need of them. His are illusions, too, as well as mine. And yet they serve a very different purpose, and the strength of that purpose is given to them. And the perceptions Christ lends to me see, hear, hold, lead, and are given light, that I may lead as I was led.

45. The Christ in me is very still. He knows where I am going, and He leads me all the way in gentleness and blessing. His love for God replaces the fear I thought I saw in myself. Christ's holiness shows me Himself in my brother, whose hand I hold and lead to Christ. And what I see is like myself. For there is only Christ to see and hear, to love and follow home. He looked upon me first, and recognized that I was not complete. And so He sought for my completion in each living thing that He beholds and loves. And He seeks it still, that each might offer me the love of God.

*46. Christ is quiet, for He knows that love is in me now, safely held in me by the same hand that is holding my brother's hand. Christ's hand holds all His brothers in Himself. He gives them vision for their sightless eyes, and sings to them of Heaven, that their ears may hear no more the sounds of battle and of death. He reaches through them, holding out His hand that everyone may bless all living things and see their holiness. Christ offers me His perfect lack of specialness, and my forgiveness offers it to my Self, so I may save all living things from death, receiving from each one the gift of life. And He rejoices that these sights are mine to look upon with Him and share His joy. The sight of Christ is all there is to see. The song of Christ is all there is to hear. The hand of Christ is all there is to hold. The only journey is to walk with Him.

47. I, who would be content with specialness, and seek salvation in a war with love, must consider this: The holy Lord of Heaven Himself has come to offer to me my own completion. What is His is mine, because my completion is His Completion. God did not will to be without His Son, and He could never will that I be brotherless. And so, He gave to me a brother as perfect as myself, and just the same as Christ in holiness.

48. Before there can be conflict there must be doubt, and every doubt must be about myself. Christ has no doubt, and His quiet comes from His certainty. If I agree that our Oneness is within my grasp, timeless, endless, He will exchange His certainty for all my doubts. He walks before and beside me, leading the way that He must go to find Himself complete. He is within me. His quietness becomes my certainty, ending all doubt.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5678930Sat, 21 Feb 2015 15:10:18 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-24.6-Resolution of the Dream.mp3 40. The Christ in me is very still. He looks on what He loves and knows it as Himself. And He rejoices at what He sees, because He knows that it is one with Him and with His Father. Specialness, too, takes...
40. The Christ in me is very still. He looks on what He loves and knows it as Himself. And He rejoices at what He sees, because He knows that it is one with Him and with His Father. Specialness, too, takes joy in what it sees, although it is not true. Yet, what it seeks is a source of joy as I conceive joy. What I wish is true for me. It is not possible that I can wish for something, and lack faith that it is so. Wishing makes real, as surely as willing creates. The power of a wish upholds illusions, just as much as love extends itself, except that one deludes, and the other heals.

41. However lovely the dream may seem to be, however much it offers hope of peace, escape from pain, freedom from self condemnation, however hidden or disguised the form--there is no dream of specialness. In dreams, effect and cause are interchanged, for the maker of the dream believes that what he made is happening to him. He does not realize he picked a thread from here, a scrap from there, and wove a picture out of nothing. For the parts do not belong together, and the whole contributes nothing to the parts to give them meaning.

42. Where could my peace arise except in forgiveness? The Christ in me looks only on the truth and sees no condemnation that could need forgiveness. He is at peace, because He sees no sin. If I identify with Him, I have everything that He has. He is my eyes, my ears, my hands, my feet. How gentle are the sights He sees, the sounds He hears. How beautiful His hand that holds His brother's hand, and how lovingly Christ walks beside him, showing him what can be seen and heard, and where he will see nothing, and hear no sound.

43. Yet, if I let my specialness direct his way, I will follow. And we both will walk in danger, each intent to lead the other to a nameless precipice and hurl him over it, in the dark forest of the sightless, unlit except by tiny gleams from fireflies of sin that spark an instant and then go out. For specialness leads only to destruction, delights to kill and seeks the sight of death. However, specialness did not look on my brother first, hating him before it hated me. The sin its eyes beheld in him, it saw in me, and still looks on with joy. Yet, it is not joyful to look on decay and madness, and believe this crumbling thing is like myself, with flesh already loosened from the bone and sightless holes for eyes.

44. I rejoice that I have no eyes with which to see, no ears to listen, and no hands to hold nor feet to guide. I am glad that Christ can lend me His, while I have need of them. His are illusions, too, as well as mine. And yet they serve a very different purpose, and the strength of that purpose is given to them. And the perceptions Christ lends to me see, hear, hold, lead, and are given light, that I may lead as I was led.

45. The Christ in me is very still. He knows where I am going, and He leads me all the way in gentleness and blessing. His love for God replaces the fear I thought I saw in myself. Christ's holiness shows me Himself in my brother, whose hand I hold and lead to Christ. And what I see is like myself. For there is only Christ to see and hear, to love and follow home. He looked upon me first, and recognized that I was not complete. And so He sought for my completion in each living thing that He beholds and loves. And He seeks it still, that each might offer me the love of God.

*46. Christ is quiet, for He knows that love is in me now, safely held in me by the same hand that is holding my brother's hand. Christ's hand holds all His brothers in Himself. He gives them vision for their sightless eyes, and sings to them of Heaven, that their ears may hear no more the sounds of battle and of death. He reaches through them, holding out His hand that everyone may bless all living things and see their holiness. Christ...]]>635acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-24-5-specialness-and-salvation
34. Specialness is a lack of trust in anyone except myself, for faith is invested in myself. Everything else becomes my enemy, feared, dangerous, hated and worthy of destruction. Whatever gentleness it offers is only a deception, but its hate is real. In danger of destruction, it must kill, and I am drawn to it to kill it first. And such is guilt's attraction. Here, death is enthroned as savior, crucifixion is redemption now, and salvation is destruction of the world, except myself.

35. Specialness is the purpose of the body. And it is this that makes it frail and helpless in its own defense. It was conceived to make me frail and helpless. The goal of separation is the body's curse. Yet, bodies have no goal. Purpose is of the mind. Minds cannot change their attributes and what they are, but what they hold as purpose can be changed as they desire, and the body's states must shift accordingly. Of itself the body can do nothing. If I see it as means to hurt, the body is hurt. If I see it as means to heal, the body is healed.

36. I can only hurt myself. This has been said before, but it is still difficult to grasp. To minds intent on specialness, it is meaningless and impossible. Yet to those minds wishing to heal and not attack, it is true and obvious. The purpose of attack, or healing, is in the mind, and the effects are felt in the mind. The mind is not limited, so harmful purpose hurts the mind as one. This makes no sense at all to specialness. But it makes perfect sense to miracles. For miracles are merely the change of purpose from hurt to healing.

37. The faith that I have given to specialness has left me bankrupt, and my treasure house empty, with an open door inviting everything that would disturb my peace to enter and destroy. Yet, no comfort has ever been in illusions. Would I keep from my Father the gift He asks of me, and give it to specialness instead? Given to Him, the universe is mine. Offered to illusions, no gifts can be returned. This shift in purpose does "endanger" specialness, but only in the sense that all illusions are "threatened" by the truth. Illusions cannot stand before the truth.

38. I will not consider how to reach the attainment of salvation. But, I will consider, and consider well, whether it is my wish that I see my brother sinless. To specialness the answer must be "no, never." Sin, if it were possible, would be its friend, and a sinless brother is its enemy. My brother's sins justify my specialness, and give it the meaning that truth denies. However, if he is sinful, then my reality is only a dream of specialness, which lasts an instant and crumbles into dust. All that is false proclaims his sins are real. All that is real proclaims he is sinless.

39. In this shifting world which has no real meaning, only this is certain:
When I suffer pain of any kind, and/or when peace is not with me entirely, I will have seen some sin within my brother. Because of his sin, my specialness seems safe and I rejoice. And thus, I crucify the one God has given me, and save what I appointed to be my savior instead. And specialness is his 'enemy' as well as mine. So I am bound with him, for we are one. I do not wish to defend this senseless dream in which I remain beyond salvation, and God is bereft of what He loves.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5654508Mon, 16 Feb 2015 17:02:19 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-24.5-Specialness and Salvation 34. Specialness is a lack of trust in anyone except myself, for faith is invested in myself. Everything else becomes my enemy, feared, dangerous, hated and worthy of destruction. Whatever gentleness it offers...
34. Specialness is a lack of trust in anyone except myself, for faith is invested in myself. Everything else becomes my enemy, feared, dangerous, hated and worthy of destruction. Whatever gentleness it offers is only a deception, but its hate is real. In danger of destruction, it must kill, and I am drawn to it to kill it first. And such is guilt's attraction. Here, death is enthroned as savior, crucifixion is redemption now, and salvation is destruction of the world, except myself.

35. Specialness is the purpose of the body. And it is this that makes it frail and helpless in its own defense. It was conceived to make me frail and helpless. The goal of separation is the body's curse. Yet, bodies have no goal. Purpose is of the mind. Minds cannot change their attributes and what they are, but what they hold as purpose can be changed as they desire, and the body's states must shift accordingly. Of itself the body can do nothing. If I see it as means to hurt, the body is hurt. If I see it as means to heal, the body is healed.

36. I can only hurt myself. This has been said before, but it is still difficult to grasp. To minds intent on specialness, it is meaningless and impossible. Yet to those minds wishing to heal and not attack, it is true and obvious. The purpose of attack, or healing, is in the mind, and the effects are felt in the mind. The mind is not limited, so harmful purpose hurts the mind as one. This makes no sense at all to specialness. But it makes perfect sense to miracles. For miracles are merely the change of purpose from hurt to healing.

37. The faith that I have given to specialness has left me bankrupt, and my treasure house empty, with an open door inviting everything that would disturb my peace to enter and destroy. Yet, no comfort has ever been in illusions. Would I keep from my Father the gift He asks of me, and give it to specialness instead? Given to Him, the universe is mine. Offered to illusions, no gifts can be returned. This shift in purpose does "endanger" specialness, but only in the sense that all illusions are "threatened" by the truth. Illusions cannot stand before the truth.

38. I will not consider how to reach the attainment of salvation. But, I will consider, and consider well, whether it is my wish that I see my brother sinless. To specialness the answer must be "no, never." Sin, if it were possible, would be its friend, and a sinless brother is its enemy. My brother's sins justify my specialness, and give it the meaning that truth denies. However, if he is sinful, then my reality is only a dream of specialness, which lasts an instant and crumbles into dust. All that is false proclaims his sins are real. All that is real proclaims he is sinless.

39. In this shifting world which has no real meaning, only this is certain:
When I suffer pain of any kind, and/or when peace is not with me entirely, I will have seen some sin within my brother. Because of his sin, my specialness seems safe and I rejoice. And thus, I crucify the one God has given me, and save what I appointed to be my savior instead. And specialness is his 'enemy' as well as mine. So I am bound with him, for we are one. I do not wish to defend this senseless dream in which I remain beyond salvation, and God is bereft of what He loves.]]>430acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-24-4-forgiveness-of-specialness
26. Forgiveness is the end of specialness. Forgiveness is release from all illusions, and that is why it is impossible to forgive partly. Whoever clings to illusions, keeping just one error for himself as still lovely, cannot see himself as sinless. He makes the error a sin, and calls it "unforgivable". He cannot wholly forgive, because he would not receive forgiveness for himself. For he would surely receive complete forgiveness the moment he gave it. His secret guilt would disappear, forgiven by himself. Illusions disappear when they are forgiven.

27. My cherished form of specialness, I have made a sin. Inviolate it stands, strongly defended with all my puny might against the Will of God. And so it stands against myself, my enemy, not God's. It seems to split me off from God, making me separate from Him, as its defender. I would protect what God did not create. And yet this idol that seems to give me power, has taken my power away. For I have given my brother's birthright to this idol, leaving him alone and unforgiven, and myself in sin beside him, both of us in misery before the idol that cannot save us.

28. Just a word, a little whisper that I don't like, a circumstance that doesn't suit me, or an event that I did not anticipate, upsets my world and hurls it into chaos. My world can be thrown off balance by anything. However, truth is not vulnerable, frail, open to attack, and that is the truth in me. Truth is perfectly unmoved and undisturbed by illusions. Specialness rests on nothing and can never be stable. It must tip and turn and whirl about with every breeze, no matter how big it seems to be.

29. Without foundation nothing is secure. Would God have left His Son in such a state, where safety has no meaning? No, His Son is safe, resting in Him. It is only my specialness that is attacked, by everything that walks, breathes, creeps or crawls, or even lives at all. Nothing is safe from its attack, and it is safe from nothing. It will forever more be unforgiving, for that is what it is--a secret vow that what God wants for me will never be and that I will oppose His Will forever. Nor is it possible that God and His Son can ever be the same if specialness stands between them, making them "enemies."

30. God asks for my forgiveness. He would have no alien will of separation rise between what He wills for me and what I will. Our wills are the same, for neither one wills specialness. They could not will the death of love itself. Yet, they are powerless to make attack upon illusions. They are not bodies. As One Mind they wait for all illusions to be brought to them and left behind. Salvation does not even challenge death. And God, Who knows that death is not really my will, must say, "Thy will be done," because I think it is my will.

31. I forgive the great Creator of the universe, the Source of life, of love and holiness, the perfect Father of a perfect Son. I forgive Him for my illusions of my specialness. Here is the hell I chose to be my home, for He didn't choose this for me, and I do not ask that He enter here. The way is barred to love and to salvation. Yet, if I will release my brother from the depths of hell, I have forgiven God, Whose Will it is I rest forever in the arms of peace, in perfect safety, and with not one thought of specialness, hate or malice, to mar my rest. I forgive the Holy One the specialness He could not give, and which I made instead.

32. The special ones are all asleep, surrounded by a world of loveliness they do not see. Freedom, peace and joy stand beside the place where they sleep, calling them to come forth and waken from their dream of death. Yet they hear nothing. They are lost in dreams of specialness. They hate the call that would awaken them, and they curse God because He did not make their dream reality. Curse God and die, but only in the dream, for God did not make death. I will open my eyes a little and see the savior God gave to me, that I might look on him and give him back his birthright. It is mine.

33. The slaves of specialness will be free. Such is the Will of God and of His Son. God would not condemn Himself to hell and to damnation. And I do not will that this be done to my savior. God calls to me from my brother, to join His Will, and save us both from hell. He ask of me only that my will be done. I see the print of nails upon his hands that he holds out for my forgiveness. God asks my mercy on His Son and on Himself. The print of nails are on my hands as well. They ask for my love that I may love myself. I will not deny them. I will not love my specialness instead of them. I forgive my Father, for it was not His will that I be crucified.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5651494Sun, 15 Feb 2015 22:46:24 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-24.4-Forgiveness of Specialness. 26. Forgiveness is the end of specialness. Forgiveness is release from all illusions, and that is why it is impossible to forgive partly. Whoever clings to illusions, keeping just one error for himself as...
26. Forgiveness is the end of specialness. Forgiveness is release from all illusions, and that is why it is impossible to forgive partly. Whoever clings to illusions, keeping just one error for himself as still lovely, cannot see himself as sinless. He makes the error a sin, and calls it "unforgivable". He cannot wholly forgive, because he would not receive forgiveness for himself. For he would surely receive complete forgiveness the moment he gave it. His secret guilt would disappear, forgiven by himself. Illusions disappear when they are forgiven.

27. My cherished form of specialness, I have made a sin. Inviolate it stands, strongly defended with all my puny might against the Will of God. And so it stands against myself, my enemy, not God's. It seems to split me off from God, making me separate from Him, as its defender. I would protect what God did not create. And yet this idol that seems to give me power, has taken my power away. For I have given my brother's birthright to this idol, leaving him alone and unforgiven, and myself in sin beside him, both of us in misery before the idol that cannot save us.

28. Just a word, a little whisper that I don't like, a circumstance that doesn't suit me, or an event that I did not anticipate, upsets my world and hurls it into chaos. My world can be thrown off balance by anything. However, truth is not vulnerable, frail, open to attack, and that is the truth in me. Truth is perfectly unmoved and undisturbed by illusions. Specialness rests on nothing and can never be stable. It must tip and turn and whirl about with every breeze, no matter how big it seems to be.

29. Without foundation nothing is secure. Would God have left His Son in such a state, where safety has no meaning? No, His Son is safe, resting in Him. It is only my specialness that is attacked, by everything that walks, breathes, creeps or crawls, or even lives at all. Nothing is safe from its attack, and it is safe from nothing. It will forever more be unforgiving, for that is what it is--a secret vow that what God wants for me will never be and that I will oppose His Will forever. Nor is it possible that God and His Son can ever be the same if specialness stands between them, making them "enemies."

30. God asks for my forgiveness. He would have no alien will of separation rise between what He wills for me and what I will. Our wills are the same, for neither one wills specialness. They could not will the death of love itself. Yet, they are powerless to make attack upon illusions. They are not bodies. As One Mind they wait for all illusions to be brought to them and left behind. Salvation does not even challenge death. And God, Who knows that death is not really my will, must say, "Thy will be done," because I think it is my will.

31. I forgive the great Creator of the universe, the Source of life, of love and holiness, the perfect Father of a perfect Son. I forgive Him for my illusions of my specialness. Here is the hell I chose to be my home, for He didn't choose this for me, and I do not ask that He enter here. The way is barred to love and to salvation. Yet, if I will release my brother from the depths of hell, I have forgiven God, Whose Will it is I rest forever in the arms of peace, in perfect safety, and with not one thought of specialness, hate or malice, to mar my rest. I forgive the Holy One the specialness He could not give, and which I made instead.

32. The special ones are all asleep, surrounded by a world of loveliness they do not see. Freedom, peace and joy stand beside the place where they sleep, calling them to come forth and waken from their dream of death. Yet they hear nothing. They are lost in dreams of specialness. They hate the call that would awaken them, and they curse God because He did not make their dream reality. Curse God...]]>576acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-24-3-treachery-of-specialness-2
19. I will think of the loveliness that I will see in myself, when I have looked on my brother as a friend. He is the enemy of my specialness, but only a friend to what is real in me. The attack I thought I made on him did not take away the gift that God would have him give to me. His need to give it is as great as mine to have it. I let him forgive me all my specialness, making me whole, one in mind with him. He waits for my forgiveness so he can return it back to me. It is not God, but only me, who has condemned God's Son, in order to save the Son's specialness and kill his divine Self.

20. I have come too far along the way of truth to falter now. Just one more step and every remnant of the fear of God will melt away in love. Mine and my brother's specialness are enemies, denying they are the same, and bound to kill each other in hate. God and His Heaven seem remote and unreachable to the illusions of ourselves that have reached this final obstacle. However, here in this holy place, truth stands waiting to receive us both with silent blessing. I leave all illusions of myself outside this place, and come in honesty and hope. Outside this real and all encompassing peace, there is nothing.

21. The savior from my specialness is here. He needs my acceptance of him as part of myself, and I need the same acceptance from him. We are like to God as God is like to Himself. God is not special, for He would not keep any part of what He is for Himself alone, but gives all He is to His Son. He willed His Son be like Him. So, my brother is not special, like myself, and possesses everything, including myself. And it is this I fear.

22. Let me remember that God gave Himself to both of us in equal love, that we might share the universe with Him. God chose that love could never be divided and kept separate from what it is and will be forever. I will give to my brother only what he has. I am my brother's, for a part of love was not denied to him. I have no loss because he is complete. What has been given him makes me complete, as it does him. God's love gave me to my brother, and him to me, because God gave Himself to us. What is the same as God is one with Him, with the hope of peace in sight at last. Only specialness could make the truth that God and we are one, seem anything but Heaven.

23. Any gift of love that has the seal of specialness on it offers only treachery to the giver and the receiver. Any relationship that holds dear the purpose of specialness clings to murder as safety's weapon. Each believer in its power serves it faithfully, seeking for bargains and for compromise that would establish sin as the substitute for love. It is the great defender of all illusions from the "threat" of love. Specialness is the seal of treachery upon the gift of love, where veiled eyes look upon sights of death.

24. The hope of specialness makes it seem possible that God made the body as the prison-house which keeps His Son from Him. For specialness demands a special place where God cannot enter, and a hiding-place where none is welcome but my tiny self. Everything here is sacred only unto me and me alone, apart and separate from all my brothers, safe from all intrusions of sanity upon illusions, safe from God, and safe for everlasting conflict. Here, I closed the gates of hell upon myself, to rule my special kingdom in madness and in loneliness, apart from God, away from truth, and away from my salvation.

25. The key I threw away God gave to my brother, whose holy hands would offer it to me when I am ready to accept God's plan for my salvation, instead of mine. This readiness could only be reached through the experience of all my misery, and the awareness that my plan has failed to bring me peace and joy of any kind, and will fail forever. I travel through this despair now, yet it is only an illusion of despair. The death of specialness is not my death, but my awakening into life eternal. I emerge from an illusion of what I am, to the acceptance of myself as God created me.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5641662Fri, 13 Feb 2015 15:58:05 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-24.3-Treachery of Specialness.2 19. I will think of the loveliness that I will see in myself, when I have looked on my brother as a friend. He is the enemy of my specialness, but only a friend to what is real in me. The attack I thought I...
19. I will think of the loveliness that I will see in myself, when I have looked on my brother as a friend. He is the enemy of my specialness, but only a friend to what is real in me. The attack I thought I made on him did not take away the gift that God would have him give to me. His need to give it is as great as mine to have it. I let him forgive me all my specialness, making me whole, one in mind with him. He waits for my forgiveness so he can return it back to me. It is not God, but only me, who has condemned God's Son, in order to save the Son's specialness and kill his divine Self.

20. I have come too far along the way of truth to falter now. Just one more step and every remnant of the fear of God will melt away in love. Mine and my brother's specialness are enemies, denying they are the same, and bound to kill each other in hate. God and His Heaven seem remote and unreachable to the illusions of ourselves that have reached this final obstacle. However, here in this holy place, truth stands waiting to receive us both with silent blessing. I leave all illusions of myself outside this place, and come in honesty and hope. Outside this real and all encompassing peace, there is nothing.

21. The savior from my specialness is here. He needs my acceptance of him as part of myself, and I need the same acceptance from him. We are like to God as God is like to Himself. God is not special, for He would not keep any part of what He is for Himself alone, but gives all He is to His Son. He willed His Son be like Him. So, my brother is not special, like myself, and possesses everything, including myself. And it is this I fear.

22. Let me remember that God gave Himself to both of us in equal love, that we might share the universe with Him. God chose that love could never be divided and kept separate from what it is and will be forever. I will give to my brother only what he has. I am my brother's, for a part of love was not denied to him. I have no loss because he is complete. What has been given him makes me complete, as it does him. God's love gave me to my brother, and him to me, because God gave Himself to us. What is the same as God is one with Him, with the hope of peace in sight at last. Only specialness could make the truth that God and we are one, seem anything but Heaven.

23. Any gift of love that has the seal of specialness on it offers only treachery to the giver and the receiver. Any relationship that holds dear the purpose of specialness clings to murder as safety's weapon. Each believer in its power serves it faithfully, seeking for bargains and for compromise that would establish sin as the substitute for love. It is the great defender of all illusions from the "threat" of love. Specialness is the seal of treachery upon the gift of love, where veiled eyes look upon sights of death.

24. The hope of specialness makes it seem possible that God made the body as the prison-house which keeps His Son from Him. For specialness demands a special place where God cannot enter, and a hiding-place where none is welcome but my tiny self. Everything here is sacred only unto me and me alone, apart and separate from all my brothers, safe from all intrusions of sanity upon illusions, safe from God, and safe for everlasting conflict. Here, I closed the gates of hell upon myself, to rule my special kingdom in madness and in loneliness, apart from God, away from truth, and away from my salvation.

25. The key I threw away God gave to my brother, whose holy hands would offer it to me when I am ready to accept God's plan for my salvation, instead of mine. This readiness could only be reached through the experience of all my misery, and the awareness that my plan has failed to bring me peace and joy of any kind, and will fail forever. I travel through this despair now, yet it...]]>508acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-24-3-treachery-of-specialness-1
12. Specialness always makes comparisons. It is established by a lack seen in another, and maintained by searching for and keeping in clear sight all lacks it can perceive. Specialness seeks and looks on this. Comparison is an ego device, for love makes no comparisons. And always, the one it diminishes would be my savior, if I had not chosen to make him a tiny measure of my specialness instead. Against the littleness I see in him, I stand tall and stately, clean and honest, pure and unsullied by comparison with what I see in him. I do not understand that it is myself I diminish.

13. I cannot attack my savior, and recognize his strong support. I cannot detract from his omnipotence and still share his power. And I cannot use him as the measure of littleness, and be released from limits myself. The pursuit of specialness must bring me pain. Here is a goal that runs counter to the Will of God and wills to defeat salvation. To value specialness is to follow this alien will, where illusions of myself are loved more than the truth. The loss of peace is the cost of pursuing specialness. But, pursuit of my function in salvation will bring me joy.

14. Specialness is the idea of sin made real. Sin is impossible even to imagine without this base. For sin arose from specialness out of nothingness, an evil flower with no roots at all. Here is the self-made "savior," the "creator" who creates unlike the Father, and which made God's Son like itself, and not like the Father. His "special" sons are many, never one, each in exile from Him of Whom they are a part, and from themselves. They do not love the Oneness Which created them as one with Him. They chose their specialness instead of Heaven, and instead of peace, and wrapped it carefully in sin to keep it "safe" from truth.

15. I am not special. If I think I am special, and defend my specialness against the truth of what I am, then I cannot know the truth. Nothing that the Holy Spirit gives can reach me, for I listen to my specialness, which asks and answers its own questions. Its tiny answer is all I hear. Yet, there is a melody that pours from God to me eternally, a vast song of honor and loving praise for what I am, which makes the voice of specialness soundless. I strain my ears to hear the voice of specialness, and yet the Call of God Himself is soundless to me.

16. The two voices speak different languages, and they are heard by different ears. To each special one a different message with a different meaning, is given as the truth. Yet, how can truth be different for each one? The special messages that the special hear convince them they are different and apart--each in his special sins, "safe" from love. But love does not see specialness at all. Christ's vision is their "enemy," for it does not see what they would see. It would show them that the specialness they think they see is an illusion. They can defend their specialness, but they will never hear the Voice for God beside it. What could they see instead of specialness?

17. They could see the shining radiance of the Son of God, so like his Father that the memory of the Father springs instantly to mind. And with this memory, the Son remembers his own creations, as like to him as he is to his Father. And all the world he made, and all his specialness, and all the sins he held in defense against himself, will vanish as his mind accepts the truth about himself as truth returns. This is the only cost of truth: I will no longer see what never was, nor hear what makes no sound. It is no sacrifice to give up nothing and to receive the love of God forever.

18. I who have chained my savior to my specialness, and given his place to it, must remember this: He has not lost the power to forgive me all the sins I think I placed between him and the function of salvation given him for me. Nor will I change his function, any more than I can change the truth in him and in myself. But I am certain that the truth is just the same in both. Truth does not give different messages and has only one meaning. And it is a meaning we both can understand, and which brings release to both of us. Here stands my brother with the key to Heaven in his hand held out to me. I will not let the dream of specialness remain between us. What is one is joined in truth.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5632617Wed, 11 Feb 2015 14:26:03 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-24.3-Treachery of Specialness.1 12. Specialness always makes comparisons. It is established by a lack seen in another, and maintained by searching for and keeping in clear sight all lacks it can perceive. Specialness seeks and looks on...
12. Specialness always makes comparisons. It is established by a lack seen in another, and maintained by searching for and keeping in clear sight all lacks it can perceive. Specialness seeks and looks on this. Comparison is an ego device, for love makes no comparisons. And always, the one it diminishes would be my savior, if I had not chosen to make him a tiny measure of my specialness instead. Against the littleness I see in him, I stand tall and stately, clean and honest, pure and unsullied by comparison with what I see in him. I do not understand that it is myself I diminish.

13. I cannot attack my savior, and recognize his strong support. I cannot detract from his omnipotence and still share his power. And I cannot use him as the measure of littleness, and be released from limits myself. The pursuit of specialness must bring me pain. Here is a goal that runs counter to the Will of God and wills to defeat salvation. To value specialness is to follow this alien will, where illusions of myself are loved more than the truth. The loss of peace is the cost of pursuing specialness. But, pursuit of my function in salvation will bring me joy.

14. Specialness is the idea of sin made real. Sin is impossible even to imagine without this base. For sin arose from specialness out of nothingness, an evil flower with no roots at all. Here is the self-made "savior," the "creator" who creates unlike the Father, and which made God's Son like itself, and not like the Father. His "special" sons are many, never one, each in exile from Him of Whom they are a part, and from themselves. They do not love the Oneness Which created them as one with Him. They chose their specialness instead of Heaven, and instead of peace, and wrapped it carefully in sin to keep it "safe" from truth.

15. I am not special. If I think I am special, and defend my specialness against the truth of what I am, then I cannot know the truth. Nothing that the Holy Spirit gives can reach me, for I listen to my specialness, which asks and answers its own questions. Its tiny answer is all I hear. Yet, there is a melody that pours from God to me eternally, a vast song of honor and loving praise for what I am, which makes the voice of specialness soundless. I strain my ears to hear the voice of specialness, and yet the Call of God Himself is soundless to me.

16. The two voices speak different languages, and they are heard by different ears. To each special one a different message with a different meaning, is given as the truth. Yet, how can truth be different for each one? The special messages that the special hear convince them they are different and apart--each in his special sins, "safe" from love. But love does not see specialness at all. Christ's vision is their "enemy," for it does not see what they would see. It would show them that the specialness they think they see is an illusion. They can defend their specialness, but they will never hear the Voice for God beside it. What could they see instead of specialness?

17. They could see the shining radiance of the Son of God, so like his Father that the memory of the Father springs instantly to mind. And with this memory, the Son remembers his own creations, as like to him as he is to his Father. And all the world he made, and all his specialness, and all the sins he held in defense against himself, will vanish as his mind accepts the truth about himself as truth returns. This is the only cost of truth: I will no longer see what never was, nor hear what makes no sound. It is no sacrifice to give up nothing and to receive the love of God forever.

18. I who have chained my savior to my specialness, and given his place to it, must remember this: He has not lost the power to forgive me all the sins I think I placed between him and the function of salvation given...]]>559acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-24-2-specialness-sub-for-love
3. Love is extension. To give the smallest gift is to know love's purpose. Love offers everything forever. Hold back only one belief, one offering, and love is gone, because I asked a substitute to take its place. The substitute for peace is war. War comes with the alternative that I choose for love. And choosing the alternative gives it all the reality it seems to have.

4. Conflicting outcomes are impossible, so beliefs will never openly attack each other. But an unrecognized belief is a decision to war in secret, where the results of conflict are kept hidden, never brought to reason to be considered sensible or not. And many senseless outcomes have been reached, and meaningless decisions have been made and kept hidden to become beliefs, now given power to influence all subsequent decisions. These hidden warriors have the power to disrupt my peace. While I decide to keep the belief, my peace is at their mercy. My smallest decision to choose attack instead of love calls forth these secret enemies. They are swift to challenge me to combat and to violence far more inclusive than I realize. I must not deny their presence nor their terrible results. All that can be denied is their reality.

5. The special are different from their brothers, so only they could have enemies. Their differences make orders of reality, and also the need to judge. Specialness is cherished as a hidden belief, unrecognized yet defended. This takes many forms, but it always clashes with the reality of God's creation, and with the grandeur He gave His Son.

6. Differences call for judgment from "above"--someone "better," different from what he judges, and sinless by comparison. Specialness becomes a means and an end at the same time. For it separates, and is grounds for attack as "natural" and "just", on those who seem beneath the special one. The special ones feel weak because of differences, for what would make them special is their enemy. Yet they protect and call it "friend", and nothing in the world they value more. Yet, what God created cannot be attacked, for everything in the universe is alike. Who could hate someone whose Self is his, and who knows God?

7. Specialness is the great dictator of wrong decisions. This is the grand illusion of what I am and what my brother is, and it makes the body dear and worth preserving. So the body must be defended, for illusions can, and do attack specialness and the body. For me to keep my specialness, my brother must become "worse" than me, and be attacked so my specialness can live on his defeat. My brother cannot live with all my sins upon him, and I am his conquerer. My specialness is triumphant.

8. Specialness can never share, for it depends on goals that only I can reach. And my brother must never reach them, or my goal is jeopardized. If I were like him, it would not be possible for me to hate my brother. I could not attack him if I realized we journey together to the same goal. I would help him to reach it in every way I could, for his attainment of the goal is perceived as mine. I am his friend in a shared purpose. But I am his enemy in specialness. Love can have no meaning where the goal is triumph. Any decision made for triumph will hurt me. My brother is my friend because his Father created him like me. There is no difference. We have been given to each other that love might be extended, and not cut off from one another. God gave Himself to both of us. Remembering this now is the only purpose that we share, and the only purpose we have.

9. I will consider what makes me give only partial welcome to my brother, or lets me think we are better off apart. We couldn't attack each other if we chose not to see any kind of specialness between us. We always believe that our specialness is limited by our relationship. And this is the "enemy" that makes us both illusions to each other.

10. Every seeming insult, judgement, or slight, changes the perspective of the special. The fear of God and of each other comes from all unrecognized beliefs in specialness. For we demand that each other bow to our specialness against his will. Every twinge of malice, stab of hate, or wish to separate arises here. Here our shared purpose becomes obscured. We would oppose this course because it teaches us we are alike. Yet, we have no purpose that is not the same, and that our Father shares with us. For our relationship has been made clean of special goals, and we would not defeat the goal of holiness that Heaven gave it.

11. There can never be peace among the different. Those who are special must defend their illusions against the truth, for specialness is an attack upon the Will of God. While I defend against him, I do not love my brother. My specialness is what he attacks and I protect. This is the battle we are in against each other. Here my brother is my enemy, not my friend. Yet, he is my friend, because in truth we are the same.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5620350Sun, 08 Feb 2015 19:05:08 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-24.2-Specialness, a Sub. for Love 3. Love is extension. To give the smallest gift is to know love's purpose. Love offers everything forever. Hold back only one belief, one offering, and love is gone, because I asked a substitute to take its...
3. Love is extension. To give the smallest gift is to know love's purpose. Love offers everything forever. Hold back only one belief, one offering, and love is gone, because I asked a substitute to take its place. The substitute for peace is war. War comes with the alternative that I choose for love. And choosing the alternative gives it all the reality it seems to have.

4. Conflicting outcomes are impossible, so beliefs will never openly attack each other. But an unrecognized belief is a decision to war in secret, where the results of conflict are kept hidden, never brought to reason to be considered sensible or not. And many senseless outcomes have been reached, and meaningless decisions have been made and kept hidden to become beliefs, now given power to influence all subsequent decisions. These hidden warriors have the power to disrupt my peace. While I decide to keep the belief, my peace is at their mercy. My smallest decision to choose attack instead of love calls forth these secret enemies. They are swift to challenge me to combat and to violence far more inclusive than I realize. I must not deny their presence nor their terrible results. All that can be denied is their reality.

5. The special are different from their brothers, so only they could have enemies. Their differences make orders of reality, and also the need to judge. Specialness is cherished as a hidden belief, unrecognized yet defended. This takes many forms, but it always clashes with the reality of God's creation, and with the grandeur He gave His Son.

6. Differences call for judgment from "above"--someone "better," different from what he judges, and sinless by comparison. Specialness becomes a means and an end at the same time. For it separates, and is grounds for attack as "natural" and "just", on those who seem beneath the special one. The special ones feel weak because of differences, for what would make them special is their enemy. Yet they protect and call it "friend", and nothing in the world they value more. Yet, what God created cannot be attacked, for everything in the universe is alike. Who could hate someone whose Self is his, and who knows God?

7. Specialness is the great dictator of wrong decisions. This is the grand illusion of what I am and what my brother is, and it makes the body dear and worth preserving. So the body must be defended, for illusions can, and do attack specialness and the body. For me to keep my specialness, my brother must become "worse" than me, and be attacked so my specialness can live on his defeat. My brother cannot live with all my sins upon him, and I am his conquerer. My specialness is triumphant.

8. Specialness can never share, for it depends on goals that only I can reach. And my brother must never reach them, or my goal is jeopardized. If I were like him, it would not be possible for me to hate my brother. I could not attack him if I realized we journey together to the same goal. I would help him to reach it in every way I could, for his attainment of the goal is perceived as mine. I am his friend in a shared purpose. But I am his enemy in specialness. Love can have no meaning where the goal is triumph. Any decision made for triumph will hurt me. My brother is my friend because his Father created him like me. There is no difference. We have been given to each other that love might be extended, and not cut off from one another. God gave Himself to both of us. Remembering this now is the only purpose that we share, and the only purpose we have.

9. I will consider what makes me give only partial welcome to my brother, or lets me think we are better off apart. We couldn't attack each other if we chose not to see any kind of specialness between us. We...]]>577acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-24-1-intro-specialness-separation
1. I will not forget that the motivation for this course is the attainment and the keeping of the state of peace. Given this state, the mind is quiet, and the condition in which God is remembered is attained. It is not necessary to tell Him what to do. He will not fail. Where He can enter, He is there already. And can it be He cannot enter where He wills to be? Peace will be mine because it is His Will. Can you believe a shadow can hold back the Will that holds the universe secure? God does not wait upon illusions to let Him be Himself. No more His Son. They are. And no illusion that idly seems to drift between them has the power to defeat what is Their Will.

2. To learn this course requires willingness to question every value that I hold. Only one value kept hidden and obscure will jeopardize my learning. No belief is neutral. Every belief has the power to dictate each decision I make. For a decision is a conclusion based on everything that I believe. A decision is the outcome of belief, and follows belief as surely as suffering follows guilt and freedom follows sinlessness. There is no substitute for peace. What God creates has no alternative. The truth arises from what He knows. And my decisions come from my beliefs, as certainly as all creation rose in His mind because of what He knows.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5617861Sun, 08 Feb 2015 03:25:57 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-24.1-Intro-Specialness/Separation 1. I will not forget that the motivation for this course is the attainment and the keeping of the state of peace. Given this state, the mind is quiet, and the condition in which God is remembered is...
1. I will not forget that the motivation for this course is the attainment and the keeping of the state of peace. Given this state, the mind is quiet, and the condition in which God is remembered is attained. It is not necessary to tell Him what to do. He will not fail. Where He can enter, He is there already. And can it be He cannot enter where He wills to be? Peace will be mine because it is His Will. Can you believe a shadow can hold back the Will that holds the universe secure? God does not wait upon illusions to let Him be Himself. No more His Son. They are. And no illusion that idly seems to drift between them has the power to defeat what is Their Will.

2. To learn this course requires willingness to question every value that I hold. Only one value kept hidden and obscure will jeopardize my learning. No belief is neutral. Every belief has the power to dictate each decision I make. For a decision is a conclusion based on everything that I believe. A decision is the outcome of belief, and follows belief as surely as suffering follows guilt and freedom follows sinlessness. There is no substitute for peace. What God creates has no alternative. The truth arises from what He knows. And my decisions come from my beliefs, as certainly as all creation rose in His mind because of what He knows.]]>160acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-23-5-the-fear-of-life
47. What is not loving must be attack. What is not love is murder. Every illusion is an assault on the truth, and every illusion does violence to the idea of love, for the illusion seems to be equal to the truth. God remains the only place of safety, for there is no attack in Him. And no form of illusion stalks Heaven, for Heaven is wholly true. No differences enter there, and what is all the same cannot conflict. I am not asked to fight against my wish to murder. But I am asked to realize, that concealed in the form my wish takes, is the same intent. And it is this intent I fear, and not the form. The fear of God is not the fear of death, but the fear of life.

48. Murder and love are incompatible. Yet if both are true, then they must be the same as one another. To those who see God's Son as a body, love and murder will both seem to be true. However, nothing can be different, yet equal to the truth. It is not the body that is the Son's Creator. A body cannot be extended to hold the universe. A body cannot also be what it creates. And a body cannot offer to its creations all that it is, without suffering loss. And what is lifeless cannot be the Son of Life.

49. Creation is the means for God's extension, and Gods creation must be the Son's creation as well. What is the same has the same function. To create is God's function, and God gave the function to create to His Son, not to a body. Either the Father and the Son are murderers or neither is. Life, creating like itself, does not make death. It is not sinful to believe the Son's function is murder, but it is insanity.

50. The light of our relationship is like the love of God. Yet, our relationship cannot carry out the holy function that God gave to His Son. Our forgiveness of one another is not complete, and so the healing miracles cannot be extended to all creation. Each form of attack / murder that still attracts us, and we do not recognize it for what it is, limits our power to extend love to all. Yet, the Holy Spirit can increase our little gifts, making them mighty. Now, our purpose is to overlook the battleground, to realize that murder in any form is not our will. The Holy Spirit knows how our relationship can be raised above the battleground, in it no more.

51. We will be lifted up, and from a higher place look down on the battleground. From there our perspective will be quite different. Here in the midst of battle, it does seem very real. Here we have chosen to be part of the battle, and murder is our choice. Yet, from above, the choice is miracles. And the perspective coming from this choice shows us the battle is not real and easily escaped. Bodies may battle, but the clash of forms is meaningless. We cannot engage in a battle when we perceive it as nothing. And the battle is over when we realize it never began. If murder is not our choice, the truth of miracles must be recognized.

52. I know the signs that come with the temptation to attack, making my mind dark and murderous, even in forms I do not recognize. There is a stab of pain, a twinge of guilt, and above all, the loss of peace. I know these signs. When they occur, I must not leave my place on high, but quickly choose a miracle. God Himself and all the lights of Heaven will gently lean to me and hold me up. For I have chosen to remain with Him, and no illusion can attack the peace of God and His Son together.

53. Only a purpose unifies, and those who share a purpose are of one mind. The body has no purpose and is solitary. Only bodies can attack and murder, and if this is my purpose, then I must be one with bodies. The body stands between God's Son and Heaven, but it has no purpose. I must not see anyone from the battleground. I would be looking on him from nowhere. For there is no reference point where meaning can be given to what I see. This cannot be overcome from within the battle. Only from above, the limits on those in battle are not perceived. The limits are gone.

54. I think of what is given to those who share their Father's purpose, and know it's their purpose! They want for nothing. Sorrow of any kind is inconceivable. Only the light of love is in their awareness, and only love shines on them forever. Love is their past, their present, and their future, always the same, eternally complete, and wholly shared. They know it is impossible that their happiness could change to suffering of any kind. Perhaps, I think I can win something on the battleground. However, it could never offer me the deep quiet love, with perfect, eternal calmness and certainty, that is Heaven.

55. Those with the strength of God in their awareness could never think of battle. They would only lose their perfection. For everything fought for on the battleground is of the body, something the body seems to offer or to own. From the quiet sphere above the battleground the senselessness of conquest is quite apparent. The body is wanted more but offers less. One who knows that he has everything could not value the body's offerings or want the limitation. With the love of God upholding him, each one could find the choice of miracles easy to make.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5606423Thu, 05 Feb 2015 17:34:06 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-23.5-The Fear of Life 47. What is not loving must be attack. What is not love is murder. Every illusion is an assault on the truth, and every illusion does violence to the idea of love, for the illusion seems to be equal to the truth....
47. What is not loving must be attack. What is not love is murder. Every illusion is an assault on the truth, and every illusion does violence to the idea of love, for the illusion seems to be equal to the truth. God remains the only place of safety, for there is no attack in Him. And no form of illusion stalks Heaven, for Heaven is wholly true. No differences enter there, and what is all the same cannot conflict. I am not asked to fight against my wish to murder. But I am asked to realize, that concealed in the form my wish takes, is the same intent. And it is this intent I fear, and not the form. The fear of God is not the fear of death, but the fear of life.

48. Murder and love are incompatible. Yet if both are true, then they must be the same as one another. To those who see God's Son as a body, love and murder will both seem to be true. However, nothing can be different, yet equal to the truth. It is not the body that is the Son's Creator. A body cannot be extended to hold the universe. A body cannot also be what it creates. And a body cannot offer to its creations all that it is, without suffering loss. And what is lifeless cannot be the Son of Life.

49. Creation is the means for God's extension, and Gods creation must be the Son's creation as well. What is the same has the same function. To create is God's function, and God gave the function to create to His Son, not to a body. Either the Father and the Son are murderers or neither is. Life, creating like itself, does not make death. It is not sinful to believe the Son's function is murder, but it is insanity.

50. The light of our relationship is like the love of God. Yet, our relationship cannot carry out the holy function that God gave to His Son. Our forgiveness of one another is not complete, and so the healing miracles cannot be extended to all creation. Each form of attack / murder that still attracts us, and we do not recognize it for what it is, limits our power to extend love to all. Yet, the Holy Spirit can increase our little gifts, making them mighty. Now, our purpose is to overlook the battleground, to realize that murder in any form is not our will. The Holy Spirit knows how our relationship can be raised above the battleground, in it no more.

51. We will be lifted up, and from a higher place look down on the battleground. From there our perspective will be quite different. Here in the midst of battle, it does seem very real. Here we have chosen to be part of the battle, and murder is our choice. Yet, from above, the choice is miracles. And the perspective coming from this choice shows us the battle is not real and easily escaped. Bodies may battle, but the clash of forms is meaningless. We cannot engage in a battle when we perceive it as nothing. And the battle is over when we realize it never began. If murder is not our choice, the truth of miracles must be recognized.

52. I know the signs that come with the temptation to attack, making my mind dark and murderous, even in forms I do not recognize. There is a stab of pain, a twinge of guilt, and above all, the loss of peace. I know these signs. When they occur, I must not leave my place on high, but quickly choose a miracle. God Himself and all the lights of Heaven will gently lean to me and hold me up. For I have chosen to remain with Him, and no illusion can attack the peace of God and His Son together.

53. Only a purpose unifies, and those who share a purpose are of one mind. The body has no purpose and is solitary. Only bodies can attack and murder, and if this is my purpose, then I must be one with bodies. The body stands between God's Son and Heaven, but it has no purpose. I must not see anyone from the battleground. I would be looking on him from nowhere. For there is no reference point where meaning can be given to...]]>601acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-23-4-salvation-without-compromise
41. I do not recognize some of the forms attack can take. I do not recognize the source of my pain. Attack in any form will hurt me as much as in a form I recognize. Attack in any form is equally destructive, and its purpose does not change. If the intent is death, it does not matter what form it takes. The only intent of attack is murder. Attack serves to cover the massive guilt, and frantic fear of punishment the murderer feels. If the intent is death, it does not matter what form attack takes. He may deny he is a murderer, justifying his savagery with smiles as he attacks. Yet, he will see his intent in nightmares, where the smiles are gone, and to his horrified awareness his purpose rises to pursue him. For the the thought of murder entails guilt that no one escapes.

42. Is death in any form, however lovely and charitable it may seem to be, a blessing and a sign the Voice for God speaks through me to my brother? The wrapping does not make the gift I give. An empty box, however beautiful and gently given, still contains nothing. And neither the receiver nor the giver is long deceived. Withhold forgiveness from my brother, and I attack him. I give him nothing and receive of him only what I gave.

43. Salvation is no compromise of any kind. To compromise is to accept only part of what I want, taking a little and giving up the rest. Salvation gives up nothing. It is complete for everyone. The awareness of salvation's purpose is lost because it is not recognized, if the idea of compromise enters. Salvation is denied where compromise has been accepted, for compromise is the belief salvation is impossible. Compromise would maintain I can attack a little, love a little, and know the difference. Thus compromise would teach that a little of the same can be different, and yet the same remain whole as one. This doesn't make sense, and cannot be understood.

44. This course is easy just because it makes no compromises. Forgiveness cannot be withheld a little. Nor is it possible to attack one, and love another, and understand forgiveness. It seems difficult to those who still believe that compromise is possible. They do not see that, if compromise is possible, salvation is attack. It is certain the belief that salvation is impossible cannot uphold a quiet, calm assurance it has come. I want to recognize any form of assault on my peace. This is the only way it becomes possible that I keep sight of it. If I do not defend it, peace can be kept shining before my vision, forever clear and never out of sight.

45. Those who believe that peace can be defended, and that attack is justified on the behalf of peace, cannot perceive the peace that lies within them. How could they know? They accept forgiveness side by side with the belief that murder takes some forms by which their peace is saved. They are unwilling to accept the fact that their savage purpose is directed against themselves. No one unites with enemies nor is at one with them in purpose. And no one compromises with an enemy without hating him for what the enemy kept from him.

46. I will not mistake truce for peace, nor compromise for the escape from conflict. To be released from conflict means that it is over. There is no safety in a battleground. I have not lingered there just because the guns are silent for an instant. I can look down on it in safety from above and not be touched. But from within it, I can find no safety. No form that murder takes can offer safety. Not one illusion of protection stands against the faith in murder. Guilt cannot be absent from the battlefield. The body stands here, torn between the natural desire to communicate, and the unnatural intent to murder and to die. There is no war without attack. Not one tree left standing will shelter me. The door is open, I have left the battleground. I will not remain in conflict.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5593391Mon, 02 Feb 2015 17:37:47 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-23.4-Salvation Without Compromise 41. I do not recognize some of the forms attack can take. I do not recognize the source of my pain. Attack in any form will hurt me as much as in a form I recognize. Attack in any form is equally...
41. I do not recognize some of the forms attack can take. I do not recognize the source of my pain. Attack in any form will hurt me as much as in a form I recognize. Attack in any form is equally destructive, and its purpose does not change. If the intent is death, it does not matter what form it takes. The only intent of attack is murder. Attack serves to cover the massive guilt, and frantic fear of punishment the murderer feels. If the intent is death, it does not matter what form attack takes. He may deny he is a murderer, justifying his savagery with smiles as he attacks. Yet, he will see his intent in nightmares, where the smiles are gone, and to his horrified awareness his purpose rises to pursue him. For the the thought of murder entails guilt that no one escapes.

42. Is death in any form, however lovely and charitable it may seem to be, a blessing and a sign the Voice for God speaks through me to my brother? The wrapping does not make the gift I give. An empty box, however beautiful and gently given, still contains nothing. And neither the receiver nor the giver is long deceived. Withhold forgiveness from my brother, and I attack him. I give him nothing and receive of him only what I gave.

43. Salvation is no compromise of any kind. To compromise is to accept only part of what I want, taking a little and giving up the rest. Salvation gives up nothing. It is complete for everyone. The awareness of salvation's purpose is lost because it is not recognized, if the idea of compromise enters. Salvation is denied where compromise has been accepted, for compromise is the belief salvation is impossible. Compromise would maintain I can attack a little, love a little, and know the difference. Thus compromise would teach that a little of the same can be different, and yet the same remain whole as one. This doesn't make sense, and cannot be understood.

44. This course is easy just because it makes no compromises. Forgiveness cannot be withheld a little. Nor is it possible to attack one, and love another, and understand forgiveness. It seems difficult to those who still believe that compromise is possible. They do not see that, if compromise is possible, salvation is attack. It is certain the belief that salvation is impossible cannot uphold a quiet, calm assurance it has come. I want to recognize any form of assault on my peace. This is the only way it becomes possible that I keep sight of it. If I do not defend it, peace can be kept shining before my vision, forever clear and never out of sight.

45. Those who believe that peace can be defended, and that attack is justified on the behalf of peace, cannot perceive the peace that lies within them. How could they know? They accept forgiveness side by side with the belief that murder takes some forms by which their peace is saved. They are unwilling to accept the fact that their savage purpose is directed against themselves. No one unites with enemies nor is at one with them in purpose. And no one compromises with an enemy without hating him for what the enemy kept from him.

46. I will not mistake truce for peace, nor compromise for the escape from conflict. To be released from conflict means that it is over. There is no safety in a battleground. I have not lingered there just because the guns are silent for an instant. I can look down on it in safety from above and not be touched. But from within it, I can find no safety. No form that murder takes can offer safety. Not one illusion of protection stands against the faith in murder. Guilt cannot be absent from the battlefield. The body stands here, torn between the natural desire to communicate, and the unnatural intent to murder and to die. There is no war without attack. Not one tree left standing will shelter me. The door is open, I have...]]>476acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-23-3-the-laws-of-chaos-3
33. These do not seem to be the goals of chaos, for by that great reversal, they appear to be the laws of order. But chaos is lawlessness, and has no laws. Its seeming laws must be perceived as true to be believed. The goal of madness must be seen as sanity, as fear is lifted to the throne of love. Now, fear is the substitute for love, and the savior from salvation. The laws of fear make death appear lovely, and we give thanks to the hero on love's throne, who saved the Son of God for fear and death!

34. How can laws like these can be believed? There is a strange, yet simple device that compels belief in these laws. The function of this device is to emphasize form and disregard content. In dreams this function appears to have powerful effects where shadows play the major roles. Some forms seem to have a familiar meaning, but that is all. He who thinks that any one of the laws of chaos is true, cannot see what it says. This simple, strange device does not function at all in truth.

35. No attack, in any form, can be love. It doesn't matter what form it takes. No form of condemnation can be a blessing. I cannot find salvation by making my savior powerless. I cannot seek to harm and be saved. All forms of murder must mean death. The form of the attack on my brother will not deceive me. And no one finds safety by turning on himself. Anything that is intent on my destruction is not my friend. Condemning what it says it wants to save, judgment defeats itself. When madness takes a form I think is lovely, I will not be deceived.

36. I would maintain that I do not believe these senseless laws, and do not act upon them. They can't be believed when I look at what they say. Yet, I do believe them. For if I perceive the form, the content is there. This is not tenable. I believe the laws for the forms they take, not recognizing the content. The content never changes. I paint rosy lips on a skeleton, dress it in loveliness, pet and pamper it, making it live in my illusion.

*37. There is no life outside of Heaven. Where God created life, there it must be. In any state apart from Heaven, life is illusion. At best, it seems like life, at worst like death. Yet both judgments are inaccurate and have no meaning. Life is not possible outside of Heaven, and what is not in Heaven is not anywhere. Outside of Heaven is only the conflict of illusions, senseless, impossible, and beyond all reason. However, illusions are only forms, and their content is never true. Yet, this is perceived as an eternal barrier to Heaven.

38. The laws of chaos govern all illusions. Their forms must conflict, making it seem quite possible to value some above the others. Yet each and every form rests on the belief that the laws of chaos are true. The seeming gentler forms of attack are as sure in their witness and results as other forms of attack. It is sure that illusions bring fear, because they imply belief in illusions. And any form of faithlessness to love is a witness to the reality of chaos. I cannot be content with the illusory life that I am living.

*39. Faith in chaos must follow from the belief in sin. Because it follows, faith in chaos seems to be a logical conclusion, a valid step in ordered thought. The steps to chaos do follow neatly from their starting point, with each step being a different form in the progression of truth's reversal. Each step leads deeper into terror and away from truth. One step is not smaller than another, and return is not easier from one than from another. The whole descent from Heaven lies in each one. And where my thinking starts, there the descent must end.

40. I would not take one step into the descent to hell. For having taken one, the next will follow, and I will not recognize the rest for what they are. Attack in any form will place my foot upon the twisted stairway that leads from Heaven. Yet, at any instant it is possible for this to be undone. I can know quite easily whether I chose the stairs to Heaven or the way to hell by how I feel. If I am certain which way I go, am sure the goal of Heaven can be reached, and peace is in my awareness, I walk with the Holy Spirit. If not, I walk alone. I will ask my Friend to join with me, giving me the certainty of where I go.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5558312Tue, 27 Jan 2015 01:51:40 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-23.3-The Laws of Chaos.3 33. These do not seem to be the goals of chaos, for by that great reversal, they appear to be the laws of order. But chaos is lawlessness, and has no laws. Its seeming laws must be perceived as true to be believed....
33. These do not seem to be the goals of chaos, for by that great reversal, they appear to be the laws of order. But chaos is lawlessness, and has no laws. Its seeming laws must be perceived as true to be believed. The goal of madness must be seen as sanity, as fear is lifted to the throne of love. Now, fear is the substitute for love, and the savior from salvation. The laws of fear make death appear lovely, and we give thanks to the hero on love's throne, who saved the Son of God for fear and death!

34. How can laws like these can be believed? There is a strange, yet simple device that compels belief in these laws. The function of this device is to emphasize form and disregard content. In dreams this function appears to have powerful effects where shadows play the major roles. Some forms seem to have a familiar meaning, but that is all. He who thinks that any one of the laws of chaos is true, cannot see what it says. This simple, strange device does not function at all in truth.

35. No attack, in any form, can be love. It doesn't matter what form it takes. No form of condemnation can be a blessing. I cannot find salvation by making my savior powerless. I cannot seek to harm and be saved. All forms of murder must mean death. The form of the attack on my brother will not deceive me. And no one finds safety by turning on himself. Anything that is intent on my destruction is not my friend. Condemning what it says it wants to save, judgment defeats itself. When madness takes a form I think is lovely, I will not be deceived.

36. I would maintain that I do not believe these senseless laws, and do not act upon them. They can't be believed when I look at what they say. Yet, I do believe them. For if I perceive the form, the content is there. This is not tenable. I believe the laws for the forms they take, not recognizing the content. The content never changes. I paint rosy lips on a skeleton, dress it in loveliness, pet and pamper it, making it live in my illusion.

*37. There is no life outside of Heaven. Where God created life, there it must be. In any state apart from Heaven, life is illusion. At best, it seems like life, at worst like death. Yet both judgments are inaccurate and have no meaning. Life is not possible outside of Heaven, and what is not in Heaven is not anywhere. Outside of Heaven is only the conflict of illusions, senseless, impossible, and beyond all reason. However, illusions are only forms, and their content is never true. Yet, this is perceived as an eternal barrier to Heaven.

38. The laws of chaos govern all illusions. Their forms must conflict, making it seem quite possible to value some above the others. Yet each and every form rests on the belief that the laws of chaos are true. The seeming gentler forms of attack are as sure in their witness and results as other forms of attack. It is sure that illusions bring fear, because they imply belief in illusions. And any form of faithlessness to love is a witness to the reality of chaos. I cannot be content with the illusory life that I am living.

*39. Faith in chaos must follow from the belief in sin. Because it follows, faith in chaos seems to be a logical conclusion, a valid step in ordered thought. The steps to chaos do follow neatly from their starting point, with each step being a different form in the progression of truth's reversal. Each step leads deeper into terror and away from truth. One step is not smaller than another, and return is not easier from one than from another. The whole descent from Heaven lies in each one. And where my thinking starts, there the descent must end.

40. I would not take one step into the descent to hell. For having taken one, the next will follow, and I will not recognize the rest for what they are. Attack in any form will place my...]]>469acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-23-3-the-laws-of-chaos-2
26. There can be no release and no escape. Atonement becomes a myth, and vengeance, not forgiveness, is the Will of God. From where all this begins, there is no sight of help that can succeed. Only destruction can be the outcome. And God Himself seems to be siding with it to overcome His Son. The ego will not enable me to find escape from what it wants. That is the function of this course, which does not value what the ego cherishes.

27. The ego values only what it takes. (4) This leads to the fourth law of chaos, which, if the others are accepted, must be true. This seeming law is the belief I have what I have taken. By this, another's loss becomes my gain, and thus it fails to recognize that I can never take away save from myself. Yet all the other laws must lead to this. For enemies do not willingly give to one another, nor would they seek to share the things they value. And what my enemies would keep from me must be worth having, just because they keep it hidden from my sight.

28. All of the mechanisms of madness are seen emerging here: the "enemy", made strong by keeping hidden the valuable inheritance which should be mine; my justified position and attack for what has been withheld; and the inevitable loss the enemy must suffer to save myself. Thus do the guilty ones protest their "innocence". Were they not forced into this foul attack by the unscrupulous behavior of the enemy, they would respond only with kindness. But in a savage world, the kind cannot survive, so they must take or else be taken from.

29. And now there is a vague unanswered question, not yet "explained". What is this precious thing, this priceless pearl, this hidden secret treasure, to be wrested in righteous wrath from this most treacherous and cunning enemy? It must be what I want but never found. And now I "understand" the reason why I did not find it. For it was taken from me by this enemy and hidden where I would not think to look. He hid it in his body, making the body the cover for his guilt, the hiding place for what belongs to me. Now his body must be destroyed and sacrificed that I may have that which belongs to me. His treachery demands his death that I may live. And I attack only in defense.

30. But what is it I want that needs his death? Unless I know what it is for, can I be sure my murderous attack is justified? (5) And here a final principle of chaos comes to the rescue. It holds there is a substitute for love. This is the "magic" that will cure all of my pain, the missing factor in my madness that makes it "sane". This is the reason why I must attack. Here is what makes my vengeance justified. Behold, unveiled, the ego's secret gift, torn from my brother's body, hidden there in malice and in hatred for the one to whom the gift belongs. He would deprive me of the secret ingredient which would give meaning to my life. The substitute for love, born of our enmity to one another, must be salvation. It has no substitute, and there is only one. And the purpose of all my relationships is to grab this gift and make it my own.

31. But my possession is never complete. My brother will never stop attacking me for what I stole. And God in His madness must have this substitute for love and kill us both. I, who believe I walk in sanity, with feet on solid ground, and through a world where meaning can be found, must consider this: These are the laws on which my "sanity" appears to rest. These are the principles which make the ground beneath my feet seem solid. And it is here I look for meaning. These are the laws I made for my salvation. They hold in place the substitute for Heaven, which I prefer. They were made for this. This is their purpose. There is no point in asking what they mean, for it is apparent that the means of madness must be insane. However, I may not realize that the goal is madness.

32. No one wants madness, and no one clings to his madness if he sees what it is. The function of insanity is to take the place of truth. The belief that madness is true is what protects it. To be believed, madness must be seen as truth. And if madness is the truth, then truth must be madness now. This reversal serves the goal of the laws of chaos. Meanings are completely turned around. Madness is seen as sanity, illusions become true, attack is a kindness, with a benediction of hatred and murder. These are the means by which the laws of God appear to be reversed. Here the laws of sin appear to hold love captive, and let sin go freely.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5550810Sun, 25 Jan 2015 14:33:46 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-23.3-The Laws of Chaos.2 26. There can be no release and no escape. Atonement becomes a myth, and vengeance, not forgiveness, is the Will of God. From where all this begins, there is no sight of help that can succeed. Only destruction can...
26. There can be no release and no escape. Atonement becomes a myth, and vengeance, not forgiveness, is the Will of God. From where all this begins, there is no sight of help that can succeed. Only destruction can be the outcome. And God Himself seems to be siding with it to overcome His Son. The ego will not enable me to find escape from what it wants. That is the function of this course, which does not value what the ego cherishes.

27. The ego values only what it takes. (4) This leads to the fourth law of chaos, which, if the others are accepted, must be true. This seeming law is the belief I have what I have taken. By this, another's loss becomes my gain, and thus it fails to recognize that I can never take away save from myself. Yet all the other laws must lead to this. For enemies do not willingly give to one another, nor would they seek to share the things they value. And what my enemies would keep from me must be worth having, just because they keep it hidden from my sight.

28. All of the mechanisms of madness are seen emerging here: the "enemy", made strong by keeping hidden the valuable inheritance which should be mine; my justified position and attack for what has been withheld; and the inevitable loss the enemy must suffer to save myself. Thus do the guilty ones protest their "innocence". Were they not forced into this foul attack by the unscrupulous behavior of the enemy, they would respond only with kindness. But in a savage world, the kind cannot survive, so they must take or else be taken from.

29. And now there is a vague unanswered question, not yet "explained". What is this precious thing, this priceless pearl, this hidden secret treasure, to be wrested in righteous wrath from this most treacherous and cunning enemy? It must be what I want but never found. And now I "understand" the reason why I did not find it. For it was taken from me by this enemy and hidden where I would not think to look. He hid it in his body, making the body the cover for his guilt, the hiding place for what belongs to me. Now his body must be destroyed and sacrificed that I may have that which belongs to me. His treachery demands his death that I may live. And I attack only in defense.

30. But what is it I want that needs his death? Unless I know what it is for, can I be sure my murderous attack is justified? (5) And here a final principle of chaos comes to the rescue. It holds there is a substitute for love. This is the "magic" that will cure all of my pain, the missing factor in my madness that makes it "sane". This is the reason why I must attack. Here is what makes my vengeance justified. Behold, unveiled, the ego's secret gift, torn from my brother's body, hidden there in malice and in hatred for the one to whom the gift belongs. He would deprive me of the secret ingredient which would give meaning to my life. The substitute for love, born of our enmity to one another, must be salvation. It has no substitute, and there is only one. And the purpose of all my relationships is to grab this gift and make it my own.

31. But my possession is never complete. My brother will never stop attacking me for what I stole. And God in His madness must have this substitute for love and kill us both. I, who believe I walk in sanity, with feet on solid ground, and through a world where meaning can be found, must consider this: These are the laws on which my "sanity" appears to rest. These are the principles which make the ground beneath my feet seem solid. And it is here I look for meaning. These are the laws I made for my salvation. They hold in place the substitute for Heaven, which I prefer. They were made for this. This is their purpose. There is no point in asking what they mean, for it is apparent that the means of madness must be insane. However, I may not realize that the goal...]]>547acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-23-3-the-laws-of-chaos-1
19. The "laws" of chaos can be brought to light, but not understood. Chaotic laws are hardly meaningful and therefore out of reason's sphere. Yet, they appear to constitute an obstacle to reason and to truth. We will look beyond them calmly, understanding what they are, and not believing what they say is true. It is important to understand what they are, because their purpose is to attack the truth and make it meaningless. These are the laws that rule the world we made. Yet, they govern nothing, and need not be broken, only observed, and gone beyond.

20. (1) The first chaotic law is that the truth is different for everyone. Like all these principles, this law maintains that each one is separate, and has a different set of thoughts which sets him apart from others. Those who hold different values seem to be unlike, and therefore enemies. This principle evolves from the belief that there is a hierarchy of illusions. Some illusions are more valuable, and are therefore truer. Each one establishes this hierarchy for himself, and feels justified in attacking what another values, to make his own values seem truer.

21. This law seems to interfere with the first principle of miracles, as it establishes degrees of truth among illusions. It appears as if some illusions are harder to overcome than others. It would be easy to understand that miracles apply to all of them, if we realized that they are all the same, being equally untrue. Errors of any kind can be corrected because they are untrue. No part of nothing can be more resistant to the truth than can another part. When brought to the truth, instead of to each other, errors disappear.

22. (2) The second law of chaos is that each one must sin, and deserves attack and death. This principle, closely related to the first, is the demand that errors call for punishment and not correction. The belief is that the Son of God can make mistakes that determine his inevitable destruction. The destruction of the one who makes the error places him beyond forgiveness and correction. What he has done is interpreted as an irrevocable sentence upon him, which even God Himself is powerless to overcome. Sin cannot be remitted. This law is dear indeed to every worshiper of sin.

23. We consider what this seems to do to the relationship between the Father and the Son. Now it appears that they can never again be one. Now they are different, and enemies. Now they must always be condemned, each by the other. And their relationship is one of opposition, just as the separate aspects of the Son meet only to conflict, and not to join. One becomes weak and defeated. And by his defeat, the other becomes strong. And the fear of God, and of each other now appears sensible, the fear made real by what the Son of God has done to himself, and his Creator. Here, the arrogance on which the laws of chaos stand, is clearly apparent.

24. Here is a principle which would define what the Creator of reality must be, what He must think, what He must believe, and believing it, how He must respond. It is not even seen as necessary that He be asked about the truth of what has been established for His belief. His Son tells Him this, and He only has the choice whether to take the Son's word for it or be mistaken. This leads directly to (3) the third preposterous belief that seems to make chaos eternal. For if God cannot be mistaken, then God must accept the Son's belief and hate him for it.

25. I see how the fear of God is reinforced by this third principle. Now it is impossible to turn to God for help in misery. God has became the "enemy " Who caused the misery, and to Whom appeal is useless. Nor can salvation lie within the Son, whose every aspect seems to be at war with the Son and justified in its attack. Now conflict is inevitable and beyond the help of God. Salvation must remain impossible, because the savior has become the enemy.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5542434Fri, 23 Jan 2015 17:31:59 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-23.3-The Laws of Chaos.1 19. The "laws" of chaos can be brought to light, but not understood. Chaotic laws are hardly meaningful and therefore out of reason's sphere. Yet, they appear to constitute an obstacle to reason and to truth. We...
19. The "laws" of chaos can be brought to light, but not understood. Chaotic laws are hardly meaningful and therefore out of reason's sphere. Yet, they appear to constitute an obstacle to reason and to truth. We will look beyond them calmly, understanding what they are, and not believing what they say is true. It is important to understand what they are, because their purpose is to attack the truth and make it meaningless. These are the laws that rule the world we made. Yet, they govern nothing, and need not be broken, only observed, and gone beyond.

20. (1) The first chaotic law is that the truth is different for everyone. Like all these principles, this law maintains that each one is separate, and has a different set of thoughts which sets him apart from others. Those who hold different values seem to be unlike, and therefore enemies. This principle evolves from the belief that there is a hierarchy of illusions. Some illusions are more valuable, and are therefore truer. Each one establishes this hierarchy for himself, and feels justified in attacking what another values, to make his own values seem truer.

21. This law seems to interfere with the first principle of miracles, as it establishes degrees of truth among illusions. It appears as if some illusions are harder to overcome than others. It would be easy to understand that miracles apply to all of them, if we realized that they are all the same, being equally untrue. Errors of any kind can be corrected because they are untrue. No part of nothing can be more resistant to the truth than can another part. When brought to the truth, instead of to each other, errors disappear.

22. (2) The second law of chaos is that each one must sin, and deserves attack and death. This principle, closely related to the first, is the demand that errors call for punishment and not correction. The belief is that the Son of God can make mistakes that determine his inevitable destruction. The destruction of the one who makes the error places him beyond forgiveness and correction. What he has done is interpreted as an irrevocable sentence upon him, which even God Himself is powerless to overcome. Sin cannot be remitted. This law is dear indeed to every worshiper of sin.

23. We consider what this seems to do to the relationship between the Father and the Son. Now it appears that they can never again be one. Now they are different, and enemies. Now they must always be condemned, each by the other. And their relationship is one of opposition, just as the separate aspects of the Son meet only to conflict, and not to join. One becomes weak and defeated. And by his defeat, the other becomes strong. And the fear of God, and of each other now appears sensible, the fear made real by what the Son of God has done to himself, and his Creator. Here, the arrogance on which the laws of chaos stand, is clearly apparent.

24. Here is a principle which would define what the Creator of reality must be, what He must think, what He must believe, and believing it, how He must respond. It is not even seen as necessary that He be asked about the truth of what has been established for His belief. His Son tells Him this, and He only has the choice whether to take the Son's word for it or be mistaken. This leads directly to (3) the third preposterous belief that seems to make chaos eternal. For if God cannot be mistaken, then God must accept the Son's belief and hate him for it.

25. I see how the fear of God is reinforced by this third principle. Now it is impossible to turn to God for help in misery. God has became the "enemy " Who caused the misery, and to Whom appeal is useless. Nor can salvation lie within the Son, whose every aspect seems to be at war with the Son and justified in its attack. Now conflict is inevitable and beyond the help of God....]]>473acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-23-2-the-irreconcilable-beliefs-2
13. Truth does not fight against illusions, nor do illusions fight against the truth. Illusions battle only with themselves. Being fragmented, they fragment. One illusion about myself can battle with another, yet the war of two illusions is a state where nothing happens. There is no victor, and no victory. I will remember what I know, when I learn I cannot be in conflict. I will remember I am as God created me. Truth is indivisible, and far beyond the little reach of illusions. Truth stands radiant and quiet in the peace of God, untouched by conflict.

14. Conflict must be between two forces. It cannot exist between one power and nothing. I attack what is already part of me. And by attacking it, I make two illusions of myself in conflict with each other. This happens when I do not look with love on anything that God created. Conflict is the birth of fear, and it is fearful. I would not fill my world with conflicted illusions of myself. What is born of nothing cannot win reality through battle. I will let all this madness be undone for me, and turn, in the peace still shining in my quiet mind, to the remembrance of God.

15. I see how conflicting illusions disappear when brought to the truth! For illusion seems real only when it is seen as war between conflicting "truths". Thus conflict is the choice between illusions, the victor being crowned as more real and true. The loser is vanquished, despised as less real, and made an illusion by defeat. The Father will never be remembered here. Yet no illusion can invade His home and drive Him out of what He loves forever. And what He loves must be forever quiet and at peace, because it is His home. And we are no illusions who are beloved of Him, being as true and holy as Himself.

16. I open the door of His most holy home, and let forgiveness sweep away all traces of the belief in sin that keeps God, and His Son homeless. We are not strangers in the house of God. I welcome my brother to the home where God dwells with him in serenity and peace. We dwell in peace as limitless as its Creator, and everything is given those who would remember Him. Love abides here, protecting us from everything that is not true. The Holy Spirit watches over God's home, sure that its peace can never be disturbed, for Illusions have no place here. The stillness of our certainty of Him, and of ourselves, is home to both of us, who dwell as one and not apart.

17. How can the resting-place of God turn on itself and seek to overcome the One Who dwells there? I will think what happens when the house of God perceives itself divided. The altar disappears, the light grows dim, the temple of the Holy One becomes a house of sin. And nothing is remembered except illusions. Illusions can conflict because their forms are different. And they do battle only to establish which form is true.

18. The memory of God is obscured in minds that have become illusion's battleground. Illusion meets illusion. The meeting of illusions leads to war. War is the condition in which fear is born and grows and seeks to dominate. Yet, truth meets itself. Peace, looking on itself, extends itself. Peace is the state where love abides and seeks to share itself. Peace and conflict are opposites. Where one abides the other cannot be; where either goes the other disappears. Yet, when I side with peace, far beyond this senseless war, peace shines, ready to be remembered.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5526547Tue, 20 Jan 2015 15:24:19 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-23.2-The Irreconcilable Beliefs.2 13. Truth does not fight against illusions, nor do illusions fight against the truth. Illusions battle only with themselves. Being fragmented, they fragment. One illusion about myself can battle with...
13. Truth does not fight against illusions, nor do illusions fight against the truth. Illusions battle only with themselves. Being fragmented, they fragment. One illusion about myself can battle with another, yet the war of two illusions is a state where nothing happens. There is no victor, and no victory. I will remember what I know, when I learn I cannot be in conflict. I will remember I am as God created me. Truth is indivisible, and far beyond the little reach of illusions. Truth stands radiant and quiet in the peace of God, untouched by conflict.

14. Conflict must be between two forces. It cannot exist between one power and nothing. I attack what is already part of me. And by attacking it, I make two illusions of myself in conflict with each other. This happens when I do not look with love on anything that God created. Conflict is the birth of fear, and it is fearful. I would not fill my world with conflicted illusions of myself. What is born of nothing cannot win reality through battle. I will let all this madness be undone for me, and turn, in the peace still shining in my quiet mind, to the remembrance of God.

15. I see how conflicting illusions disappear when brought to the truth! For illusion seems real only when it is seen as war between conflicting "truths". Thus conflict is the choice between illusions, the victor being crowned as more real and true. The loser is vanquished, despised as less real, and made an illusion by defeat. The Father will never be remembered here. Yet no illusion can invade His home and drive Him out of what He loves forever. And what He loves must be forever quiet and at peace, because it is His home. And we are no illusions who are beloved of Him, being as true and holy as Himself.

16. I open the door of His most holy home, and let forgiveness sweep away all traces of the belief in sin that keeps God, and His Son homeless. We are not strangers in the house of God. I welcome my brother to the home where God dwells with him in serenity and peace. We dwell in peace as limitless as its Creator, and everything is given those who would remember Him. Love abides here, protecting us from everything that is not true. The Holy Spirit watches over God's home, sure that its peace can never be disturbed, for Illusions have no place here. The stillness of our certainty of Him, and of ourselves, is home to both of us, who dwell as one and not apart.

17. How can the resting-place of God turn on itself and seek to overcome the One Who dwells there? I will think what happens when the house of God perceives itself divided. The altar disappears, the light grows dim, the temple of the Holy One becomes a house of sin. And nothing is remembered except illusions. Illusions can conflict because their forms are different. And they do battle only to establish which form is true.

18. The memory of God is obscured in minds that have become illusion's battleground. Illusion meets illusion. The meeting of illusions leads to war. War is the condition in which fear is born and grows and seeks to dominate. Yet, truth meets itself. Peace, looking on itself, extends itself. Peace is the state where love abides and seeks to share itself. Peace and conflict are opposites. Where one abides the other cannot be; where either goes the other disappears. Yet, when I side with peace, far beyond this senseless war, peace shines, ready to be remembered.]]>416acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-23-2-the-irreconcilable-beliefs-1
7. The memory of God comes to the quiet mind. It cannot come where there is conflict, for a mind at war against itself does not remember eternal gentleness. The means of war are not the means of peace, and what the warlike would remember is not love. War is impossible unless belief in victory is cherished. Conflict within me must imply that I believe the ego has the power to be victorious. Why else would I identify with it? Surely I realize the ego is at war with God. The ego is certain it has no enemy. Yet, just as certain is its fixed belief that it has an enemy that it must, and will, successfully overcome.

8. I do realize a war against myself would be a war on God. Victory is not conceivable, and it is not a victory that I would want. If it were possible, the death of God would be my death, not victory. This is no war, only the mad belief the Will of God can be attacked and overthrown. I may identify with this belief, but it will never be more than madness. And fear will reign in madness and will seem to have replaced love there. This is the purpose of conflict. And the means seem real to those who think that it is possible. The ego always marches to defeat, because it thinks that triumph over me is possible, but God thinks otherwise.
9. I am certain it is impossible that God and the ego, or myself and the ego, will ever meet. I seem to meet and make my strange alliances on grounds that have no meaning. For my beliefs converge upon the body, the ego's chosen home, believing it is my home. The ego meets me at an error in my self-appraisal, a mistake. I join with an illusion of myself that I share with the ego. And yet illusions cannot join. They are nothing, and they are all the same. Their joining lies in nothingness. Two are as meaningless as one or a thousand. Being nothing, the ego joins with nothing. The victory it seeks is as meaningless as itself.

10. The war against ourselves is almost over. The journey's end is at the place of peace. I would now accept the peace offered me here. This "enemy" I fought as an intruder on my peace, is transformed here before my sight into the giver of my peace. My "enemy" was God Himself. All attack, triumph, and conflict of any kind, are all unknown to Him. He loves me perfectly, completely, and eternally. The Son of God at war with his Creator, is a condition as ridiculous as nature angrily roaring at the wind, proclaiming that the wind is not part of nature itself.

11. Nature could not possibly establish this and make it true. Nor is it up to me to say what shall be part of me and what is kept apart. The war against myself was waged to teach the Son of God that he is not himself and not his Father's Son. For him to believe this, the memory of his Father must be forgotten. It is forgotten in the body's life, and if I think I am a body, I will believe I have forgotten it. Yet truth can never be forgotten by truth, and I have not forgotten what I am. Only a strange illusion of myself, a wish to trump over what I am, does not remember.

12. The war against myself is only the battle of two illusions struggling to be different from each other, in the belief that the one which conquers will be true. They are not different from each other because both are not true. What made them is insane, and they remain part of what made them. And so it does not matter what form they take. Madness has no influence on reality, and holds out no menace to it. Illusions cannot threaten truth in any way, nor can they triumph over it. The reality which illusions deny is not a part of them. There is no conflict between illusions and the truth.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5507624Sat, 17 Jan 2015 14:47:39 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-23.2-The Irreconcilable Beliefs.1 7. The memory of God comes to the quiet mind. It cannot come where there is conflict, for a mind at war against itself does not remember eternal gentleness. The means of war are not the means of peace, and...
7. The memory of God comes to the quiet mind. It cannot come where there is conflict, for a mind at war against itself does not remember eternal gentleness. The means of war are not the means of peace, and what the warlike would remember is not love. War is impossible unless belief in victory is cherished. Conflict within me must imply that I believe the ego has the power to be victorious. Why else would I identify with it? Surely I realize the ego is at war with God. The ego is certain it has no enemy. Yet, just as certain is its fixed belief that it has an enemy that it must, and will, successfully overcome.

8. I do realize a war against myself would be a war on God. Victory is not conceivable, and it is not a victory that I would want. If it were possible, the death of God would be my death, not victory. This is no war, only the mad belief the Will of God can be attacked and overthrown. I may identify with this belief, but it will never be more than madness. And fear will reign in madness and will seem to have replaced love there. This is the purpose of conflict. And the means seem real to those who think that it is possible. The ego always marches to defeat, because it thinks that triumph over me is possible, but God thinks otherwise.
9. I am certain it is impossible that God and the ego, or myself and the ego, will ever meet. I seem to meet and make my strange alliances on grounds that have no meaning. For my beliefs converge upon the body, the ego's chosen home, believing it is my home. The ego meets me at an error in my self-appraisal, a mistake. I join with an illusion of myself that I share with the ego. And yet illusions cannot join. They are nothing, and they are all the same. Their joining lies in nothingness. Two are as meaningless as one or a thousand. Being nothing, the ego joins with nothing. The victory it seeks is as meaningless as itself.

10. The war against ourselves is almost over. The journey's end is at the place of peace. I would now accept the peace offered me here. This "enemy" I fought as an intruder on my peace, is transformed here before my sight into the giver of my peace. My "enemy" was God Himself. All attack, triumph, and conflict of any kind, are all unknown to Him. He loves me perfectly, completely, and eternally. The Son of God at war with his Creator, is a condition as ridiculous as nature angrily roaring at the wind, proclaiming that the wind is not part of nature itself.

11. Nature could not possibly establish this and make it true. Nor is it up to me to say what shall be part of me and what is kept apart. The war against myself was waged to teach the Son of God that he is not himself and not his Father's Son. For him to believe this, the memory of his Father must be forgotten. It is forgotten in the body's life, and if I think I am a body, I will believe I have forgotten it. Yet truth can never be forgotten by truth, and I have not forgotten what I am. Only a strange illusion of myself, a wish to trump over what I am, does not remember.

12. The war against myself is only the battle of two illusions struggling to be different from each other, in the belief that the one which conquers will be true. They are not different from each other because both are not true. What made them is insane, and they remain part of what made them. And so it does not matter what form they take. Madness has no influence on reality, and holds out no menace to it. Illusions cannot threaten truth in any way, nor can they triumph over it. The reality which illusions deny is not a part of them. There is no conflict between illusions and the truth.]]>476acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-23-1-intro-war-against-myself
1. Can I see that the opposite of sinlessness is weakness and frailty? Innocence is strength, and nothing else is strong. The sinless cannot fear, for sin of any kind is weakness. Attack would use a show of strength to cover frailty, but not conceal it, for how can the unreal be hidden? No one is strong who has an enemy, and no one can attack unless he thinks he has an enemy. The belief in weakness is therefore the belief in enemies, and weakness is not the Will of God. Being opposed to God's Will, weakness is God's "enemy", and God is feared as an opposing will.

2. This war against myself becomes strange indeed! I will believe that everything I use for sin can hurt me, and become my enemy. I will fight against it and try to weaken it because of this. And I will think that I have succeeded and attack again. I will fear what I attack as surely as I will love what I perceive as sinless. He walks in peace who travels sinlessly along the way love shows him. For love walks with him there, protecting him from fear. And he will see only the sinless, who cannot attack.

3. I walk in glory with my head held high, and fear no evil. The innocent are safe because they share their innocence. Nothing they see is harmful. For their awareness of the truth releases everything from the illusion of harmfulness. And what seemed harmful now stands shining in their innocence, released from sin and fear, and happily returned to love. They share the strength of love because they looked on innocence. And every error disappeared because they did not see it. Who looks for glory finds it where it is. Where could it be but in the innocent?

4. I will not let the little interferers pull me to littleness. There can be no attraction of guilt in innocence. I think what a happy world I walk with truth beside me! I would not give up this world of freedom for a little sigh of seeming sin, not for a tiny stirring of guilt's attraction. Would I lay Heaven aside for all these meaningless distractions? My destiny and purpose are far beyond them in the clean place where littleness does not exist. My purpose is at variance with littleness of any kind. And so it is at variance with sin.

5. We will not let littleness lead God's Son into temptation. His glory is beyond temptation, timeless and measureless as eternity. We will not let time intrude upon our sight of God's Son. We do not leave him frightened and alone in his temptation, but help him rise above it and perceive the light of which he is a part. Our innocence will light the way to his innocence, and so ours is protected and kept in our awareness. For who can know his glory and perceive the little and the weak about him? No one can walk trembling, in a fearful world, and realize that Heaven's glory shines on him.

6. Everything around me is part of myself. I look on it lovingly, and see the light of Heaven in it. So I will come to understand all that is given me. In kind forgiveness will the world sparkle and shine and everything I once thought sinful, now will be reinterpreted as part of Heaven. How beautiful it is to walk clean and redeemed and happy through a world in bitter need of the redemption that my innocence bestows upon it! What can I value more than this? For here is my salvation and my freedom. And it must be complete if I would recognize it.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5501812Fri, 16 Jan 2015 17:52:00 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-23.1-Intro.War Against Myself 1. Can I see that the opposite of sinlessness is weakness and frailty? Innocence is strength, and nothing else is strong. The sinless cannot fear, for sin of any kind is weakness. Attack would use a show of...
1. Can I see that the opposite of sinlessness is weakness and frailty? Innocence is strength, and nothing else is strong. The sinless cannot fear, for sin of any kind is weakness. Attack would use a show of strength to cover frailty, but not conceal it, for how can the unreal be hidden? No one is strong who has an enemy, and no one can attack unless he thinks he has an enemy. The belief in weakness is therefore the belief in enemies, and weakness is not the Will of God. Being opposed to God's Will, weakness is God's "enemy", and God is feared as an opposing will.

2. This war against myself becomes strange indeed! I will believe that everything I use for sin can hurt me, and become my enemy. I will fight against it and try to weaken it because of this. And I will think that I have succeeded and attack again. I will fear what I attack as surely as I will love what I perceive as sinless. He walks in peace who travels sinlessly along the way love shows him. For love walks with him there, protecting him from fear. And he will see only the sinless, who cannot attack.

3. I walk in glory with my head held high, and fear no evil. The innocent are safe because they share their innocence. Nothing they see is harmful. For their awareness of the truth releases everything from the illusion of harmfulness. And what seemed harmful now stands shining in their innocence, released from sin and fear, and happily returned to love. They share the strength of love because they looked on innocence. And every error disappeared because they did not see it. Who looks for glory finds it where it is. Where could it be but in the innocent?

4. I will not let the little interferers pull me to littleness. There can be no attraction of guilt in innocence. I think what a happy world I walk with truth beside me! I would not give up this world of freedom for a little sigh of seeming sin, not for a tiny stirring of guilt's attraction. Would I lay Heaven aside for all these meaningless distractions? My destiny and purpose are far beyond them in the clean place where littleness does not exist. My purpose is at variance with littleness of any kind. And so it is at variance with sin.

5. We will not let littleness lead God's Son into temptation. His glory is beyond temptation, timeless and measureless as eternity. We will not let time intrude upon our sight of God's Son. We do not leave him frightened and alone in his temptation, but help him rise above it and perceive the light of which he is a part. Our innocence will light the way to his innocence, and so ours is protected and kept in our awareness. For who can know his glory and perceive the little and the weak about him? No one can walk trembling, in a fearful world, and realize that Heaven's glory shines on him.

6. Everything around me is part of myself. I look on it lovingly, and see the light of Heaven in it. So I will come to understand all that is given me. In kind forgiveness will the world sparkle and shine and everything I once thought sinful, now will be reinterpreted as part of Heaven. How beautiful it is to walk clean and redeemed and happy through a world in bitter need of the redemption that my innocence bestows upon it! What can I value more than this? For here is my salvation and my freedom. And it must be complete if I would recognize it.]]>373acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-22-7-freedom-and-holy-spirit-2
58. We will see our value through each other's eyes. Each one is released, as he beholds his savior, instead of the attacker that he thought was there. All the world is released through this releasing as we fulfill our part in bringing peace. For we have asked, "What is our function here?", and have been answered. We will not seek to change our function nor substitute another goal. Only this one was given to us. We accept this one, and serve it willingly. For how the Holy Spirit uses the gifts we give each other, where and when and to whom He offers them, is up to Him. He will bestow them where they are received and welcomed. He will use every one of them for peace. Nor will one little smile or willingness to overlook the tiniest mistake be lost to anyone.

*59. For us to look with charity on what our Father loves, is a universal blessing. Extension of forgiveness is the Holy Spirit's function. We leave this to Him. Our only concern is that we give to Him that which can be extended. We will save no dark secrets that He cannot use, but offer to Him the tiny gifts that He can extend forever. He will bless them, not limiting them in any way. He will take each one, and make it into a potent force for peace. The Holy Spirit will join the gift with all the power that God has given Him, to make each little gift of love a source of healing for everyone. Each little gift we offer to the other lights up the world. We bless each other, and in each smile of confidence and faith, He gently lays our light. We will not be concerned with darkness. We look away from it, and toward each other. We let the darkness be dispelled by Him Who knows the light.

60. It is not humility that would deny the power of our will, but arrogance. We do not see what this denial and belief has done. We see ourselves as frail, vulnerable, easily destroyed, and at the mercy of attackers more powerful than we are. And this is the anchor that seems to keep the fear of God in place, solid, unmovable, and so it will seem to be while this belief remains. We will look straight at how this error came about, for the welfare of the world depends on our learning. Do we think the Will of God is powerless?

61. Who can attack the Son of God and not attack his Father? How can God's Son be weak and frail and easily destroyed unless his Father is also? I do not see that every sin and every condemnation which I perceive and justify, is an attack upon my Father. I think the Father and the Son are separate. I think the Father and the Son are separate, because of fear. I do not see that this is my attempt. It seems safer to attack another, or myself, than to attack the great Creator of the universe, whose power I know. And that is why the attack has not happened, nor could it be real.

62. Attack is unjustified in any form, because it has no meaning. If I recognized my oneness with God, I would know that His power is mine. But I will not remember this while I believe any kind of attack has any meaning. Attack could be justified if each one of us were separate from the other, and all were separate from our Creator. For only then would it be possible to attack a part of the creation without the whole, the Son without the Father, and to attack another without attacking myself, or hurt myself without the other feeling pain. And I want this belief. What is the value of this belief except the desire to attack in safety? Yet, attack is neither safe nor dangerous, it is impossible, because the universe is one. To choose attack, it is essential to see attack as separate from its maker. Then it seems as if love could attack and become fearful.

63. Only the different can attack. So I conclude because I can attack I must be different. Yet the Holy Spirit explain this differently. Because I am not different, I cannot attack. Either position is a logical conclusion--if only the different can attack. Either could be maintained, but never both. The only question to be answered to decide which must be true is whether I am different. From the position of what I understand, I seem to be different, and therefore can attack. Of the alternatives, this seems more natural and more in line with my experience. Therefore, it is necessary that I have other experiences more in line with truth, to teach me what is natural and true.

64. This is the function of my holy relationship. For what one thinks the other will experience with him. What can this mean except our minds are one? We will not look with fear upon this happy fact and think that it lays a heavy burden on us. For when we have accepted it with gladness, we will realize that our relationship is a reflection of the union of the Creator and His Son. From loving minds there is no separation. And every thought in one brings gladness to the other because they are the same. Joy is unlimited because each shining thought of love extends its being and creates more of itself. There is no difference anywhere in it for every thought is like itself.

65. The light that joins us shines throughout the universe, and because it joins us, it makes us one with our Creator. And in Him is all creation joined. I cannot fear alone, for our relationship also teaches the power of love is there, which makes all fear impossible. I will not attempt to keep a little of the ego with this gift. For the gift was given to me to be used and not obscured. The Holy Spirit denies the ego, and teaches me I cannot separate. Truth decides for me whether I am different or the same, and teaches me which is true.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5483805Wed, 14 Jan 2015 03:12:27 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-22.7-Freedom and Holy Spirit.2 58. We will see our value through each other's eyes. Each one is released, as he beholds his savior, instead of the attacker that he thought was there. All the world is released through this releasing as we...
58. We will see our value through each other's eyes. Each one is released, as he beholds his savior, instead of the attacker that he thought was there. All the world is released through this releasing as we fulfill our part in bringing peace. For we have asked, "What is our function here?", and have been answered. We will not seek to change our function nor substitute another goal. Only this one was given to us. We accept this one, and serve it willingly. For how the Holy Spirit uses the gifts we give each other, where and when and to whom He offers them, is up to Him. He will bestow them where they are received and welcomed. He will use every one of them for peace. Nor will one little smile or willingness to overlook the tiniest mistake be lost to anyone.

*59. For us to look with charity on what our Father loves, is a universal blessing. Extension of forgiveness is the Holy Spirit's function. We leave this to Him. Our only concern is that we give to Him that which can be extended. We will save no dark secrets that He cannot use, but offer to Him the tiny gifts that He can extend forever. He will bless them, not limiting them in any way. He will take each one, and make it into a potent force for peace. The Holy Spirit will join the gift with all the power that God has given Him, to make each little gift of love a source of healing for everyone. Each little gift we offer to the other lights up the world. We bless each other, and in each smile of confidence and faith, He gently lays our light. We will not be concerned with darkness. We look away from it, and toward each other. We let the darkness be dispelled by Him Who knows the light.

60. It is not humility that would deny the power of our will, but arrogance. We do not see what this denial and belief has done. We see ourselves as frail, vulnerable, easily destroyed, and at the mercy of attackers more powerful than we are. And this is the anchor that seems to keep the fear of God in place, solid, unmovable, and so it will seem to be while this belief remains. We will look straight at how this error came about, for the welfare of the world depends on our learning. Do we think the Will of God is powerless?

61. Who can attack the Son of God and not attack his Father? How can God's Son be weak and frail and easily destroyed unless his Father is also? I do not see that every sin and every condemnation which I perceive and justify, is an attack upon my Father. I think the Father and the Son are separate. I think the Father and the Son are separate, because of fear. I do not see that this is my attempt. It seems safer to attack another, or myself, than to attack the great Creator of the universe, whose power I know. And that is why the attack has not happened, nor could it be real.

62. Attack is unjustified in any form, because it has no meaning. If I recognized my oneness with God, I would know that His power is mine. But I will not remember this while I believe any kind of attack has any meaning. Attack could be justified if each one of us were separate from the other, and all were separate from our Creator. For only then would it be possible to attack a part of the creation without the whole, the Son without the Father, and to attack another without attacking myself, or hurt myself without the other feeling pain. And I want this belief. What is the value of this belief except the desire to attack in safety? Yet, attack is neither safe nor dangerous, it is impossible, because the universe is one. To choose attack, it is essential to see attack as separate from its maker. Then it seems as if love could attack and become fearful.

63. Only the different can attack. So I conclude because I can attack I must be different. Yet the Holy Spirit explain this differently. Because I am not different, I cannot...]]>645acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-22-7-freedom-and-holy-spirit-1
51. What do I value, freedom of the mind, or freedom of the body? I cannot have both. For one will be my goal, and the other the means to reach the goal. The means must serve the goal, and lead to its predominance. As the goal is reached, the means are seen as functionless. Everyone yearns for freedom, and will seek for it where he believes it can be found. Which one he chooses as his goal, mind or body, he will make the other serve his choice as means to reach it. This increases the importance of the goal, and diminishes the importance of the means.

52. Where freedom of the body has been chosen, the mind is used as means, whose value lies in its ability to contrive ways to achieve the body's freedom. Yet freedom of the body has no meaning, and so the mind is dedicated to serve illusions. This is a situation so contradictory and so impossible, that anyone who chooses the body as his goal has no idea of what is valuable. Yet, even in this confusion, so profound it cannot be described, the Holy Spirit waits in gentle patience, as certain of the outcome as He is sure of His Creator's love. He knows this mad decision was made by one as dear to His Creator as love is to itself.

53. I will not ask how the Holy Spirit can change the roles of goal and means so easily. Instead I would be grateful that I can be the means to serve His end. This is the only service which leads to freedom. To serve this end, the body must be perceived as sinless, because the goal is sinlessness. This lack of contradiction makes easy the transition from means to end in God's Creation. It is the shift from hate to gratitude, before forgiving eyes. We will be sanctified by one another, using our bodies only to serve the sinless. It would be impossible for us to hate what serves the goal of healing. God loves His Creation and would have us free forever.

54. This holy relationship, lovely in its innocence, mighty in strength, and blazing with a light far brighter than the sun I see in the sky, it is chosen of our Father as a means for His own plan. We are thankful that this holy relationship does not serve our plan at all. Everything given to His plan will be used, and nothing entrusted to it misused. This holy relationship has the power to heal all forms of pain. Healing lies only in our joint will, for neither of us alone can serve at all. Here we will accept Atonement and be healed. And the Sonship is healed because our wills are joined.

55. Before a holy relationship there is no sin. The form of error is no longer seen, and reason, joined with love, looks quietly on all confusion, observing merely, "This was a mistake." And then the same Atonement we accepted in our relationship corrects the error and lays a part of Heaven in its place. How blessed are we who let this gift be given! Each part of Heaven that we bring is given us. And every empty place in Heaven that we fill with the Eternal light we bring, shines now on us. The means of sinlessness can know no fear because they carry only love with them.

*56. As children of peace, the light has come to us. We do not recognize the light we bring, and yet we will remember. We cannot deny ourselves the vision that we bring to others. We must recognize the gift that is brought to Heaven through our vision. The gentle service that we give the Holy Spirit is service to ourselves. We who are now His means must love all that He loves. And what we bring is our remembrance of everything that is eternal. No trace of anything in time can long remain in minds that serve the timeless. And nothing can disturb the peace of a holy relationship, which serves as means of peace.

57. As we look upon each other with complete forgiveness, with nothing kept hidden, with no error excluded, we will be able to overlook any mistake anywhere. Suffering could not block our sight, preventing us from seeing past it. And we will recognize that all illusions are a mistake, a shadow through which we walk without fear. We recognize our wills are His, because we willingly serve His Will. God would not let anything interfere with those whose wills are His. And the remembrance of our true identity comes soon.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5469484Sun, 11 Jan 2015 18:10:36 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-22.7-Freedom and Holy Spirit.1 51. What do I value, freedom of the mind, or freedom of the body? I cannot have both. For one will be my goal, and the other the means to reach the goal. The means must serve the goal, and lead to its...
51. What do I value, freedom of the mind, or freedom of the body? I cannot have both. For one will be my goal, and the other the means to reach the goal. The means must serve the goal, and lead to its predominance. As the goal is reached, the means are seen as functionless. Everyone yearns for freedom, and will seek for it where he believes it can be found. Which one he chooses as his goal, mind or body, he will make the other serve his choice as means to reach it. This increases the importance of the goal, and diminishes the importance of the means.

52. Where freedom of the body has been chosen, the mind is used as means, whose value lies in its ability to contrive ways to achieve the body's freedom. Yet freedom of the body has no meaning, and so the mind is dedicated to serve illusions. This is a situation so contradictory and so impossible, that anyone who chooses the body as his goal has no idea of what is valuable. Yet, even in this confusion, so profound it cannot be described, the Holy Spirit waits in gentle patience, as certain of the outcome as He is sure of His Creator's love. He knows this mad decision was made by one as dear to His Creator as love is to itself.

53. I will not ask how the Holy Spirit can change the roles of goal and means so easily. Instead I would be grateful that I can be the means to serve His end. This is the only service which leads to freedom. To serve this end, the body must be perceived as sinless, because the goal is sinlessness. This lack of contradiction makes easy the transition from means to end in God's Creation. It is the shift from hate to gratitude, before forgiving eyes. We will be sanctified by one another, using our bodies only to serve the sinless. It would be impossible for us to hate what serves the goal of healing. God loves His Creation and would have us free forever.

54. This holy relationship, lovely in its innocence, mighty in strength, and blazing with a light far brighter than the sun I see in the sky, it is chosen of our Father as a means for His own plan. We are thankful that this holy relationship does not serve our plan at all. Everything given to His plan will be used, and nothing entrusted to it misused. This holy relationship has the power to heal all forms of pain. Healing lies only in our joint will, for neither of us alone can serve at all. Here we will accept Atonement and be healed. And the Sonship is healed because our wills are joined.

55. Before a holy relationship there is no sin. The form of error is no longer seen, and reason, joined with love, looks quietly on all confusion, observing merely, "This was a mistake." And then the same Atonement we accepted in our relationship corrects the error and lays a part of Heaven in its place. How blessed are we who let this gift be given! Each part of Heaven that we bring is given us. And every empty place in Heaven that we fill with the Eternal light we bring, shines now on us. The means of sinlessness can know no fear because they carry only love with them.

*56. As children of peace, the light has come to us. We do not recognize the light we bring, and yet we will remember. We cannot deny ourselves the vision that we bring to others. We must recognize the gift that is brought to Heaven through our vision. The gentle service that we give the Holy Spirit is service to ourselves. We who are now His means must love all that He loves. And what we bring is our remembrance of everything that is eternal. No trace of anything in time can long remain in minds that serve the timeless. And nothing can disturb the peace of a holy relationship, which serves as means of peace.

57. As we look upon each other with complete forgiveness, with nothing kept hidden, with no error excluded, we will be able to overlook any mistake anywhere. Suffering could not...]]>506acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-22-6-weakness-and-defensiveness
45. How are illusions overcome? Surely not by force, or anger, nor by opposing them in any way. Only by letting reason tell me that illusions contradict reality, can they be overcome. Illusions go against what must be true. The opposition comes from illusions and not from reality. Reality opposes nothing. What is, needs no defense, and offers none. Illusions need defense because they are weak. It is easy to walk the way of truth when only weakness interferes. We do not want anything that needs defense, for it would only weaken us. We are the strong ones in this seeming conflict, and we need no defense.

46. The ego uses defenses to try to justify what goes against truth and reason, and makes no sense. Defenses are meant to save us from reason and the truth, and are invitations to insanity. All that the Holy Spirit offers must be defended against and sacrificed. This cannot be justified. We only need to be saved from what we fear. Belief in sin requires great defense, and at enormous cost. For sin is carved into an obstacle, made from our peace, laid between us, and blocking the return of our peace. Yet, peace cannot be fragmented. It is still whole, and nothing has been taken from it.

47. We see how the means, and the material of evil dreams are nothing. It is our Father Whom we would defend against. Yet it remains impossible to keep love out. In truth we stand together. God holds our hands, and nothing can separate what He has joined as one with Him. God rests with us in quiet, undefended and wholly un-defending, for in this quiet state alone is strength and power. Here no weakness can enter, for here is no attack, and therefore no illusions. All uncertainty is doubt about ourselves, and only uncertainty can be defensive. Love rests in certainty.

48. Fear is weak, little, and meaningless! How insignificant before the quiet strength of those whom love has joined! This is our "enemy"--a frightened mouse that would attack the universe. It is not likely that the attack will succeed. It cannot be difficult to disregard the mouse's feeble squeaks telling of its omnipotence. Its attack could not drown out the hymn of praise which every heart throughout the universe forever sings as one to its Creator. Which is stronger, this tiny mouse or everything that God created? A mouse cannot betray whom God has joined. We are not joined together by this mouse, but by the Will of God.

49. If we but recognized how little stands between us and our awareness of our union! We will not be deceived by the illusions it presents of size and thickness, weight, solidity, and firmness of foundation. Yes, to the body's eyes it looks like an enormous solid body, immovable as is a mountain. Yet, within us there is a Force which no illusions can resist. This body only seems to be immovable. This Force is irresistible in truth. What, then, must happen when they come together? The illusion of immovability is quietly passed through and gone beyond.

50. I will remember that when I feel the need to be defensive about anything, I have identified myself with an illusion. Therefore, I feel that I am weak, because I am alone. This is the cost of all illusions. Every illusion rests on the belief that I am separate. Every illusion seems to stand heavy and solid and immovable, between me and my brother. Yet, truth can pass over each illusion, so lightly and easily, that I must be convinced that it is nothing, in spite of what I thought it was. If we forgive each other, this must happen. For it is our unwillingness to overlook what seems to stand between us, that makes the illusion look impenetrable and defends the illusion of its immovability.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5445482Wed, 07 Jan 2015 05:23:11 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-22.6-Weakness and Defensiveness 45. How are illusions overcome? Surely not by force, or anger, nor by opposing them in any way. Only by letting reason tell me that illusions contradict reality, can they be overcome. Illusions go against...
45. How are illusions overcome? Surely not by force, or anger, nor by opposing them in any way. Only by letting reason tell me that illusions contradict reality, can they be overcome. Illusions go against what must be true. The opposition comes from illusions and not from reality. Reality opposes nothing. What is, needs no defense, and offers none. Illusions need defense because they are weak. It is easy to walk the way of truth when only weakness interferes. We do not want anything that needs defense, for it would only weaken us. We are the strong ones in this seeming conflict, and we need no defense.

46. The ego uses defenses to try to justify what goes against truth and reason, and makes no sense. Defenses are meant to save us from reason and the truth, and are invitations to insanity. All that the Holy Spirit offers must be defended against and sacrificed. This cannot be justified. We only need to be saved from what we fear. Belief in sin requires great defense, and at enormous cost. For sin is carved into an obstacle, made from our peace, laid between us, and blocking the return of our peace. Yet, peace cannot be fragmented. It is still whole, and nothing has been taken from it.

47. We see how the means, and the material of evil dreams are nothing. It is our Father Whom we would defend against. Yet it remains impossible to keep love out. In truth we stand together. God holds our hands, and nothing can separate what He has joined as one with Him. God rests with us in quiet, undefended and wholly un-defending, for in this quiet state alone is strength and power. Here no weakness can enter, for here is no attack, and therefore no illusions. All uncertainty is doubt about ourselves, and only uncertainty can be defensive. Love rests in certainty.

48. Fear is weak, little, and meaningless! How insignificant before the quiet strength of those whom love has joined! This is our "enemy"--a frightened mouse that would attack the universe. It is not likely that the attack will succeed. It cannot be difficult to disregard the mouse's feeble squeaks telling of its omnipotence. Its attack could not drown out the hymn of praise which every heart throughout the universe forever sings as one to its Creator. Which is stronger, this tiny mouse or everything that God created? A mouse cannot betray whom God has joined. We are not joined together by this mouse, but by the Will of God.

49. If we but recognized how little stands between us and our awareness of our union! We will not be deceived by the illusions it presents of size and thickness, weight, solidity, and firmness of foundation. Yes, to the body's eyes it looks like an enormous solid body, immovable as is a mountain. Yet, within us there is a Force which no illusions can resist. This body only seems to be immovable. This Force is irresistible in truth. What, then, must happen when they come together? The illusion of immovability is quietly passed through and gone beyond.

50. I will remember that when I feel the need to be defensive about anything, I have identified myself with an illusion. Therefore, I feel that I am weak, because I am alone. This is the cost of all illusions. Every illusion rests on the belief that I am separate. Every illusion seems to stand heavy and solid and immovable, between me and my brother. Yet, truth can pass over each illusion, so lightly and easily, that I must be convinced that it is nothing, in spite of what I thought it was. If we forgive each other, this must happen. For it is our unwillingness to overlook what seems to stand between us, that makes the illusion look impenetrable and defends the illusion of its immovability.]]>472acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-22-5-the-branching-of-the-road
38. It is quite apparent that I can't go forward when I come to a branch in the road. I must go either one way or the other. For now if I go straight ahead I will go nowhere. The whole purpose of coming this far was to decide which branch I will take now. It doesn't matter the way I came. That way no longer serves. No one who reaches this far can make the wrong decision, but he can delay by not deciding on which way to go. No part of the journey seems more hopeless and futile than being where the road branches.

39. On the right way that I have chosen it is only the first few steps that seem hard. For, although I may think I can go back and make the other choice, this isn't so. A choice made with the power of Heaven to uphold it cannot be undone. Our way is decided. There will be nothing I will not be told if I acknowledge this.

40. We stand in this holy place before the veil of sin that hangs between us and the face of Christ. The journey is almost over. Alone, we see the veil as a solid block, not realizing how thin the veil is that separates us. We think what will happen after the veil is lifted! We raise it together, and let the veil be lifted. In our awareness, peace has come to us. The love of Christ lights our faces and shines from us into a darkened world that needs the light. And from this holy place, Christ will return with us, not leaving this place nor us. We return Him unto Himself; we become His messengers.

41. We, who walk with Him, think of the loveliness that we see, and think how beautiful each of us looks to the other! How happy we will be to be together after such a long and lonely journey where once we walked alone. The gates of Heaven are open now for us. And now, we open the gates of Heaven to the sorrowful. All who look on the Christ in us will rejoice! How beautiful the sight we saw beyond the veil, which will bring light to the eyes of those now as weary as we once were. How thankful they will be to see us come among them, offering Christ's forgiveness to dispel their faith in sin.

42. Every mistake I make, the other will have gently corrected for me, for in his sight my loveliness is his salvation, which he would protect from harm. And each will be the other's strong protector from everything that seems to rise between us. So shall we walk the world with Jesus, whose message has not yet been given to everyone. For we are here to let it be received. God's offer is still open, yet it waits acceptance. It is received from us who have accepted. Into our joined hands God's offer is safely given, for we who share it have become its willing guardians and protectors.

43. Grace is given to all who share the love of God, to be the givers of what they have received, and learn God's love is theirs forever. All barriers disappear before their coming, and every obstacle which seemed to block their way before, is finally surmounted. We lift this veil together, and open the way to truth for many. Those who let illusions be lifted from their minds are the world's saviors. These saviors walk the world with their Redeemer, carrying His message of hope, freedom, and release from suffering to everyone who needs a miracle to save him.

44. How easy it is to offer this miracle to everyone! No one who has received the miracle for himself can find it difficult. For by receiving it, he learned the miracle was not given to him alone. This is the function of the holy relationship--to receive together and give as we received. Standing before the veil, it seems difficult. But our joined hands reach out and touch this heavy-seeming block, and learn how easily our fingers slip through its nothingness. It is no solid wall, only an illusion that stands between us and the holy Self we are.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5262942Wed, 26 Nov 2014 23:31:42 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-22.5- The Branching of the Road 38. It is quite apparent that I can't go forward when I come to a branch in the road. I must go either one way or the other. For now if I go straight ahead I will go nowhere. The whole purpose of coming...
38. It is quite apparent that I can't go forward when I come to a branch in the road. I must go either one way or the other. For now if I go straight ahead I will go nowhere. The whole purpose of coming this far was to decide which branch I will take now. It doesn't matter the way I came. That way no longer serves. No one who reaches this far can make the wrong decision, but he can delay by not deciding on which way to go. No part of the journey seems more hopeless and futile than being where the road branches.

39. On the right way that I have chosen it is only the first few steps that seem hard. For, although I may think I can go back and make the other choice, this isn't so. A choice made with the power of Heaven to uphold it cannot be undone. Our way is decided. There will be nothing I will not be told if I acknowledge this.

40. We stand in this holy place before the veil of sin that hangs between us and the face of Christ. The journey is almost over. Alone, we see the veil as a solid block, not realizing how thin the veil is that separates us. We think what will happen after the veil is lifted! We raise it together, and let the veil be lifted. In our awareness, peace has come to us. The love of Christ lights our faces and shines from us into a darkened world that needs the light. And from this holy place, Christ will return with us, not leaving this place nor us. We return Him unto Himself; we become His messengers.

41. We, who walk with Him, think of the loveliness that we see, and think how beautiful each of us looks to the other! How happy we will be to be together after such a long and lonely journey where once we walked alone. The gates of Heaven are open now for us. And now, we open the gates of Heaven to the sorrowful. All who look on the Christ in us will rejoice! How beautiful the sight we saw beyond the veil, which will bring light to the eyes of those now as weary as we once were. How thankful they will be to see us come among them, offering Christ's forgiveness to dispel their faith in sin.

42. Every mistake I make, the other will have gently corrected for me, for in his sight my loveliness is his salvation, which he would protect from harm. And each will be the other's strong protector from everything that seems to rise between us. So shall we walk the world with Jesus, whose message has not yet been given to everyone. For we are here to let it be received. God's offer is still open, yet it waits acceptance. It is received from us who have accepted. Into our joined hands God's offer is safely given, for we who share it have become its willing guardians and protectors.

43. Grace is given to all who share the love of God, to be the givers of what they have received, and learn God's love is theirs forever. All barriers disappear before their coming, and every obstacle which seemed to block their way before, is finally surmounted. We lift this veil together, and open the way to truth for many. Those who let illusions be lifted from their minds are the world's saviors. These saviors walk the world with their Redeemer, carrying His message of hope, freedom, and release from suffering to everyone who needs a miracle to save him.

44. How easy it is to offer this miracle to everyone! No one who has received the miracle for himself can find it difficult. For by receiving it, he learned the miracle was not given to him alone. This is the function of the holy relationship--to receive together and give as we received. Standing before the veil, it seems difficult. But our joined hands reach out and touch this heavy-seeming block, and learn how easily our fingers slip through its nothingness. It is no solid wall, only an illusion that stands between us and the holy Self we are.]]>436acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-22-4-reason-and-holy-relationship
29. Reason's goal is to make plain and obvious. I can see reason, but not with the body's eyes. Vision is sense, quite literally. This is the beginning of vision that has meaning. Vision must, and can be understood, for it is plain, obvious, and not ambiguous. The ego and reason are contradictory, and cannot co-exist in my awareness. Here, reason and the ego go their separate ways. The introduction of reason into the ego's thought system is the beginning of its undoing.

30. Reason sees through errors, telling me what I thought was real, is not real. Reason sees the difference between sin and mistakes and it wants corrections. What I thought was uncorrectable, reason tells me is an error and can be corrected. Consistent with its fixed belief in sin and disregard of errors, the ego sees nothing that can be corrected. The ego's survival depends on its belief that I cannot learn this course. If I share this belief, reason won't be able to see my errors to correct them. Thus does the ego damn.

31. In itself, reason is not salvation, but it makes way for peace, and brings me to a state of mind in which I can receive salvation. Sin is a block across the road to peace, set like a heavy gate, locked and without a key. Without the help of reason no one would try to pass it. The body's eyes behold sin as solid granite, so thick it would be madness to attempt to pass. Yet, because it is an error, reason sees through it easily. The form does not hide the error from reason's eyes.

32. The ego is attracted only to the form of error. A special form of error the ego venerates is sin. The ego would preserve all errors and make them sins. It does not know if there is meaning or not, because it does not recognize meaning. This is the ego's stability, its anchor in the shifting world it made--the rock on which its church is built. The ego's worshipers are bound to a body, and believe the body's freedom is their own. Yet, everything the body's eyes can see is a distorted perception, a mistake, a fragment of the whole, without the meaning the whole would give. And yet, mistakes, regardless of their form, can be corrected.

33. Reason tells me that the form of an error is not the mistake. If form conceals a mistake, the form cannot prevent correction. The body's eyes cannot see beyond what they were made to see. They were made to see error, but not look past it. The body's eyes see only form. Theirs is a strange perception indeed, for they see only illusions. This sight was made to guarantee that nothing but form will be perceived. Unable to look beyond the granite block of sin, they are stopped at the outside form of nothing. The wall that stands between myself and truth is believed to be true. Yet, this distorted form of vision that is stopped by nothingness as if it were a solid wall, cannot see truth.

34. Made not to see, these eyes will never see. For the ego made and looks through these eyes, and the idea did not leave its maker. The maker's goal was not to see, and the body's eyes are perfect means for not seeing. Notice how the body's eyes rest on externals, and cannot go beyond. Watch how they stop at nothingness, unable to go beyond the form to meaning. Nothing is so blinding as perception of form. For sight of form means understanding has been obscured.

35. Because it can be changed, form can not be reality. Only mistakes have different forms, so they can deceive. Reason tells me that if form is not reality, it must be an illusion and is not there to see. If I see form, I must be mistaken, for I am seeing what cannot be real as if it were real. Distorted perception cannot see beyond what is not there (illusion), and must perceive illusion as the truth. Could distorted perception, then, recognize the truth?

36. I cannot be saved by making the one sinful, whose holiness is my salvation. I will not let the vision of his holiness be kept from me by what the body's eyes can see. I will not let my awareness of my brother be blocked by my perception of his body and his sins. What is there in him that I would attack, except what I associate with his body, which I believe can sin? I tried to see MY sins in him to save myself. I will not let the form of his mistakes keep me from him whose holiness is mine. I did not give him his holiness, and yet his holiness is my forgiveness. The sight of his holiness would show me my forgiveness. Beyond his errors is his holiness and my salvation.

37. Unholy values will produce confusion in awareness. In an unholy relationship, each one is seen to justify the other's sin. He sees within the other what impels him to sin against his will. He lays his sins upon the other, is attracted to the other, perpetuating his own sins. And so it becomes impossible for each to see himself as causing sin, by his desire to have sin real. Yet a holy relationship must value holiness above all else, however newly born. Reason sees a holy relationship as what it is--a common state of mind, where both give errors gladly to correction that both may happily be healed as one.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5255470Tue, 25 Nov 2014 17:17:43 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-22.4-Reason and Holy Relationship 29. Reason's goal is to make plain and obvious. I can see reason, but not with the body's eyes. Vision is sense, quite literally. This is the beginning of vision that has meaning. Vision must, and can be...
29. Reason's goal is to make plain and obvious. I can see reason, but not with the body's eyes. Vision is sense, quite literally. This is the beginning of vision that has meaning. Vision must, and can be understood, for it is plain, obvious, and not ambiguous. The ego and reason are contradictory, and cannot co-exist in my awareness. Here, reason and the ego go their separate ways. The introduction of reason into the ego's thought system is the beginning of its undoing.

30. Reason sees through errors, telling me what I thought was real, is not real. Reason sees the difference between sin and mistakes and it wants corrections. What I thought was uncorrectable, reason tells me is an error and can be corrected. Consistent with its fixed belief in sin and disregard of errors, the ego sees nothing that can be corrected. The ego's survival depends on its belief that I cannot learn this course. If I share this belief, reason won't be able to see my errors to correct them. Thus does the ego damn.

31. In itself, reason is not salvation, but it makes way for peace, and brings me to a state of mind in which I can receive salvation. Sin is a block across the road to peace, set like a heavy gate, locked and without a key. Without the help of reason no one would try to pass it. The body's eyes behold sin as solid granite, so thick it would be madness to attempt to pass. Yet, because it is an error, reason sees through it easily. The form does not hide the error from reason's eyes.

32. The ego is attracted only to the form of error. A special form of error the ego venerates is sin. The ego would preserve all errors and make them sins. It does not know if there is meaning or not, because it does not recognize meaning. This is the ego's stability, its anchor in the shifting world it made--the rock on which its church is built. The ego's worshipers are bound to a body, and believe the body's freedom is their own. Yet, everything the body's eyes can see is a distorted perception, a mistake, a fragment of the whole, without the meaning the whole would give. And yet, mistakes, regardless of their form, can be corrected.

33. Reason tells me that the form of an error is not the mistake. If form conceals a mistake, the form cannot prevent correction. The body's eyes cannot see beyond what they were made to see. They were made to see error, but not look past it. The body's eyes see only form. Theirs is a strange perception indeed, for they see only illusions. This sight was made to guarantee that nothing but form will be perceived. Unable to look beyond the granite block of sin, they are stopped at the outside form of nothing. The wall that stands between myself and truth is believed to be true. Yet, this distorted form of vision that is stopped by nothingness as if it were a solid wall, cannot see truth.

34. Made not to see, these eyes will never see. For the ego made and looks through these eyes, and the idea did not leave its maker. The maker's goal was not to see, and the body's eyes are perfect means for not seeing. Notice how the body's eyes rest on externals, and cannot go beyond. Watch how they stop at nothingness, unable to go beyond the form to meaning. Nothing is so blinding as perception of form. For sight of form means understanding has been obscured.

35. Because it can be changed, form can not be reality. Only mistakes have different forms, so they can deceive. Reason tells me that if form is not reality, it must be an illusion and is not there to see. If I see form, I must be mistaken, for I am seeing what...]]>597acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-22-3-my-brothers-sinlessness-2
*22. We must not forsake each other now. For we who are the same, will not decide alone nor differently. We give each other either life or death. We are each other's savior or his judge, offering him sanctuary or condemnation. This course will be believed entirely or not at all. For it is wholly true or wholly false and cannot be partially believed. And I will either escape from misery entirely, or not at all. Reason will tell me that there is no middle ground where I can pause uncertainly, waiting to choose between the joy of Heaven and the misery of hell. Until I choose Heaven, I am in hell and misery.

23. I can bring no illusion with me to Heaven, and I can weave no part of Heaven into illusions. A merciful savior cannot be a condemning judge. And vision can only bless, never damn. The Holy Spirit's function is to save, and He will save. HOW He will save is beyond our understanding, but WHEN He saves is our choice. For we made time, and we can command time. We are not slave to time or to the world we made.

*24. The illusion, that the world we made has the power to enslave us, is the same belief that caused the separation. It is the meaningless idea that thoughts can be different from, in opposition to, and leave the thinker's mind. If this were true, thoughts would not be the mind's extensions, but its enemies. We see here another form of the same fundamental illusion we have seen before. The Son of God could not leave his Father's Mind, make himself different, and oppose His Will. So, it is not possible that the self he made, and all the Illusions this self made should be his master.

25. I look on the great projection with the firm decision that it must be healed and not feared. Nothing I made has any power over me, for I would not be apart from my Creator with a will opposed to His. It is seemingly possible all the misery I made is mine, only if I believe I am my Father's enemy. I am glad to learn it is not true. I would not make God different, and condemn God's joy to misery. It is welcome news to hear not one of the illusions I made replaced the truth.

26. Only OUR thoughts have been impossible---salvation CANNOT be! It is impossible to look on my savior as my enemy, and recognize him. Yet it IS possible to recognize him for what he is, if God would have it so. What God has given to our holy relationship is there. For what He gave the Holy Spirit to give to us, is given. We would look upon the savior that has been given, and I would exchange the function I gave him, of executioner, gratefully for the function he has in truth. I will receive of him what God has given him for me, and not receive what I tried to give myself.

28. To dwell in quiet here with Christ, all I need do is share His vision. Quickly and gladly His vision is given to anyone who is willing to see his brother sinless. There can be no exceptions to this willingness if I would be released entirely from all effects of sin. Would I have partial forgiveness for myself? Can I reach Heaven while a single sin still tempts me to remain in misery? Heaven is the home of perfect purity, and God created it for Me. I will look on my holy brother, sinless as myself, and let him lead me there.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5249578Mon, 24 Nov 2014 15:06:32 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-22.3-My Brother's Sinlessness.2 *22. We must not forsake each other now. For we who are the same, will not decide alone nor differently. We give each other either life or death. We are each other's savior or his judge, offering him...
*22. We must not forsake each other now. For we who are the same, will not decide alone nor differently. We give each other either life or death. We are each other's savior or his judge, offering him sanctuary or condemnation. This course will be believed entirely or not at all. For it is wholly true or wholly false and cannot be partially believed. And I will either escape from misery entirely, or not at all. Reason will tell me that there is no middle ground where I can pause uncertainly, waiting to choose between the joy of Heaven and the misery of hell. Until I choose Heaven, I am in hell and misery.

23. I can bring no illusion with me to Heaven, and I can weave no part of Heaven into illusions. A merciful savior cannot be a condemning judge. And vision can only bless, never damn. The Holy Spirit's function is to save, and He will save. HOW He will save is beyond our understanding, but WHEN He saves is our choice. For we made time, and we can command time. We are not slave to time or to the world we made.

*24. The illusion, that the world we made has the power to enslave us, is the same belief that caused the separation. It is the meaningless idea that thoughts can be different from, in opposition to, and leave the thinker's mind. If this were true, thoughts would not be the mind's extensions, but its enemies. We see here another form of the same fundamental illusion we have seen before. The Son of God could not leave his Father's Mind, make himself different, and oppose His Will. So, it is not possible that the self he made, and all the Illusions this self made should be his master.

25. I look on the great projection with the firm decision that it must be healed and not feared. Nothing I made has any power over me, for I would not be apart from my Creator with a will opposed to His. It is seemingly possible all the misery I made is mine, only if I believe I am my Father's enemy. I am glad to learn it is not true. I would not make God different, and condemn God's joy to misery. It is welcome news to hear not one of the illusions I made replaced the truth.

26. Only OUR thoughts have been impossible---salvation CANNOT be! It is impossible to look on my savior as my enemy, and recognize him. Yet it IS possible to recognize him for what he is, if God would have it so. What God has given to our holy relationship is there. For what He gave the Holy Spirit to give to us, is given. We would look upon the savior that has been given, and I would exchange the function I gave him, of executioner, gratefully for the function he has in truth. I will receive of him what God has given him for me, and not receive what I tried to give myself.

28. To dwell in quiet here with Christ, all I need do is share His vision. Quickly and gladly His vision is given to anyone who is willing to see his brother sinless. There can be no exceptions to this willingness if I would be released entirely from all effects of sin. Would I have partial forgiveness for myself? Can I reach Heaven while a single sin still tempts me to remain in misery? Heaven is the home of perfect purity, and God created it for Me. I will look on my holy brother, sinless as myself, and let him lead me there.]]>403acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-22-3-my-brothers-sinlessness-1_1
16. The opposite of illusion appears to be disillusionment. They seem to be the only alternatives and different from each other. In truth they are the same. Both bring the same amount of misery, though each seems to remedy the misery the other brings. Every illusion carries pain and suffering in the dark folds of heavy covers where it hides its nothingness. Yet in these dark and heavy covers, are those who seek illusions, covered and hidden from the joy of truth. Truth is the opposite of illusions. But to the ego, truth is meaningless.

17. What else but joy could be the opposite of misery? To leave one kind of misery and seek another is hardly an escape. To change illusions is to make no change. The search for joy in misery is senseless, for how could joy be found in misery? All that is possible in the dark world of misery is to select some aspects out of it, see them as different, and define the difference as joy. Yet to perceive a difference where none exists will surely fail to make a difference. Truth is the opposite of illusions because it offers joy.

18. Illusions give to their believers guilt, suffering, sickness and death. The form is irrelevant. In reason's eyes, no form of misery can be confused with joy. Joy is eternal. Joy does not turn to sorrow, for the eternal cannot change. I can be sure that any seeming happiness that does not last, is really fear. But sorrow can be turned to joy, for time gives way to the eternal. Everything in time does change. Illusions will change to other dreams that are equally unreal. This is no difference. But if the change is real and not imagined, Illusions must give way to truth, and the timeless remains unchanged.

19. One illusion, cherished and defended against the truth, makes all illusions real, and all truth meaningless. All truth is the same, and all misery is the same. But they are different from each other in every way, every instance, and without exception. To believe that one exception can exist, is to confuse what is the same with what is different. This is the uncompromising power of belief. And if the belief excludes one living thing from forgiveness, there is faith in sin, not in innocence. Reason will tell me that the only way to escape from misery is to recognize it and go the other way.

20. Both reason and the ego tell me this, but their interpretations are different. The ego assures me that for me never to see guilt in anyone is impossible. And if this is the only means to escape from guilt, then the belief in sin will be eternal. Reason looks on this another way, seeing the source of an idea as what will make it true or false. For an idea does not leave its source. Therefore, if escape from guilt was given to the Holy Spirit as His purpose by God, and nothing God wills can be impossible, the means for its attainment are more than possible. The means must be there, and I must have the means.

21. Now I must choose between myself and an illusion of myself. This is a crucial period in this course, for here the separation of myself and the ego must be made complete. There is no point in trying to avoid this decision, for it must be made. I have the means to let the Holy Spirit's purpose be accomplished, and with their use I will gain faith in them. No one undertakes to do what has no hope of being done, and to the ego this is impossible. I know what my Creator wills is possible, but the self I made does not believe it is so. Faith/belief can fall to either side, but reason tells me that joy lies only on one side and misery on the other. OrEd-T-22.3-My Brother's Sinlessness.1

16. The opposite of illusion appears to be disillusionment. They seem to be the only alternatives and different from each other. In truth they are the same. Both bring the same amount of misery, though each seems to remedy the misery the other brings. Every illusion carries pain and suffering in the dark folds of heavy covers where it hides its nothingness. Yet in these dark and heavy covers, are those who seek illusions, covered and hidden from the joy of truth. Truth is the opposite of illusions. But to the ego, truth is meaningless.

17. What else but joy could be the opposite of misery? To leave one kind of misery and seek another is hardly an escape. To change illusions is to make no change. The search for joy in misery is senseless, for how could joy be found in misery? All that is possible in the dark world of misery is to select some aspects out of it, see them as different, and define the difference as joy. Yet to perceive a difference where none exists will surely fail to make a difference. Truth is the opposite of illusions because it offers joy.

18. Illusions give to their believers guilt, suffering, sickness and death. The form is irrelevant. In reason's eyes, no form of misery can be confused with joy. Joy is eternal. Joy does not turn to sorrow, for the eternal cannot change. I can be sure that any seeming happiness that does not last, is really fear. But sorrow can be turned to joy, for time gives way to the eternal. Everything in time does change. Illusions will change to other dreams that are equally unreal. This is no difference. But if the change is real and not imagined, Illusions must give way to truth, and the timeless remains unchanged.

19. One illusion, cherished and defended against the truth, makes all illusions real, and all truth meaningless. All truth is the same, and all misery is the same. But they are different from each other in every way, every instance, and without exception. To believe that one exception can exist, is to confuse what is the same with what is different. This is the uncompromising power of belief. And if the belief excludes one living thing from forgiveness, there is faith in sin, not in innocence. Reason will tell me that the only way to escape from misery is to recognize it and go the other way.

20. Both reason and the ego tell me this, but their interpretations are different. The ego assures me that for me never to see guilt in anyone is impossible. And if this is the only means to escape from guilt, then the belief in sin will be eternal. Reason looks on this another way, seeing the source of an idea as what will make it true or false. For an idea does not leave its source. Therefore, if escape from guilt was given to the Holy Spirit as His purpose by God, and nothing God wills can be impossible, the means for its attainment are more than possible. The means must be there, and I must have the means.

21. Now I must choose between myself and an illusion of myself. This is a crucial period in this course, for here the separation of myself and the ego must be made complete. There is no point in trying to avoid this decision, for it must be made. I have the means to let the Holy Spirit's purpose be accomplished, and with their use I will gain faith in them. No one undertakes to do what has no hope of being done, and to the ego this is impossible. I know what my Creator wills is possible, but the self I made does not believe it is so. Faith/belief can fall to either side, but reason tells me that joy lies only on one side and misery on the other.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5244045Sun, 23 Nov 2014 14:01:35 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-22.3-My Brother's Sinlessness.1 16. The opposite of illusion appears to be disillusionment. They seem to be the only alternatives and different from each other. In truth they are the same. Both bring the same amount of misery, though each...
16. The opposite of illusion appears to be disillusionment. They seem to be the only alternatives and different from each other. In truth they are the same. Both bring the same amount of misery, though each seems to remedy the misery the other brings. Every illusion carries pain and suffering in the dark folds of heavy covers where it hides its nothingness. Yet in these dark and heavy covers, are those who seek illusions, covered and hidden from the joy of truth. Truth is the opposite of illusions. But to the ego, truth is meaningless.

17. What else but joy could be the opposite of misery? To leave one kind of misery and seek another is hardly an escape. To change illusions is to make no change. The search for joy in misery is senseless, for how could joy be found in misery? All that is possible in the dark world of misery is to select some aspects out of it, see them as different, and define the difference as joy. Yet to perceive a difference where none exists will surely fail to make a difference. Truth is the opposite of illusions because it offers joy.

18. Illusions give to their believers guilt, suffering, sickness and death. The form is irrelevant. In reason's eyes, no form of misery can be confused with joy. Joy is eternal. Joy does not turn to sorrow, for the eternal cannot change. I can be sure that any seeming happiness that does not last, is really fear. But sorrow can be turned to joy, for time gives way to the eternal. Everything in time does change. Illusions will change to other dreams that are equally unreal. This is no difference. But if the change is real and not imagined, Illusions must give way to truth, and the timeless remains unchanged.

19. One illusion, cherished and defended against the truth, makes all illusions real, and all truth meaningless. All truth is the same, and all misery is the same. But they are different from each other in every way, every instance, and without exception. To believe that one exception can exist, is to confuse what is the same with what is different. This is the uncompromising power of belief. And if the belief excludes one living thing from forgiveness, there is faith in sin, not in innocence. Reason will tell me that the only way to escape from misery is to recognize it and go the other way.

20. Both reason and the ego tell me this, but their interpretations are different. The ego assures me that for me never to see guilt in anyone is impossible. And if this is the only means to escape from guilt, then the belief in sin will be eternal. Reason looks on this another way, seeing the source of an idea as what will make it true or false. For an idea does not leave its source. Therefore, if escape from guilt was given to the Holy Spirit as His purpose by God, and nothing God wills can be impossible, the means for its attainment are more than possible. The means must be there, and I must have the means.

21. Now I must choose between myself and an illusion of myself. This is a crucial period in this course, for here the separation of myself and the ego must be made complete. There is no point in trying to avoid this decision, for it must be made. I have the means to let the Holy Spirit's purpose be accomplished, and with their use I will gain faith in them. No one undertakes to do what has no hope of being done, and to the ego this is impossible. I know what my Creator wills is possible, but the self I made does not believe it is so. Faith/belief can fall to either side, but reason tells me that joy lies only on one side and misery on the other. OrEd-T-22.3-My Brother's Sinlessness.1

16. The...]]>379acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-22-2-message-of-holy-relation-2_1
11. Our holy relationship is like a baby now, so recently reborn from an unholy relationship, and yet more ancient than the old illusion that it replaced. Yet, in the infant, my vision is returned to me, and he will speak the language both of us can understand. He is not nurtured by the "something else" I thought was me. He was not given, nor received by anything except myself. Instead of separate, in each holy relationship the ability to communicate is reborn. For no two people can unite except through Christ, Whose vision sees them as one.

12. We will think with Jesus, our holy brother, what is given us. This child will teach us what we do not understand and make it plain. For his will is no alien tongue. He will need no interpreter to us, for it was we who taught him what he knows, because we knew it. He could not come to anyone but us, never to "something else." Where Christ has entered, no one is alone, for He could never find a home in separate ones. Yet, He must be reborn into His ancient home, so seeming new and yet as old as He, a tiny newcomer, dependent on the holiness of our relationship to let Him live.

13. We will be certain God did not entrust His Son to the unworthy. Only what is part of Him is worthy of being joined. Nor is it possible that anything not part of Him can join. Communication must have been restored to those that join, for they could not do this through the bodies. What, then, has joined them? Reason will tell us that they must have seen each other through a vision not of the body, and communicated in a language the body does not speak. It was not a fearful sight or sound that drew them gently into one. Rather, in each the other saw a perfect shelter where his Self could be reborn, in safety and in peace. This his reason told him, and he believed, because it was the truth.

14. Here is the first direct perception that we have made. We made it through awareness older than perception, and yet reborn in just an instant. For what is time to what was always true? I will think what that instant brought, the recognition that the "something else" I thought was myself is an illusion. And truth came instantly to show me where my Self must be. It is denial of illusions that calls on truth, for to deny illusions is to recognize that fear is meaningless. Love enters thankfully into the holy home where fear is powerless. We are grateful that love is one with us, who are joined to let love enter.

15. Christ comes to what is like Himself, the same, not different. For He is always drawn unto Himself. A holy relationship is like Him. And what draws us together, draws Him to us. His sweetness and His gentle innocence are protected here from attack. He can return in confidence, for faith in one another is always faith in Him. We are correct in looking on each other as Christ's chosen home, for here we WILL with Him and with His Father. This is our Father's Will for us, and our will is like His. Who is drawn to Christ, is drawn to God, as surely as They are drawn to every holy relationship. This is the home prepared for Them, as earth is turned to Heaven.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5240387Sat, 22 Nov 2014 14:56:47 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-22.2-Message of Holy Relation.2 11. Our holy relationship is like a baby now, so recently reborn from an unholy relationship, and yet more ancient than the old illusion that it replaced. Yet, in the infant, my vision is returned to me, and...
11. Our holy relationship is like a baby now, so recently reborn from an unholy relationship, and yet more ancient than the old illusion that it replaced. Yet, in the infant, my vision is returned to me, and he will speak the language both of us can understand. He is not nurtured by the "something else" I thought was me. He was not given, nor received by anything except myself. Instead of separate, in each holy relationship the ability to communicate is reborn. For no two people can unite except through Christ, Whose vision sees them as one.

12. We will think with Jesus, our holy brother, what is given us. This child will teach us what we do not understand and make it plain. For his will is no alien tongue. He will need no interpreter to us, for it was we who taught him what he knows, because we knew it. He could not come to anyone but us, never to "something else." Where Christ has entered, no one is alone, for He could never find a home in separate ones. Yet, He must be reborn into His ancient home, so seeming new and yet as old as He, a tiny newcomer, dependent on the holiness of our relationship to let Him live.

13. We will be certain God did not entrust His Son to the unworthy. Only what is part of Him is worthy of being joined. Nor is it possible that anything not part of Him can join. Communication must have been restored to those that join, for they could not do this through the bodies. What, then, has joined them? Reason will tell us that they must have seen each other through a vision not of the body, and communicated in a language the body does not speak. It was not a fearful sight or sound that drew them gently into one. Rather, in each the other saw a perfect shelter where his Self could be reborn, in safety and in peace. This his reason told him, and he believed, because it was the truth.

14. Here is the first direct perception that we have made. We made it through awareness older than perception, and yet reborn in just an instant. For what is time to what was always true? I will think what that instant brought, the recognition that the "something else" I thought was myself is an illusion. And truth came instantly to show me where my Self must be. It is denial of illusions that calls on truth, for to deny illusions is to recognize that fear is meaningless. Love enters thankfully into the holy home where fear is powerless. We are grateful that love is one with us, who are joined to let love enter.

15. Christ comes to what is like Himself, the same, not different. For He is always drawn unto Himself. A holy relationship is like Him. And what draws us together, draws Him to us. His sweetness and His gentle innocence are protected here from attack. He can return in confidence, for faith in one another is always faith in Him. We are correct in looking on each other as Christ's chosen home, for here we WILL with Him and with His Father. This is our Father's Will for us, and our will is like His. Who is drawn to Christ, is drawn to God, as surely as They are drawn to every holy relationship. This is the home prepared for Them, as earth is turned to Heaven.]]>373acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-22-2-message-of-holy-relation-1
5. I will let reason take another step. If I hate the one God loves, and attack whom He would heal, then I have a different will than my Creator. Yet, if I am His Will, my belief must be that I am not myself. I can indeed believe this with faith, and see much evidence as witness. Then I wonder why there arises in myself a strange uneasiness, a sense of being disconnected, a haunting fear and lack of meaning? It is as though I wandered in without a plan except to wander off, for only that seems certain.

6. I have heard a similar description earlier, but it was not of me. Yet this strange idea, accurately described, I think is me. Reason would tell me that the world, seen through eyes which are not mine, must make no sense to me. To whom would vision such as this send back its messages? Surely not me, whose sight is wholly independent of the eyes which look upon the world. If this is not my vision, what can it show me? The brain cannot interpret what my vision sees. This I would understand. The brain interprets to the body, as part of it. But what the brain says, I cannot understand. Yet I have listened to it. And long and hard I tried to understand its messages. I did not realize it is impossible to understand what fails entirely to reach me.

7. I have received no messages at all I understand. For I have listened to what can never communicate at all. I will think, then, what happened. Denying what I am and firm in faith that I am something else, this "something else" which I have made to be myself became my sight. Yet it must be the "something else" which sees, and as not me, explains its sight to me. My vision would of course, render this quite unnecessary. Yet if my eyes are closed and I have called upon this thing to lead me, asking it to explain to me the world it sees, I have no reason not to listen nor to suspect that what it tells me is not true. Reason would tell me it cannot be true because I do not understand it. God has no secrets. He does not lead me through a world of misery, waiting to tell me at the journey's end why He did this to me.

8. What could be secret from God's Will? Yet I believe that I have secrets. What could my secrets be except another will that is my own, apart from God's. Reason would tell me that this is no secret that need be hidden as a sin. But a mistake indeed! I will not let my fear of sin protect it from correction, for the attraction of guilt is only fear. Here is the one emotion that I made, whatever it may seem to be. This is the emotion of secrecy, of private thoughts, and of the body. This is the one emotion that opposes love and always leads to sight of differences and loss of sameness. Here is the one emotion that keeps me blind, dependent on the self I think I made to lead me through the world this emotion made for me.

9. My sight was given me, along with everything that I can understand. I will perceive no difficulty in understanding what this vision tells me, for everyone sees only what he thinks he is. And what my sight would show me, I will understand because it is the truth. Only my vision can convey to me what I can see. It reaches me directly without a need to be interpreted to me. What needs interpretation must be alien. Nor will it ever be made understandable by an interpreter I cannot understand.

10. Of all the messages I have received and failed to understand, this course alone is open to my understanding and can be understood. This is my language. I do not understand it yet, only because my whole communication is like a baby's. The sounds a baby makes and what he hears are highly unreliable, meaning different things to him at different times. Neither the sounds he hears nor sights he sees are stable yet. But what he hears and does not understand will be his native tongue, through which he will communicate with those around him, and they with him. And the strange shifting ones he sees about him will become to him his comforters, and he will recognize his home and see them there with him.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5235658Fri, 21 Nov 2014 12:21:05 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-22.2-Message of Holy Relation.1 5. I will let reason take another step. If I hate the one God loves, and attack whom He would heal, then I have a different will than my Creator. Yet, if I am His Will, my belief must be that I am not myself....
5. I will let reason take another step. If I hate the one God loves, and attack whom He would heal, then I have a different will than my Creator. Yet, if I am His Will, my belief must be that I am not myself. I can indeed believe this with faith, and see much evidence as witness. Then I wonder why there arises in myself a strange uneasiness, a sense of being disconnected, a haunting fear and lack of meaning? It is as though I wandered in without a plan except to wander off, for only that seems certain.

6. I have heard a similar description earlier, but it was not of me. Yet this strange idea, accurately described, I think is me. Reason would tell me that the world, seen through eyes which are not mine, must make no sense to me. To whom would vision such as this send back its messages? Surely not me, whose sight is wholly independent of the eyes which look upon the world. If this is not my vision, what can it show me? The brain cannot interpret what my vision sees. This I would understand. The brain interprets to the body, as part of it. But what the brain says, I cannot understand. Yet I have listened to it. And long and hard I tried to understand its messages. I did not realize it is impossible to understand what fails entirely to reach me.

7. I have received no messages at all I understand. For I have listened to what can never communicate at all. I will think, then, what happened. Denying what I am and firm in faith that I am something else, this "something else" which I have made to be myself became my sight. Yet it must be the "something else" which sees, and as not me, explains its sight to me. My vision would of course, render this quite unnecessary. Yet if my eyes are closed and I have called upon this thing to lead me, asking it to explain to me the world it sees, I have no reason not to listen nor to suspect that what it tells me is not true. Reason would tell me it cannot be true because I do not understand it. God has no secrets. He does not lead me through a world of misery, waiting to tell me at the journey's end why He did this to me.

8. What could be secret from God's Will? Yet I believe that I have secrets. What could my secrets be except another will that is my own, apart from God's. Reason would tell me that this is no secret that need be hidden as a sin. But a mistake indeed! I will not let my fear of sin protect it from correction, for the attraction of guilt is only fear. Here is the one emotion that I made, whatever it may seem to be. This is the emotion of secrecy, of private thoughts, and of the body. This is the one emotion that opposes love and always leads to sight of differences and loss of sameness. Here is the one emotion that keeps me blind, dependent on the self I think I made to lead me through the world this emotion made for me.

9. My sight was given me, along with everything that I can understand. I will perceive no difficulty in understanding what this vision tells me, for everyone sees only what he thinks he is. And what my sight would show me, I will understand because it is the truth. Only my vision can convey to me what I can see. It reaches me directly without a need to be interpreted to me. What needs interpretation must be alien. Nor will it ever be made understandable by an interpreter I cannot understand.

10. Of all the messages I have received and failed to understand, this course alone is open to my understanding and can be understood. This is my language. I do not understand it yet, only because my whole communication is like a baby's. The sounds a baby makes and what he hears are highly unreliable, meaning different things to him at different times. Neither the sounds he hears nor sights he sees are stable yet. But what he hears and does not understand will be his native tongue, through which he will communicate...]]>473cleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-22-1-intro-salvation-holy-rela
1. So long enslaved, we take pity on ourselves. We whom God has joined, have come together, and rejoice we no longer look on sin alone. If two look on sin together, they never see sin in the same place and time. Sin is an individual perception, seen in the other, yet believed to be within himself. And each one seems to make a different error, one the other cannot understand. Brothers, all sin is the same, made by the same, and forgiven in the same way.

2. The holiness of our relationship forgives both of us, undoing the effects of what we believed and saw. And with the effects undone, the need for sin is gone. Only the lonely, who see their brothers as different from themselves, have the need for sin. It is this difference that makes sin seem justified. Sin seems to be seen, but it is not real. An unholy relationship is based on differences, where each one thinks the other has something he doesn't. They come together, each to rob the other and complete himself. They stay until they think there's nothing left to steal, and then move on. And so, they wander through a world of strangers unlike themselves, living perhaps, with their bodies under a common roof and in the same room, yet a world apart. All this would be real if sin were so.

3. A holy relationship starts from a different premise. Each one has looked within and seen no lack. Accepting his completion, he would extend it by joining with another, whole as himself. He sees no differences between these selves, for differences are only of the body. Therefore, he looks on nothing he would take. He knows the truth is his own reality. And he stands just under Heaven, close enough not to return to earth. For this relationship has Heaven's holiness, and is as close to home as a relationship so like to Heaven can be.

4. I will think what a holy relationship can teach! Here, belief in differences is undone, and faith is shifted to sameness. Here, the sight of differences is transformed to vision. Reason now, can lead us to the logical conclusion of our union. Our union must extend, as we extended when we joined. Union must reach out beyond itself, as we reached out beyond the body to let ourselves be joined. And now the sameness which we saw, extends, and finally removes all sense of differences. Now, the sameness underneath all differences becomes apparent. This is the golden circle where we recognize the Son of God. For what is born into a holy relationship can never end.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5231333Thu, 20 Nov 2014 12:31:48 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-22.1-Intro-Salvation, Holy Rela. 1. So long enslaved, we take pity on ourselves. We whom God has joined, have come together, and rejoice we no longer look on sin alone. If two look on sin together, they never see sin in the same place and...
1. So long enslaved, we take pity on ourselves. We whom God has joined, have come together, and rejoice we no longer look on sin alone. If two look on sin together, they never see sin in the same place and time. Sin is an individual perception, seen in the other, yet believed to be within himself. And each one seems to make a different error, one the other cannot understand. Brothers, all sin is the same, made by the same, and forgiven in the same way.

2. The holiness of our relationship forgives both of us, undoing the effects of what we believed and saw. And with the effects undone, the need for sin is gone. Only the lonely, who see their brothers as different from themselves, have the need for sin. It is this difference that makes sin seem justified. Sin seems to be seen, but it is not real. An unholy relationship is based on differences, where each one thinks the other has something he doesn't. They come together, each to rob the other and complete himself. They stay until they think there's nothing left to steal, and then move on. And so, they wander through a world of strangers unlike themselves, living perhaps, with their bodies under a common roof and in the same room, yet a world apart. All this would be real if sin were so.

3. A holy relationship starts from a different premise. Each one has looked within and seen no lack. Accepting his completion, he would extend it by joining with another, whole as himself. He sees no differences between these selves, for differences are only of the body. Therefore, he looks on nothing he would take. He knows the truth is his own reality. And he stands just under Heaven, close enough not to return to earth. For this relationship has Heaven's holiness, and is as close to home as a relationship so like to Heaven can be.

4. I will think what a holy relationship can teach! Here, belief in differences is undone, and faith is shifted to sameness. Here, the sight of differences is transformed to vision. Reason now, can lead us to the logical conclusion of our union. Our union must extend, as we extended when we joined. Union must reach out beyond itself, as we reached out beyond the body to let ourselves be joined. And now the sameness which we saw, extends, and finally removes all sense of differences. Now, the sameness underneath all differences becomes apparent. This is the golden circle where we recognize the Son of God. For what is born into a holy relationship can never end.]]>314acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-21-9-the-inner-shift
(75. Do I desire a world I rule instead of one which rules me?
Do I desire a world where I am powerful instead of helpless?
Do I desire a world in which I have no enemies and cannot sin?
And do I want to see what I denied, because it is the truth?)

85. Are thoughts then dangerous? To bodies, yes! The thoughts that seem to kill are those that teach the thinker he can be killed. And so he dies because of what he learned. He goes from life to death, the final proof he valued the inconstant more than constancy. Surely he thought he wanted happiness. Yet he did not desire it because it was the truth, and therefore must be constant.

86. The constancy of joy is a condition quite alien to my understanding. Yet if I could even imagine what it must be, I would desire it, although I do not understand it.

87. The constancy of happiness has no exceptions, no change of any kind. It is unshakable as is the love of God for His creation. As sure in its vision as its Creator is in what He knows, happiness looks on everything and sees everything is the same. It does not see the ephemeral, for it desires that everything be like itself, and so sees it. Nothing has the power to confound its constancy, because its own desire cannot be shaken. It comes as surely to those who see the final question is necessary to the rest, as peace must come to those who choose to heal and not to judge.

88. Reason tells me that I cannot inconstantly ask for happiness. I receive what I desire, and happiness, being constant, need only be asked for once to have it always. And if I do not always have happiness, I did not ask for it. Everyone asks for his desire if he believes it will be given him. He may be wrong in where, what, and of what he asks. Yet, desire is a request, made by one whom God Himself will always answer. Yet, while he remains uncertain, he does not desire happiness, and God cannot give him happiness unless it is received. God's giving must be complete, and I have already received all that I really want.

89. We, who complete God's Will, are His happiness, and our will is as powerful as His. Our power is not lost in our illusions. We must think carefully why we have not decided how we would answer the final question. Our answers to the other questions have helped us to a be partly sane. And yet, it is the final question that asks if we are really willing to be wholly sane.

90. The holy instant is God's appeal to recognize what is given to us. Here is the great appeal to reason, the awareness of what is always there to be seen, the happiness that could always be ours. Here is the constant peace we could experience forever. Here, what denial has denied, is revealed to us. For here, the final question is already answered, and what we ask for given. Here, the future is now, for time is powerless because of our desire for what will never change. We have asked that nothing stand between the holiness of our relationship and our awareness of its holiness.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5227181Wed, 19 Nov 2014 13:59:41 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-21.9-The Inner Shift (75. Do I desire a world I rule instead of one which rules me? Do I desire a world where I am powerful instead of helpless? Do I desire a world in which I have no enemies and cannot sin? And do I want...
(75. Do I desire a world I rule instead of one which rules me?
Do I desire a world where I am powerful instead of helpless?
Do I desire a world in which I have no enemies and cannot sin?
And do I want to see what I denied, because it is the truth?)

85. Are thoughts then dangerous? To bodies, yes! The thoughts that seem to kill are those that teach the thinker he can be killed. And so he dies because of what he learned. He goes from life to death, the final proof he valued the inconstant more than constancy. Surely he thought he wanted happiness. Yet he did not desire it because it was the truth, and therefore must be constant.

86. The constancy of joy is a condition quite alien to my understanding. Yet if I could even imagine what it must be, I would desire it, although I do not understand it.

87. The constancy of happiness has no exceptions, no change of any kind. It is unshakable as is the love of God for His creation. As sure in its vision as its Creator is in what He knows, happiness looks on everything and sees everything is the same. It does not see the ephemeral, for it desires that everything be like itself, and so sees it. Nothing has the power to confound its constancy, because its own desire cannot be shaken. It comes as surely to those who see the final question is necessary to the rest, as peace must come to those who choose to heal and not to judge.

88. Reason tells me that I cannot inconstantly ask for happiness. I receive what I desire, and happiness, being constant, need only be asked for once to have it always. And if I do not always have happiness, I did not ask for it. Everyone asks for his desire if he believes it will be given him. He may be wrong in where, what, and of what he asks. Yet, desire is a request, made by one whom God Himself will always answer. Yet, while he remains uncertain, he does not desire happiness, and God cannot give him happiness unless it is received. God's giving must be complete, and I have already received all that I really want.

89. We, who complete God's Will, are His happiness, and our will is as powerful as His. Our power is not lost in our illusions. We must think carefully why we have not decided how we would answer the final question. Our answers to the other questions have helped us to a be partly sane. And yet, it is the final question that asks if we are really willing to be wholly sane.

90. The holy instant is God's appeal to recognize what is given to us. Here is the great appeal to reason, the awareness of what is always there to be seen, the happiness that could always be ours. Here is the constant peace we could experience forever. Here, what denial has denied, is revealed to us. For here, the final question is already answered, and what we ask for given. Here, the future is now, for time is powerless because of our desire for what will never change. We have asked that nothing stand between the holiness of our relationship and our awareness of its holiness.]]>327acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-21-8-perception-and-wishes-2
76. I have already answered the first three questions, but not the last. For this one still seems fearful and unlike the rest. Yet reason would assure me they are all the same. We said this year would emphasize the sameness of things that are the same. This final question, which is the last I need decide, still seems to hold a threat that the rest do not. And this imagined difference attests to my belief that truth may be the enemy I yet may find. This seems to be the last remaining hope of finding sin and not accepting power.

77. I will not forget that the choice of truth or sin, power or helplessness, is the choice of whether to attack or heal. For healing comes of power, and attack comes of helplessness. Whom I attack I cannot want to heal. And whom I would have healed must be the one I choose to be protected from attack. This decision is the choice to see him through the body's eyes, or let him be revealed to me through vision. How this decision leads to its effects is not my problem. But what I want to see must be my choice. This is a course in cause and not effect.

78. Let me consider my answer to the last question carefully, and let reason tell me that it is answered in the other three. As I look on the effects of sin in any form, all I need do is ask myself,

79. Is this what I wish to see? Do I want this?

80. This one decision is the condition for what occurs. It is irrelevant how it happens, but not why it happens. I have control of this. And if I choose to see a world in which I am not helpless, a world with no enemy, the means to see it will be given me.

81. Reason will tell me why the last question is so important. It is the same as the other three except in time. The others are decisions which can be made, unmade, and made again. But truth is constant and implies a state where vacillations are impossible. I can desire a world I rule that does not rule me, and change my mind. I can desire to exchange my helplessness for power, and lose this desire as a little glint of sin still attracts me. And I can want to see a sinless world, then let an "enemy" tempt me to use the body's eyes, and change what I desire.

82. In content, all the questions are the same. Each question asks if I am willing to exchange the ego's world of sin for what the Holy Spirit sees, denying sin, and seeing the real world. Yet, the last question adds the wish for constancy in my desire to see the real world, so this desire becomes the only one I have. By answering the final question "yes," I add sincerity to the decisions I have already made. I have then renounced the option to change my mind again. When this is what I want, the rest are truly answered.

83. No one decides against his happiness, unless he doesn't see that he does it. I am not sure that the first three questions have been answered. Because, if they had, it would not be necessary that they be asked so often. Until the last decision has been made, the answer to the first three is both "yes" and "no." And if I see my happiness as ever changing, now this, now that, and now an elusive shadow attached to nothing, I do decide against my happiness.

84. The power of the Son of God's desire is proof that whoever sees himself as helpless, is wrong. Desire what I will, and I will look on it and think it real. Every thought has the power to release, or kill. And no thought can leave the thinker's mind, or leave him unaffected. Elusive happiness of changing form, happiness that shifts with time and place, is an illusion which has no meaning. Happiness must be constant, because happiness is attained by giving up the wish for the inconstant. Joy cannot be perceived except through constant vision. And constant vision can only be given to those who wish for constancy.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5221586Tue, 18 Nov 2014 02:07:41 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-21.8-Perception and Wishes.2 76. I have already answered the first three questions, but not the last. For this one still seems fearful and unlike the rest. Yet reason would assure me they are all the same. We said this year would emphasize...
76. I have already answered the first three questions, but not the last. For this one still seems fearful and unlike the rest. Yet reason would assure me they are all the same. We said this year would emphasize the sameness of things that are the same. This final question, which is the last I need decide, still seems to hold a threat that the rest do not. And this imagined difference attests to my belief that truth may be the enemy I yet may find. This seems to be the last remaining hope of finding sin and not accepting power.

77. I will not forget that the choice of truth or sin, power or helplessness, is the choice of whether to attack or heal. For healing comes of power, and attack comes of helplessness. Whom I attack I cannot want to heal. And whom I would have healed must be the one I choose to be protected from attack. This decision is the choice to see him through the body's eyes, or let him be revealed to me through vision. How this decision leads to its effects is not my problem. But what I want to see must be my choice. This is a course in cause and not effect.

78. Let me consider my answer to the last question carefully, and let reason tell me that it is answered in the other three. As I look on the effects of sin in any form, all I need do is ask myself,

79. Is this what I wish to see? Do I want this?

80. This one decision is the condition for what occurs. It is irrelevant how it happens, but not why it happens. I have control of this. And if I choose to see a world in which I am not helpless, a world with no enemy, the means to see it will be given me.

81. Reason will tell me why the last question is so important. It is the same as the other three except in time. The others are decisions which can be made, unmade, and made again. But truth is constant and implies a state where vacillations are impossible. I can desire a world I rule that does not rule me, and change my mind. I can desire to exchange my helplessness for power, and lose this desire as a little glint of sin still attracts me. And I can want to see a sinless world, then let an "enemy" tempt me to use the body's eyes, and change what I desire.

82. In content, all the questions are the same. Each question asks if I am willing to exchange the ego's world of sin for what the Holy Spirit sees, denying sin, and seeing the real world. Yet, the last question adds the wish for constancy in my desire to see the real world, so this desire becomes the only one I have. By answering the final question "yes," I add sincerity to the decisions I have already made. I have then renounced the option to change my mind again. When this is what I want, the rest are truly answered.

83. No one decides against his happiness, unless he doesn't see that he does it. I am not sure that the first three questions have been answered. Because, if they had, it would not be necessary that they be asked so often. Until the last decision has been made, the answer to the first three is both "yes" and "no." And if I see my happiness as ever changing, now this, now that, and now an elusive shadow attached to nothing, I do decide against my happiness.

84. The power of the Son of God's desire is proof that whoever sees himself as helpless, is wrong. Desire what I will, and I will look on it and think it real. Every thought has the power to release, or kill. And no thought can leave the thinker's mind, or leave him unaffected. Elusive happiness of changing form, happiness that shifts with time and place, is an illusion which has no meaning. Happiness must be constant, because happiness is attained by giving up the wish for the inconstant. Joy cannot be perceived except through constant vision. And constant vision can only be given to those who wish for constancy.]]>434acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-21-8-perception-and-wishes-1
70. Helplessness is sin's condition. This one requirement demands that helplessness be believed. It is the cost of sin, and only the helpless could believe in sin. I can see that all my misery comes from the strange belief that I am powerless. Enormity has appeal only to the little, and only those who believe that they are little could see attraction there. Treachery to the Son of God is the defense of those who do not identify with him. I am for him, or against him. Either I love him or attack him, protect his unity, or see him shattered and slain by my attack.

71. No one believes the Son of God is powerless. And those who see themselves as helpless, must believe that they are not the Son of God. They can only be his enemy. They envy him his power, and so make themselves afraid of his power. They are the dark ones, silent, afraid, alone, not communicating, and fearful that the power of the Son of God will strike them dead. They join the army of the powerless, raising their helplessness against the Son, waging their war of vengeance, bitterness and spite on him, to make him one with them. Only they do not know that they are one with him, and do not know whom they hate. Theirs is a sorry army indeed, each one as likely to attack his brother, or to turn on himself, as to remember that they thought theirs was a common cause.

72. The dark ones seem to be frantic, loud and strong. They do not know their enemy, yet they hate him. In hatred they come together, but they have not joined with each other. If they had joined, hatred would be impossible. An army in dreams would be treacherous, and act any way at all. It could be seen attacking anyone with anything. Dreams have no reason in them. A flower turns into a poisoned spear, a child becomes a giant, a mouse roars like a lion, and love turns to hate. This is no army, but a madhouse, and what seems to be a planned attack is bedlam. The powerless army will be disbanded in the presence of strength. Those who are strong have no need to dream of power, and to act out their dream.

73. The army of the powerless has no weapons, and it has no enemy. It can overrun the world and seek an enemy, but it can never find what is not there. This weak army can dream it found an enemy, but this will shift even as it attacks. It runs at once to find another enemy, and never comes to rest in victory. This treacherous enemy changes appearance, so it is always impossible to recognize him! This army turns against itself, thinking it caught a glimpse of the enemy which eludes its attack by turning into something else.

74. Yet hate must have a target. There can be no faith in sin without an enemy. No one who believes in sin can believe he has no enemy. He could not admit that no one made him powerless. Yet, reason tells him not to seek any longer for what is not there. First, he must be willing to perceive a world where there is no sin. It is not necessary that he understands how he can see a sinless world. He must not try to understand. He will emphasize his helplessness if he focuses on what he cannot understand. Let him ask himself only these questions, which he must decide, to have a sinless world shown to him:

75. Do I desire a world I rule instead of one which rules me?
Do I desire a world where I am powerful instead of helpless?
Do I desire a world in which I have no enemies and cannot sin?
And do I want to see what I denied, because it is the truth?]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5217868Mon, 17 Nov 2014 03:40:58 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-21.8-Perception and Wishes.1 70. Helplessness is sin's condition. This one requirement demands that helplessness be believed. It is the cost of sin, and only the helpless could believe in sin. I can see that all my misery comes from...
70. Helplessness is sin's condition. This one requirement demands that helplessness be believed. It is the cost of sin, and only the helpless could believe in sin. I can see that all my misery comes from the strange belief that I am powerless. Enormity has appeal only to the little, and only those who believe that they are little could see attraction there. Treachery to the Son of God is the defense of those who do not identify with him. I am for him, or against him. Either I love him or attack him, protect his unity, or see him shattered and slain by my attack.

71. No one believes the Son of God is powerless. And those who see themselves as helpless, must believe that they are not the Son of God. They can only be his enemy. They envy him his power, and so make themselves afraid of his power. They are the dark ones, silent, afraid, alone, not communicating, and fearful that the power of the Son of God will strike them dead. They join the army of the powerless, raising their helplessness against the Son, waging their war of vengeance, bitterness and spite on him, to make him one with them. Only they do not know that they are one with him, and do not know whom they hate. Theirs is a sorry army indeed, each one as likely to attack his brother, or to turn on himself, as to remember that they thought theirs was a common cause.

72. The dark ones seem to be frantic, loud and strong. They do not know their enemy, yet they hate him. In hatred they come together, but they have not joined with each other. If they had joined, hatred would be impossible. An army in dreams would be treacherous, and act any way at all. It could be seen attacking anyone with anything. Dreams have no reason in them. A flower turns into a poisoned spear, a child becomes a giant, a mouse roars like a lion, and love turns to hate. This is no army, but a madhouse, and what seems to be a planned attack is bedlam. The powerless army will be disbanded in the presence of strength. Those who are strong have no need to dream of power, and to act out their dream.

73. The army of the powerless has no weapons, and it has no enemy. It can overrun the world and seek an enemy, but it can never find what is not there. This weak army can dream it found an enemy, but this will shift even as it attacks. It runs at once to find another enemy, and never comes to rest in victory. This treacherous enemy changes appearance, so it is always impossible to recognize him! This army turns against itself, thinking it caught a glimpse of the enemy which eludes its attack by turning into something else.

74. Yet hate must have a target. There can be no faith in sin without an enemy. No one who believes in sin can believe he has no enemy. He could not admit that no one made him powerless. Yet, reason tells him not to seek any longer for what is not there. First, he must be willing to perceive a world where there is no sin. It is not necessary that he understands how he can see a sinless world. He must not try to understand. He will emphasize his helplessness if he focuses on what he cannot understand. Let him ask himself only these questions, which he must decide, to have a sinless world shown to him:

75. Do I desire a world I rule instead of one which rules me?
Do I desire a world where I am powerful instead of helpless?
Do I desire a world in which I have no enemies and cannot sin?
And do I want to see what I denied, because it is the truth?]]>412acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-21-7-reason-and-correction-2
65. Reason, like love, would reassure me and does not seek to frighten me. The power to heal the Son of God is given me because he must be one with me. I am responsible for how he sees himself. And reason tells me it is given me to change his whole mind, which is one with me, in just an instant. And any instant serves to bring complete correction of his errors and make him whole. The instant that I choose to let myself be healed, in that same instant is his whole salvation seen as complete with mine. Reason is given me to understand that this is so. For reason is kind, as is the purpose for which it is the means, and leads steadily away from madness toward the goal of truth. And here I will lay down the burden of denying truth. This is the burden that is terrible, and not the truth.

66. Our being joined is our salvation, the gift of Heaven, not the gift of fear. In madness, Heaven seems to be a burden to me. And yet, what madness sees must be dispelled by reason. Reason assures me that Heaven is what I want, and all I want. I listen to Him Who speaks with reason, and brings my reason into line with His. I am willing to let reason be the means by which the Holy Spirit would direct me how to leave insanity behind. I will not hide behind insanity to escape from reason. What madness would conceal, the Holy Spirit holds out for everyone to look upon with gladness.

*67. I am my brother's savior, and he is mine. Reason speaks happily indeed of this. This gracious plan was given love by Love. And what Love plans is like Itself in this: being united, Love would have me learn what I must be. And being one with Love, it is given me to give what Love has given, and still gives. I spend an instant in the glad acceptance of what is given me to give my brother, and learn with him what has been given both of us. To give is no more blessed than to receive. But neither is it less.

68. The Son of God is always blessed as one. And as his gratitude comes to me who blessed him, reason tells me that I am included in the blessing. The gratitude my brother offers me reminds me of the gratitude my Father gives me for completing HIm. It is only here that I can understand what I am. My Father is as close to me as is my brother. Yet what is there that could be nearer to me than my Self?

69. The power that I have over the Son of God is not a threat to his reality. The power only attests to his reality. His freedom lies only in himself, if he is already free. And if he denies his freedom, no one could imprison him, except himself. God is not mocked, and no more can His Son be imprisoned except by his own desire. And it is by his own desire that he is freed. Such is his strength, and not his weakness. He is at his own mercy. And where he chooses to be merciful, there he is free. But where he chooses to condemn instead, there he is held a prisoner, waiting in chains for his pardon on himself, to set himself free.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5207350Fri, 14 Nov 2014 12:46:04 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-21.7-Reason and Correction.2 65. Reason, like love, would reassure me and does not seek to frighten me. The power to heal the Son of God is given me because he must be one with me. I am responsible for how he sees himself. And reason tells...
65. Reason, like love, would reassure me and does not seek to frighten me. The power to heal the Son of God is given me because he must be one with me. I am responsible for how he sees himself. And reason tells me it is given me to change his whole mind, which is one with me, in just an instant. And any instant serves to bring complete correction of his errors and make him whole. The instant that I choose to let myself be healed, in that same instant is his whole salvation seen as complete with mine. Reason is given me to understand that this is so. For reason is kind, as is the purpose for which it is the means, and leads steadily away from madness toward the goal of truth. And here I will lay down the burden of denying truth. This is the burden that is terrible, and not the truth.

66. Our being joined is our salvation, the gift of Heaven, not the gift of fear. In madness, Heaven seems to be a burden to me. And yet, what madness sees must be dispelled by reason. Reason assures me that Heaven is what I want, and all I want. I listen to Him Who speaks with reason, and brings my reason into line with His. I am willing to let reason be the means by which the Holy Spirit would direct me how to leave insanity behind. I will not hide behind insanity to escape from reason. What madness would conceal, the Holy Spirit holds out for everyone to look upon with gladness.

*67. I am my brother's savior, and he is mine. Reason speaks happily indeed of this. This gracious plan was given love by Love. And what Love plans is like Itself in this: being united, Love would have me learn what I must be. And being one with Love, it is given me to give what Love has given, and still gives. I spend an instant in the glad acceptance of what is given me to give my brother, and learn with him what has been given both of us. To give is no more blessed than to receive. But neither is it less.

68. The Son of God is always blessed as one. And as his gratitude comes to me who blessed him, reason tells me that I am included in the blessing. The gratitude my brother offers me reminds me of the gratitude my Father gives me for completing HIm. It is only here that I can understand what I am. My Father is as close to me as is my brother. Yet what is there that could be nearer to me than my Self?

69. The power that I have over the Son of God is not a threat to his reality. The power only attests to his reality. His freedom lies only in himself, if he is already free. And if he denies his freedom, no one could imprison him, except himself. God is not mocked, and no more can His Son be imprisoned except by his own desire. And it is by his own desire that he is freed. Such is his strength, and not his weakness. He is at his own mercy. And where he chooses to be merciful, there he is free. But where he chooses to condemn instead, there he is held a prisoner, waiting in chains for his pardon on himself, to set himself free.]]>334acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-21-7-reason-and-correction-1
59. Reason values only the correction of errors. Reason cannot see sin, only errors, and it leads to their correction. When I think I sin, reason tells me that I only call for help. If I accept the help I called for, I will believe that help is mine to give, and giving help, undo the belief in sin. For uncorrected error deceives me about the power that is in me to make correction. If the power in me can correct, and I do not allow it to do so, I deny correction to myself and to my brother. If my brother shares this belief, we both will think that we are damned. We could both be spared from this, for reason would not make correction in me alone.

60. Correction cannot be accepted or refused by me without my brother, but sin would maintain it can. Yet reason tells me that I cannot see my brother, or myself, as sinful, and still perceive the other innocent. No one looks upon himself as guilty and sees a sinless world. And no one can see a sinful world, and see himself apart from it. Sin maintains that I am separate. But reason tells me that this must be wrong. How could it be that I have private thoughts if I am joined? And how could thoughts that enter into what seems like only mine alone, have no effect at all on what is yours? If minds are joined, this is impossible.

61. God does not think without His Son, and no one can think only for himself. Only if both were in bodies could this be true. Nor could one mind think only for itself unless the body were the mind. For only bodies can be separate and therefore unreal. The home of madness cannot be the home of reason. Yet if I see reason, it is easy to leave the home of madness. I do not leave insanity by going somewhere else. I leave it simply by accepting reason where madness was. Madness and reason see the same things, but it is certain that they look upon them differently.

62. Madness is an attack on reason that drives reason out of mind, and madness takes its place. Reason does not attack, but takes the place of madness quietly, replacing madness if it is the will of the insane to listen to reason. But the insane do not know their will. For they believe they see the body, and let their madness tell them the body is real. Reason would be incapable of this. And if I would defend the body against my reason, I will not understand myself or the body.

63. I am insane if I think the body separates me from my brother. It must be insane to see the body as a barrier, between what reason tells me must be joined. I could not see the body if I heard the voice of reason. There can be nothing that stands between that which is continuous. And if there is nothing in between, how can what enters one part be kept away from the other parts? Reason would tell me this. But, I will think what I must recognize if this is so. But, madness has a purpose, and believes it has the means to make its purpose real.

64. If I choose sin instead of healing, I would condemn the Son of God to what can never be corrected. I tell him by my choice that he is damned, separate from me and from his Father forever, and with no hope of safe return. This is what I teach him, and will learn of him exactly what I taught. I can only teach my brother that he is as I would have him be. And what I choose that he be, is also my choice for myself. I will not think this is fearful. It is a fact, not an interpretation, that I am joined to him. How can a fact be fearful, unless it disagrees with something I hold more dear than truth? Reason will tell me that this fact is my release. Neither my brother nor myself can be attacked alone. But neither can we accept a miracle instead, without the other being blessed by the miracle and healed of pain.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5203141Thu, 13 Nov 2014 13:24:01 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-21.7-Reason and Correction.1 59. Reason values only the correction of errors. Reason cannot see sin, only errors, and it leads to their correction. When I think I sin, reason tells me that I only call for help. If I accept the help I...
59. Reason values only the correction of errors. Reason cannot see sin, only errors, and it leads to their correction. When I think I sin, reason tells me that I only call for help. If I accept the help I called for, I will believe that help is mine to give, and giving help, undo the belief in sin. For uncorrected error deceives me about the power that is in me to make correction. If the power in me can correct, and I do not allow it to do so, I deny correction to myself and to my brother. If my brother shares this belief, we both will think that we are damned. We could both be spared from this, for reason would not make correction in me alone.

60. Correction cannot be accepted or refused by me without my brother, but sin would maintain it can. Yet reason tells me that I cannot see my brother, or myself, as sinful, and still perceive the other innocent. No one looks upon himself as guilty and sees a sinless world. And no one can see a sinful world, and see himself apart from it. Sin maintains that I am separate. But reason tells me that this must be wrong. How could it be that I have private thoughts if I am joined? And how could thoughts that enter into what seems like only mine alone, have no effect at all on what is yours? If minds are joined, this is impossible.

61. God does not think without His Son, and no one can think only for himself. Only if both were in bodies could this be true. Nor could one mind think only for itself unless the body were the mind. For only bodies can be separate and therefore unreal. The home of madness cannot be the home of reason. Yet if I see reason, it is easy to leave the home of madness. I do not leave insanity by going somewhere else. I leave it simply by accepting reason where madness was. Madness and reason see the same things, but it is certain that they look upon them differently.

62. Madness is an attack on reason that drives reason out of mind, and madness takes its place. Reason does not attack, but takes the place of madness quietly, replacing madness if it is the will of the insane to listen to reason. But the insane do not know their will. For they believe they see the body, and let their madness tell them the body is real. Reason would be incapable of this. And if I would defend the body against my reason, I will not understand myself or the body.

63. I am insane if I think the body separates me from my brother. It must be insane to see the body as a barrier, between what reason tells me must be joined. I could not see the body if I heard the voice of reason. There can be nothing that stands between that which is continuous. And if there is nothing in between, how can what enters one part be kept away from the other parts? Reason would tell me this. But, I will think what I must recognize if this is so. But, madness has a purpose, and believes it has the means to make its purpose real.

64. If I choose sin instead of healing, I would condemn the Son of God to what can never be corrected. I tell him by my choice that he is damned, separate from me and from his Father forever, and with no hope of safe return. This is what I teach him, and will learn of him exactly what I taught. I can only teach my brother that he is as I would have him be. And what I choose that he be, is also my choice for myself. I will not think this is fearful. It is a fact, not an interpretation, that I am joined to him. How can a fact be fearful, unless it disagrees with something I hold more dear than truth? Reason will tell me that this fact is my release. Neither my brother nor myself can be attacked alone. But neither can we accept a miracle instead, without the other being blessed by the miracle and healed of pain.]]>447acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-21-6-reason-and-perception-2
54. God's plan is simple, never circular and never self defeating. He has no Thoughts except the Self-extending, and in this my will must be included. Thus, there must be a part of me that knows His Will and shares it. It is not meaningful to ask if what must be is so. But it is meaningful to ask, "Why am I unaware of what is so (true)?". This must have an answer for God's plan of salvation to be complete. God's plan is complete, because the Source does not know of incompletion. The answer is in the Source, the same place where I am. My Identity is as much a true effect of this Source as is the answer, and must be with and the same as, the answer.

55. I know this, and more than this. However, any part of knowledge threatens dissociation as much as all of knowledge. And all of knowledge will come with any part. Here is the part I can accept. The witnesses on behalf of reason are clear. Only the totally insane can disregard them, and I have gone past this. Reason, in its own right, is a means which serves the Holy Spirit's purpose. It is not reinterpreted and redirected from the goal of sin, as the other means are. For reason is beyond the ego's range of means.

56. Reason has no place in madness, and cannot be adjusted to fit the goal of madness. Faith, belief and perception can be misplaced, and can serve the great deceiver's needs, as well as serving truth. Faith and belief are strong in madness, guiding perception toward ego values accepted by the mind. Reason does not enter into this at all. If reason were applied, the perception would immediately disappear. There is no reason in insanity, for insanity depends on the absence of reason. The ego never uses reason, because it does not realize that reason exists. The partially insane have access to reason, and only they need it. Knowledge does not depend on reason, and madness keeps it out.

57. The part of mind where reason lies, was dedicated to the undoing of insanity by my will in union with my Father's. Here, the Holy Spirit's purpose was accepted and accomplished both at once. Reason is alien to insanity, and those who use reason have gained a means which cannot be applied to sin. Reason can be used to open doors that lead to knowledge, but knowledge is far beyond attainment of any kind.

58. I have come very close to this. Faith and belief have shifted, and I have asked the question which the ego will never ask. My reason tells me now the question must have come from something that I do not know, but must belong to me. Faith and belief, upheld by reason, cannot fail to lead to changed perception. And with this change, space is made for vision. Vision extends far beyond itself, as does the purpose which vision serves, and all the means for the accomplishment of the Holy Spirit's purpose.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5197269Wed, 12 Nov 2014 02:43:33 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-21.6-Reason and Perception.2 54. God's plan is simple, never circular and never self defeating. He has no Thoughts except the Self-extending, and in this my will must be included. Thus, there must be a part of me that knows His Will and...
54. God's plan is simple, never circular and never self defeating. He has no Thoughts except the Self-extending, and in this my will must be included. Thus, there must be a part of me that knows His Will and shares it. It is not meaningful to ask if what must be is so. But it is meaningful to ask, "Why am I unaware of what is so (true)?". This must have an answer for God's plan of salvation to be complete. God's plan is complete, because the Source does not know of incompletion. The answer is in the Source, the same place where I am. My Identity is as much a true effect of this Source as is the answer, and must be with and the same as, the answer.

55. I know this, and more than this. However, any part of knowledge threatens dissociation as much as all of knowledge. And all of knowledge will come with any part. Here is the part I can accept. The witnesses on behalf of reason are clear. Only the totally insane can disregard them, and I have gone past this. Reason, in its own right, is a means which serves the Holy Spirit's purpose. It is not reinterpreted and redirected from the goal of sin, as the other means are. For reason is beyond the ego's range of means.

56. Reason has no place in madness, and cannot be adjusted to fit the goal of madness. Faith, belief and perception can be misplaced, and can serve the great deceiver's needs, as well as serving truth. Faith and belief are strong in madness, guiding perception toward ego values accepted by the mind. Reason does not enter into this at all. If reason were applied, the perception would immediately disappear. There is no reason in insanity, for insanity depends on the absence of reason. The ego never uses reason, because it does not realize that reason exists. The partially insane have access to reason, and only they need it. Knowledge does not depend on reason, and madness keeps it out.

57. The part of mind where reason lies, was dedicated to the undoing of insanity by my will in union with my Father's. Here, the Holy Spirit's purpose was accepted and accomplished both at once. Reason is alien to insanity, and those who use reason have gained a means which cannot be applied to sin. Reason can be used to open doors that lead to knowledge, but knowledge is far beyond attainment of any kind.

58. I have come very close to this. Faith and belief have shifted, and I have asked the question which the ego will never ask. My reason tells me now the question must have come from something that I do not know, but must belong to me. Faith and belief, upheld by reason, cannot fail to lead to changed perception. And with this change, space is made for vision. Vision extends far beyond itself, as does the purpose which vision serves, and all the means for the accomplishment of the Holy Spirit's purpose.]]>321acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-21-6-reason-and-perception-1
49. Perception makes and selects the world I see. It literally picks it out as the mind directs. Perhaps the laws of size, shape and brightness would hold if other things were equal. But other things are not equal. I am more likely to find what I wish to see, than what I prefer to overlook. Perception is a choice and not a fact. But far more depends on this choice than I realize. To those who want to hear it, the still small Voice for God is not drowned out by all the ego's raucous screams and senseless ravings. The voice I choose to hear, and sight I choose to see, depends entirely on my belief in what I am. Perception is a witness only to this, and never to reality. Yet perception can show me the conditions in which awareness of reality is possible, or it can show me conditions where reality could never be.

50. Reality can be itself without my help. However, my awareness of reality needs my help, because it is my choice. If I listen to what the ego says, and see what it directs me to see, I will see myself as tiny, vulnerable, and afraid. And I will experience depression, a sense of worthlessness, and feelings of unreality and impermanence. I will believe that I am prey to powerful forces beyond my control, and that my destiny is directed by the world I made. This will be my faith. I do not know that it is my faith that makes the ego's world seem real.

51. There is another Vision and another Voice awaiting my choice. By placing my faith in them, I will perceive another Self in myself. This other Self sees miracles as natural, as breathing is to the body. Miracles are the only response It makes to calls for help. Miracles seem unnatural to the ego, because it does not understand how separate minds can influence each other. But minds cannot be separate. This other Self is perfectly aware of this, so It recognizes that miracles do not affect another's mind, only Its own. Miracles always change my mind, and there is no other mind.

52. I do not realize the extent that the idea of separation has interfered with reason. Reason is in the Self that I cut off from my awareness. Nothing I have allowed to stay in my awareness is capable of reason. This part of the mind with no reason cannot understand what it is, or grasp the information reason would give. This part of the mind will not ask questions that stem from reason, and that only reason could answer. The basic question that stems from reason is obvious, simple, and remains unasked.

53. The eternal Will of God exists and must be true. God's Will must have been accepted by the Son, for the Son must receive what God wills for him. God does not will apart from the Son, and being eternal, the Self that joined the Will of God, must be in me now. God's plan for my salvation could not have been established without my will and consent. I set aside a place in which the Holy Spirit can abide and where He is. He has been there since the need for Him arose, and was fulfilled in the same instant, for God's Will does not wait on time to be accomplished. Reason exists for me, having my freedom as it's given purpose. If I will listen, I am free to find the reasoning that tells me this. My reasoning is not the ego's "reasoning". The ego's alien nature is proof that I will not find the answer with its reasoning.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5191296Mon, 10 Nov 2014 17:13:59 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-21.6-Reason and Perception.1 49. Perception makes and selects the world I see. It literally picks it out as the mind directs. Perhaps the laws of size, shape and brightness would hold if other things were equal. But other things are not...
49. Perception makes and selects the world I see. It literally picks it out as the mind directs. Perhaps the laws of size, shape and brightness would hold if other things were equal. But other things are not equal. I am more likely to find what I wish to see, than what I prefer to overlook. Perception is a choice and not a fact. But far more depends on this choice than I realize. To those who want to hear it, the still small Voice for God is not drowned out by all the ego's raucous screams and senseless ravings. The voice I choose to hear, and sight I choose to see, depends entirely on my belief in what I am. Perception is a witness only to this, and never to reality. Yet perception can show me the conditions in which awareness of reality is possible, or it can show me conditions where reality could never be.

50. Reality can be itself without my help. However, my awareness of reality needs my help, because it is my choice. If I listen to what the ego says, and see what it directs me to see, I will see myself as tiny, vulnerable, and afraid. And I will experience depression, a sense of worthlessness, and feelings of unreality and impermanence. I will believe that I am prey to powerful forces beyond my control, and that my destiny is directed by the world I made. This will be my faith. I do not know that it is my faith that makes the ego's world seem real.

51. There is another Vision and another Voice awaiting my choice. By placing my faith in them, I will perceive another Self in myself. This other Self sees miracles as natural, as breathing is to the body. Miracles are the only response It makes to calls for help. Miracles seem unnatural to the ego, because it does not understand how separate minds can influence each other. But minds cannot be separate. This other Self is perfectly aware of this, so It recognizes that miracles do not affect another's mind, only Its own. Miracles always change my mind, and there is no other mind.

52. I do not realize the extent that the idea of separation has interfered with reason. Reason is in the Self that I cut off from my awareness. Nothing I have allowed to stay in my awareness is capable of reason. This part of the mind with no reason cannot understand what it is, or grasp the information reason would give. This part of the mind will not ask questions that stem from reason, and that only reason could answer. The basic question that stems from reason is obvious, simple, and remains unasked.

53. The eternal Will of God exists and must be true. God's Will must have been accepted by the Son, for the Son must receive what God wills for him. God does not will apart from the Son, and being eternal, the Self that joined the Will of God, must be in me now. God's plan for my salvation could not have been established without my will and consent. I set aside a place in which the Holy Spirit can abide and where He is. He has been there since the need for Him arose, and was fulfilled in the same instant, for God's Will does not wait on time to be accomplished. Reason exists for me, having my freedom as it's given purpose. If I will listen, I am free to find the reasoning that tells me this. My reasoning is not the ego's "reasoning". The ego's alien nature is proof that I will not find the answer with its reasoning.]]>377cleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-21-5-the-fear-to-look-within
41. The Holy Spirit will never teach me that I am sinful. He will correct errors, but this is not fearful. I am willing to admit that I am afraid to look within and see the sin I think is there. My faith that sin is there witnesses to my desire that sin be there to see. The ego deems that fear, in association with sin is quite appropriate, lets me feel ashamed, and smiles approvingly. Yet this only seems to be the source of fear. The ego's temples do not shake because of this.

42. I remember that the ego is not alone. Its rule is tempered, and it fears an unknown "enemy", that it cannot see. The ego loudly tells me not to look inward, for if I do, my eyes will light on sin, and God will strike me blind. I believe this, and so I do not look. The ego makes this claim, too loudly and too often. Yet this is not the ego's hidden fear, nor mine as servant of the ego. For underneath this constant shout and frantic proclamation, the ego is not certain it is true. Beneath my fear to look within because of sin, is another fear, which does makes the ego tremble.

43. What if I looked within and saw no sin? This "fearful" question is one the ego never asks. And I, who ask it now, am threatening the ego's whole defensive system too seriously for it to pretend to be my friend. My belief in sin has been shaken. I am willing to look within now, and not find sin. Those who have joined their brothers have detached themselves from the belief their identity lies in the ego. A holy relationship is one in which I join with what is part of myself in truth.

44. My liberation is born within me, but still limited and incomplete. Not being wholly mad, I have been willing to look on much of my insanity and recognize its madness. My faith is moving inward, past insanity and on to reason. What my reason tells me now, the ego would never hear. The Holy Spirit's purpose is accepted by the part of my mind the ego does not know, and neither did I. Yet, I now identify with this part of the mind and am not afraid to look within. This mind is willing to see the Holy Spirit's purpose as its own, because it knows no sin.

*45. Since time began this mind has seen and recognized my brother. It desired only to join with him and to be free again as it once was. It has been waiting for the acceptance of release and birth of freedom to come to me. Now I recognize there is something else within me, that it was not the ego that joined the Holy Spirit's purpose. This is not madness. It is what my reason tells me, and follows perfectly from what I have already learned.

46. There is no inconsistency in the Holy Spirit's teaching. This is the reasoning of the sane. We perceived the ego's madness, and because we did not choose to share in it, we are not afraid. The madness still deceives us at times. Yet in our saner moments, its ranting strikes no terror in our hearts. In its rage at our "presumption" to look within, the ego would withdraw its gifts from us. We realize we do not want the gifts. A few trinkets still seem to shine and catch our eye, but we would not give up Heaven to have them.

47. Now the ego is afraid. What the ego hears in terror, the other part of our mind hears as the sweetest music. The mind has longed to hear this song since the ego came. This song of freedom sings the praises of another world, bringing to our mind the hope of peace. The part of mind that remembers Heaven, sees that Heaven has come to earth at last. The ego's rule has kept it out so long. Heaven has come because it has found a home on earth in our relationship. And earth no longer can hold what has been given to Heaven as its own.

48. We look gently on each other, and remember the ego's weakness is revealed in both our sight. What the ego would keep apart, has met and joined, and looks without fear on the ego. We are like little children, innocent of sin, following in gladness the way to certainty. We are not held back by fear's insane insistence that sureness lies in doubt. This has no meaning, no matter how loudly it is proclaimed. The senseless is not made meaningful by repetition and clamor. The quiet way is open. We will follow it happily and not question what must be true.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5186654Sun, 09 Nov 2014 13:17:33 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-21.5-The Fear to Look Within 41. The Holy Spirit will never teach me that I am sinful. He will correct errors, but this is not fearful. I am willing to admit that I am afraid to look within and see the sin I think is there. My faith that...
41. The Holy Spirit will never teach me that I am sinful. He will correct errors, but this is not fearful. I am willing to admit that I am afraid to look within and see the sin I think is there. My faith that sin is there witnesses to my desire that sin be there to see. The ego deems that fear, in association with sin is quite appropriate, lets me feel ashamed, and smiles approvingly. Yet this only seems to be the source of fear. The ego's temples do not shake because of this.

42. I remember that the ego is not alone. Its rule is tempered, and it fears an unknown "enemy", that it cannot see. The ego loudly tells me not to look inward, for if I do, my eyes will light on sin, and God will strike me blind. I believe this, and so I do not look. The ego makes this claim, too loudly and too often. Yet this is not the ego's hidden fear, nor mine as servant of the ego. For underneath this constant shout and frantic proclamation, the ego is not certain it is true. Beneath my fear to look within because of sin, is another fear, which does makes the ego tremble.

43. What if I looked within and saw no sin? This "fearful" question is one the ego never asks. And I, who ask it now, am threatening the ego's whole defensive system too seriously for it to pretend to be my friend. My belief in sin has been shaken. I am willing to look within now, and not find sin. Those who have joined their brothers have detached themselves from the belief their identity lies in the ego. A holy relationship is one in which I join with what is part of myself in truth.

44. My liberation is born within me, but still limited and incomplete. Not being wholly mad, I have been willing to look on much of my insanity and recognize its madness. My faith is moving inward, past insanity and on to reason. What my reason tells me now, the ego would never hear. The Holy Spirit's purpose is accepted by the part of my mind the ego does not know, and neither did I. Yet, I now identify with this part of the mind and am not afraid to look within. This mind is willing to see the Holy Spirit's purpose as its own, because it knows no sin.

*45. Since time began this mind has seen and recognized my brother. It desired only to join with him and to be free again as it once was. It has been waiting for the acceptance of release and birth of freedom to come to me. Now I recognize there is something else within me, that it was not the ego that joined the Holy Spirit's purpose. This is not madness. It is what my reason tells me, and follows perfectly from what I have already learned.

46. There is no inconsistency in the Holy Spirit's teaching. This is the reasoning of the sane. We perceived the ego's madness, and because we did not choose to share in it, we are not afraid. The madness still deceives us at times. Yet in our saner moments, its ranting strikes no terror in our hearts. In its rage at our "presumption" to look within, the ego would withdraw its gifts from us. We realize we do not want the gifts. A few trinkets still seem to shine and catch our eye, but we would not give up Heaven to have them.

47. Now the ego is afraid. What the ego hears in terror, the other part of our mind hears as the sweetest music. The mind has longed to hear this song since the ego came. This song of freedom sings the praises of another world, bringing to our mind the hope of peace. The part of mind that remembers Heaven, sees that Heaven has come to earth at last. The ego's rule has kept it out so long. Heaven has come because it has found a home on earth in our relationship. And earth no longer can hold what has been given to Heaven as its own.

48. We look gently on each other, and remember the ego's weakness is revealed in both our sight. What the ego would keep apart, has met and joined, and looks without...]]>492acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-21-4-faith-belief-and-vision-2
35. Faith/belief now become attached to vision. All the means that once served sin are redirected toward holiness. Sin is redefined as limitation. Because of fear, I hate those I try to limit to the body, and refuse to forgive my brother. I would condemn him to the body, because the means for sin are dear to me. Yet, holiness would set my brother free, removing hatred by removing fear at its source, not as a symptom.

36. Those can have no fear who would free their brothers from the body. They have renounced the means for sin, by choosing to let all limitations be removed. Desiring to see their brothers as holy, the power of faith/belief supports vision, and goes beyond the body. First, they recognized how much their faith/belief in sin had limited their understanding of the world. Now, when another point of view is presented, they choose to place faith's/belief's power in holiness. For all who choose to look away from sin are given vision, and led to holiness. Also born of faith/belief, are the miracles which follow this decision.

37. Those who believe in sin, must think the Holy Spirit asks for sacrifice, for sacrifice is how they think their purpose is accomplished. Brothers, the Holy Spirit makes no bargains, and He knows that sacrifice brings nothing. If I seek to limit Him, I will hate Him because I am afraid. The gift that He has given me is more than anything this side of Heaven. The instant for the recognition of His gift is at hand. I will join my awareness to what is already joined, and this can be accomplished by the faith we give to each other. For The Holy Spirit loves the world and He is seeing it for me, sinless, and with the innocence that makes this world beautiful as Heaven.

38. Sacrifice must be asked of a body, by another body. The mind could neither ask for, nor receive sacrifice of itself. And neither could a body. The purpose for sin is in the mind, which tries to use the body to carry out the means for sin, in which the mind believes. For those who value sin, the joining of the mind and the body is an inescapable belief. My faith in sacrifice has given it great power in my sight. I do not realize that I cannot see, because of my faith in sacrifice. And so, sacrifice is always a means for limitation and hate.

39. Do I think the Holy Spirit is concerned with this? The Holy Spirit does not give me what it is His purpose to lead me away from. I think He would deprive me for my good. But "good" and "deprivation" are opposites and cannot meaningfully join in any way. Are the moon and sun joined because they come with night and day? The sight of one is the sign the other has disappeared. One gives light and the other depends on darkness to be seen. Neither demands the sacrifice of the other. Yet, to be seen, the absence of the other is required.

40. The body was made as a sacrifice to sin, and so it is seen in darkness. I transferred perception, belief/faith, from mind to body. The faith/belief I gave the body, belongs beyond the body. In the light of vision, the body is seen quite differently. I can have faith in the body to serve the Holy Spirit's goal, as means to help the blind to see, looking past the body. Now I let perception, belief/faith be given back to the mind that produced them. The mind can still use them to save itself from what it made.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5178613Fri, 07 Nov 2014 11:55:20 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-21.4-Faith, Belief, and Vision.2 35. Faith/belief now become attached to vision. All the means that once served sin are redirected toward holiness. Sin is redefined as limitation. Because of fear, I hate those I try to limit to the body,...
35. Faith/belief now become attached to vision. All the means that once served sin are redirected toward holiness. Sin is redefined as limitation. Because of fear, I hate those I try to limit to the body, and refuse to forgive my brother. I would condemn him to the body, because the means for sin are dear to me. Yet, holiness would set my brother free, removing hatred by removing fear at its source, not as a symptom.

36. Those can have no fear who would free their brothers from the body. They have renounced the means for sin, by choosing to let all limitations be removed. Desiring to see their brothers as holy, the power of faith/belief supports vision, and goes beyond the body. First, they recognized how much their faith/belief in sin had limited their understanding of the world. Now, when another point of view is presented, they choose to place faith's/belief's power in holiness. For all who choose to look away from sin are given vision, and led to holiness. Also born of faith/belief, are the miracles which follow this decision.

37. Those who believe in sin, must think the Holy Spirit asks for sacrifice, for sacrifice is how they think their purpose is accomplished. Brothers, the Holy Spirit makes no bargains, and He knows that sacrifice brings nothing. If I seek to limit Him, I will hate Him because I am afraid. The gift that He has given me is more than anything this side of Heaven. The instant for the recognition of His gift is at hand. I will join my awareness to what is already joined, and this can be accomplished by the faith we give to each other. For The Holy Spirit loves the world and He is seeing it for me, sinless, and with the innocence that makes this world beautiful as Heaven.

38. Sacrifice must be asked of a body, by another body. The mind could neither ask for, nor receive sacrifice of itself. And neither could a body. The purpose for sin is in the mind, which tries to use the body to carry out the means for sin, in which the mind believes. For those who value sin, the joining of the mind and the body is an inescapable belief. My faith in sacrifice has given it great power in my sight. I do not realize that I cannot see, because of my faith in sacrifice. And so, sacrifice is always a means for limitation and hate.

39. Do I think the Holy Spirit is concerned with this? The Holy Spirit does not give me what it is His purpose to lead me away from. I think He would deprive me for my good. But "good" and "deprivation" are opposites and cannot meaningfully join in any way. Are the moon and sun joined because they come with night and day? The sight of one is the sign the other has disappeared. One gives light and the other depends on darkness to be seen. Neither demands the sacrifice of the other. Yet, to be seen, the absence of the other is required.

40. The body was made as a sacrifice to sin, and so it is seen in darkness. I transferred perception, belief/faith, from mind to body. The faith/belief I gave the body, belongs beyond the body. In the light of vision, the body is seen quite differently. I can have faith in the body to serve the Holy Spirit's goal, as means to help the blind to see, looking past the body. Now I let perception, belief/faith be given back to the mind that produced them. The mind can still use them to save itself from what it made.]]>413acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-21-4-faith-belief-and-vision-1
29. All special relationships are bargains with reality, and have sin as their goal. These seeming unions are adjusted toward the goal of sin. I will not forget that to bargain is to set a limit, and I hate any brother with whom I have a limited relationship. I may attempt to keep the bargain in the name of "fairness," sometimes demanding payment of myself, and sometimes of the other. With "fairness", I attempt to ease the guilt that comes with the accepted purpose of sin. That is why the Holy Spirit must change the purpose of the relationship to make it harmless to me, and useful to Him.

30. If I accept this change to holiness, I have accepted the idea of making room for truth. The source of sin is gone. No one allows a purpose to be replaced while he still desires it. I may imagine that I still experience sin's effects, but sin is not my purpose, and I no longer want it. Nothing is so cherished and protected as a goal the mind accepts. The mind will follow its goal, grimly or happily, but always with faith, and with the persistence that faith inevitably brings. If faith is placed in sin, the power of faith is never recognized. But if faith is placed in love, faith is always recognized.

31. It is strange to me that faith can move mountains. This is a small feat for such a power. As long as he believes he is in chains, faith can keep the Son of God in chains. And when he is released from chains, it will be because he no longer believes in them. Withdrawing faith that chains can hold him, he places faith in his freedom instead. It is impossible to place equal faith in opposite directions. What faith I give to sin, I take away from holiness. And what I give to holiness has been removed from sin.

32. Faith, belief and vision are the means by which the goal of holiness is reached. Through these means, the Holy Spirit leads me to the real world, away from all the illusions where my faith was laid. When I wander, He reminds me there is only one direction. This is His direction, the only one He ever sees. His faith, His belief and vision are all for me. And when I have accepted them completely instead of mine, I will not have need of them any longer. For faith, vision, and belief are meaningful only before the state of certainty is reached. Heaven is reached by these means, but in Heaven they are unknown.

33. It is impossible that the Son of God lack faith, but he can choose where he would have it placed. Faithlessness is not a lack of faith, but faith in nothing. Faith given to illusions does not lack power, for by faith the Son of God believes that he is powerless. So he is faithless to himself, but has strong faith in his illusions about himself. Using faith, perception, and belief I made a means for losing certainty and finding sin. By my faith in what I chose, I made what I desired. This mad direction was my choice.

34. The Holy Spirit has a use for all the means I made to find sin. But He uses these means to lead away from sin, because His purpose lies in the opposite direction. He sees the means I use, but He does not see the purpose for which they were made. He would not take the means from me, for He sees their value as a means for what He wills for me. I made perception so I could choose among my brothers, and seek for sin with them. The Holy Spirit sees perception as a means to teach me that the vision of a holy relationship is all I want to see. I will give my faith to holiness, desiring it, and believing in it, because of my desire.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5174426Thu, 06 Nov 2014 11:31:47 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-21.4-Faith, Belief, and Vision.1 29. All special relationships are bargains with reality, and have sin as their goal. These seeming unions are adjusted toward the goal of sin. I will not forget that to bargain is to set a limit, and I hate...
29. All special relationships are bargains with reality, and have sin as their goal. These seeming unions are adjusted toward the goal of sin. I will not forget that to bargain is to set a limit, and I hate any brother with whom I have a limited relationship. I may attempt to keep the bargain in the name of "fairness," sometimes demanding payment of myself, and sometimes of the other. With "fairness", I attempt to ease the guilt that comes with the accepted purpose of sin. That is why the Holy Spirit must change the purpose of the relationship to make it harmless to me, and useful to Him.

30. If I accept this change to holiness, I have accepted the idea of making room for truth. The source of sin is gone. No one allows a purpose to be replaced while he still desires it. I may imagine that I still experience sin's effects, but sin is not my purpose, and I no longer want it. Nothing is so cherished and protected as a goal the mind accepts. The mind will follow its goal, grimly or happily, but always with faith, and with the persistence that faith inevitably brings. If faith is placed in sin, the power of faith is never recognized. But if faith is placed in love, faith is always recognized.

31. It is strange to me that faith can move mountains. This is a small feat for such a power. As long as he believes he is in chains, faith can keep the Son of God in chains. And when he is released from chains, it will be because he no longer believes in them. Withdrawing faith that chains can hold him, he places faith in his freedom instead. It is impossible to place equal faith in opposite directions. What faith I give to sin, I take away from holiness. And what I give to holiness has been removed from sin.

32. Faith, belief and vision are the means by which the goal of holiness is reached. Through these means, the Holy Spirit leads me to the real world, away from all the illusions where my faith was laid. When I wander, He reminds me there is only one direction. This is His direction, the only one He ever sees. His faith, His belief and vision are all for me. And when I have accepted them completely instead of mine, I will not have need of them any longer. For faith, vision, and belief are meaningful only before the state of certainty is reached. Heaven is reached by these means, but in Heaven they are unknown.

33. It is impossible that the Son of God lack faith, but he can choose where he would have it placed. Faithlessness is not a lack of faith, but faith in nothing. Faith given to illusions does not lack power, for by faith the Son of God believes that he is powerless. So he is faithless to himself, but has strong faith in his illusions about himself. Using faith, perception, and belief I made a means for losing certainty and finding sin. By my faith in what I chose, I made what I desired. This mad direction was my choice.

34. The Holy Spirit has a use for all the means I made to find sin. But He uses these means to lead away from sin, because His purpose lies in the opposite direction. He sees the means I use, but He does not see the purpose for which they were made. He would not take the means from me, for He sees their value as a means for what He wills for me. I made perception so I could choose among my brothers, and seek for sin with them. The Holy Spirit sees perception as a means to teach me that the vision of a holy relationship is all I want to see. I will give my faith to holiness, desiring it, and believing in it, because of my desire.]]>418acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-21-3-responsibility-for-sight-2
22. The Holy Spirit can easily give me faith in holiness, and the vision to see holiness. However, the altar where these gifts belong has not been left open and unoccupied. I have set up my idols to something else where faith in holiness should be. This something else seems real to me, and it seems to tell me what I must do. Faith in holiness that would show me otherwise, must seem unreal. I am not asked to make or do what lies beyond my understanding. I am asked to make room for truth, to let truth in. All I am asked to do is to stop my interference with what will happen of itself, and to recognize again the presence of the truth I thought I gave away.

23. I will be willing, for an instant, to leave my altars free of what I placed on them, and I will see what is really there. The holy instant is not an instant of creation, but of recognition. For recognition comes of vision and suspended judgment. Then it is possible to look within, and see what must be there, wholly independent of inference and judgment, in plain sight. Faith and desire go hand in hand, for everyone believes in what he wants. Undoing is not my task, but it is up to me to welcome it, or not.

24. Wishful thinking is how the ego deals with what it wants, to make it so. There is no better demonstration of the power of wanting, and therefore of faith, to make the ego's goals seem real and possible. Faith in the unreal leads to adjustments of reality, to make it fit the goal of madness. The goal of sin induces the perception of a fearful world, to justify its purpose. What I desire I will see. And if what I see is not real, I will still uphold it, by not seeing all the adjustments I have made to make it seem real.

25. When vision is denied, confusion of cause and effect becomes inevitable. Now the purpose becomes to keep the cause of the effect obscure, and make the effect appear to be a cause. This seeming independence of effect enables the effect to be regarded as standing by itself. Now, its maker thinks the effect is capable of serving as "cause" of events and feelings. Jesus spoke of my desire to create my own Creator and be father, not son, to Him. This is the same desire. The Son is the effect, and would deny his Cause. And so the Son seems to be the cause, producing real effects. Nothing can have effects without a cause, and to confuse the two is to fail to understand them both.

26. It is as needed that I recognize I made the world I see, as it is that I recognize I did not create myself. They are the same mistake. By believing I made myself, I am denying my Creator. I think, and have faith, that what I have made, can tell me what I see and feel. For if I think the world I made has power to make me what it will, I am confusing Son and Father, effect and Source. Only what is created by my Creator can have any influence over me.

27. The Son's creations are like his Father's. Yet in creating them, the Son does not delude himself that he is independent of his Source. His union with God is the Source of his creating. Apart from this, he has no power to create. What he makes is meaningless, and depends on his madness. What he makes changes nothing in creation. My brother thinks he made the world with me, denying creation. With me, he thinks the world he made, made him, denying that he made the world.

28. Yet the truth is, we were both created by a loving Father, Who created us together and as one. If we see anything that "proves" otherwise, we deny our whole reality. However, grant that, in secret, we made everything that seems to stand between us, keeping us from each other, and from our Father, then the instant of release has come to us. It is separation's seeming independence from its source that kept me prisoner. The belief that I am independent of the Source which created me, is the same mistake. Because separation's source has been uncovered, all separation's effects are gone.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5166370Tue, 04 Nov 2014 12:20:47 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-21.3-Responsibility For Sight.2 22. The Holy Spirit can easily give me faith in holiness, and the vision to see holiness. However, the altar where these gifts belong has not been left open and unoccupied. I have set up my idols to something...
22. The Holy Spirit can easily give me faith in holiness, and the vision to see holiness. However, the altar where these gifts belong has not been left open and unoccupied. I have set up my idols to something else where faith in holiness should be. This something else seems real to me, and it seems to tell me what I must do. Faith in holiness that would show me otherwise, must seem unreal. I am not asked to make or do what lies beyond my understanding. I am asked to make room for truth, to let truth in. All I am asked to do is to stop my interference with what will happen of itself, and to recognize again the presence of the truth I thought I gave away.

23. I will be willing, for an instant, to leave my altars free of what I placed on them, and I will see what is really there. The holy instant is not an instant of creation, but of recognition. For recognition comes of vision and suspended judgment. Then it is possible to look within, and see what must be there, wholly independent of inference and judgment, in plain sight. Faith and desire go hand in hand, for everyone believes in what he wants. Undoing is not my task, but it is up to me to welcome it, or not.

24. Wishful thinking is how the ego deals with what it wants, to make it so. There is no better demonstration of the power of wanting, and therefore of faith, to make the ego's goals seem real and possible. Faith in the unreal leads to adjustments of reality, to make it fit the goal of madness. The goal of sin induces the perception of a fearful world, to justify its purpose. What I desire I will see. And if what I see is not real, I will still uphold it, by not seeing all the adjustments I have made to make it seem real.

25. When vision is denied, confusion of cause and effect becomes inevitable. Now the purpose becomes to keep the cause of the effect obscure, and make the effect appear to be a cause. This seeming independence of effect enables the effect to be regarded as standing by itself. Now, its maker thinks the effect is capable of serving as "cause" of events and feelings. Jesus spoke of my desire to create my own Creator and be father, not son, to Him. This is the same desire. The Son is the effect, and would deny his Cause. And so the Son seems to be the cause, producing real effects. Nothing can have effects without a cause, and to confuse the two is to fail to understand them both.

26. It is as needed that I recognize I made the world I see, as it is that I recognize I did not create myself. They are the same mistake. By believing I made myself, I am denying my Creator. I think, and have faith, that what I have made, can tell me what I see and feel. For if I think the world I made has power to make me what it will, I am confusing Son and Father, effect and Source. Only what is created by my Creator can have any influence over me.

27. The Son's creations are like his Father's. Yet in creating them, the Son does not delude himself that he is independent of his Source. His union with God is the Source of his creating. Apart from this, he has no power to create. What he makes is meaningless, and depends on his madness. What he makes changes nothing in creation. My brother thinks he made the world with me, denying creation. With me, he thinks the world he made, made him, denying that he made the world.

28. Yet the truth is, we were both created by a loving Father, Who created us together and as one. If we see anything that "proves" otherwise, we deny our whole reality. However, grant that, in secret, we made everything that seems to stand between us, keeping us from each other, and from our Father, then the instant of release has come to us. It is separation's seeming independence from its source that kept me prisoner. The belief that I am independent of the Source which created me, is the...]]>470acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-21-3-responsibility-for-sight
13. Little is asked of us to learn this course. It is the same small willingness we need to have our whole relationship transformed to joy, the little gift we offer to the Holy Spirit for which He gives us everything, the very little salvation rests on, the tiny change of mind by which the crucifixion is changed to resurrection. And being true, it is so simple that it cannot fail to be completely understood. Rejected yes, but not ambiguous. If we choose against it now, it will not be because it is obscure, but rather that this little cost seemed in our judgment to be too much to pay for peace.

14. There is one thing that we need to do for all to be given us---vision, happiness, release from pain, complete escape from sin. Here is the power of salvation. Say this, and mean it, with no exceptions:

15/16. I am responsible for what I see. I chose the feelings I experience, and decided on the goal I would achieve. I asked for and received everything that seems to happen to me. I will deceive myself no longer that I am helpless in the face of what is done to me. All the effects of my mistakes will disappear, as I acknowledge that I have been mistaken .

17. It is impossible the Son of God be driven by events outside of 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 by chance or accident. No accident nor chance is possible within the universe as God created it, and there is nothing outside it. If I suffer, I decided sin was my goal. Be happy, and I gave the power of decision to Him Who must decide for God for me. This is the little gift I offer to the Holy Spirit, and even this He gave to me to give myself. By this gift I am given the power to release my savior that he may give salvation to me.

18. I will not begrudge the acceptance of responsibility for sight. Withhold it, and I keep the world as I see it now. Accept it, and everything I see changes with it. Never was so much given for so little. In the holy instant this exchange is effected and maintained. Here the world I do not want is brought to the one I do. And here the one I do want is given me because I want it. However, the power and strength of my wanting must first be recognized and accepted. I must perceive that my wanting is strong enough to make a world. If the wanting is willing to see that it was wrong, it can accept correction and let the world go.

19. The world I see is the witness that I was right. I trained the world in its testimony, and as the world gave witness back to me, I listened and convinced myself that what it saw was true. This witness is insane. I did this to myself. See this, and I will also see how circular the reasoning on which my "seeing" rests. This was not given to me. This was my gift to myself and to my brother. I will be willing to have it taken from him and be replaced with truth. And as I look upon the change in him, it will be given to see the change in myself.

20. Perhaps I do not see the need for me to accept responsibility for the world I see. Looking closer, it is the whole exchange of separation for salvation. The ego is an idea that it is possible things should happen to the Son of God without the Will of his Creator, and without his will that cannot be separate from God's.

21. This is the mad idea I have enshrined upon my altars and which I worship. This is the Son of God's replacement for his will, a mad revolt against what must forever be. The world is the statement that he has the power to make God powerless and to take power for himself, leaving himself without what God has willed for him. This mad idea is strong indeed, and anything which threatens it seems to attack my faith, for faith is invested here. I will not think that I am faithless, for my belief and trust in this is strong indeed!]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5156528Sat, 01 Nov 2014 20:30:13 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-21.3-Responsibility For Sight 13. Little is asked of us to learn this course. It is the same small willingness we need to have our whole relationship transformed to joy, the little gift we offer to the Holy Spirit for which He gives us...
13. Little is asked of us to learn this course. It is the same small willingness we need to have our whole relationship transformed to joy, the little gift we offer to the Holy Spirit for which He gives us everything, the very little salvation rests on, the tiny change of mind by which the crucifixion is changed to resurrection. And being true, it is so simple that it cannot fail to be completely understood. Rejected yes, but not ambiguous. If we choose against it now, it will not be because it is obscure, but rather that this little cost seemed in our judgment to be too much to pay for peace.

14. There is one thing that we need to do for all to be given us---vision, happiness, release from pain, complete escape from sin. Here is the power of salvation. Say this, and mean it, with no exceptions:

15/16. I am responsible for what I see. I chose the feelings I experience, and decided on the goal I would achieve. I asked for and received everything that seems to happen to me. I will deceive myself no longer that I am helpless in the face of what is done to me. All the effects of my mistakes will disappear, as I acknowledge that I have been mistaken .

17. It is impossible the Son of God be driven by events outside of 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 by chance or accident. No accident nor chance is possible within the universe as God created it, and there is nothing outside it. If I suffer, I decided sin was my goal. Be happy, and I gave the power of decision to Him Who must decide for God for me. This is the little gift I offer to the Holy Spirit, and even this He gave to me to give myself. By this gift I am given the power to release my savior that he may give salvation to me.

18. I will not begrudge the acceptance of responsibility for sight. Withhold it, and I keep the world as I see it now. Accept it, and everything I see changes with it. Never was so much given for so little. In the holy instant this exchange is effected and maintained. Here the world I do not want is brought to the one I do. And here the one I do want is given me because I want it. However, the power and strength of my wanting must first be recognized and accepted. I must perceive that my wanting is strong enough to make a world. If the wanting is willing to see that it was wrong, it can accept correction and let the world go.

19. The world I see is the witness that I was right. I trained the world in its testimony, and as the world gave witness back to me, I listened and convinced myself that what it saw was true. This witness is insane. I did this to myself. See this, and I will also see how circular the reasoning on which my "seeing" rests. This was not given to me. This was my gift to myself and to my brother. I will be willing to have it taken from him and be replaced with truth. And as I look upon the change in him, it will be given to see the change in myself.

20. Perhaps I do not see the need for me to accept responsibility for the world I see. Looking closer, it is the whole exchange of separation for salvation. The ego is an idea that it is possible things should happen to the Son of God without the Will of his Creator, and without his will that cannot be separate from God's.

21. This is the mad idea I have enshrined upon my altars and which I worship. This is the Son of God's replacement for his will, a mad revolt against what must forever be. The world is the statement that he has the power to make God powerless and to take power for himself, leaving himself without what God has willed for him. This mad idea is strong indeed, and anything which threatens it seems to attack my faith, for faith is invested here. I will not...]]>463acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-21-2-the-imagined-world
3. The world the sightless "see" must be imagined, for what it really looks like is unknown to them. They must infer from INDIRECT evidence, and reconstruct their inferences. They stumble and fall, or walk unharmed through doors that they thought were closed. So it is with me. I do not see. My cues for inference are wrong. I stumble, fall down, and am not aware I can go through doors I thought were closed. But the doors stand open before my unseeing eyes, waiting in welcome for me.

4. The world must be seen, before I can recognize the world for what it is. What can be seen, cannot be imagined or judged. Judgment will give me false directions that lead to darkness. Vision shows me which doors are open that lead to safety and the light. Why should I guess which way to go?

5. There is no need to learn through pain. Gentle lessons are acquired joyously and are remembered gladly. I want to learn and not forget what gives me happiness. I would not deny this. Our question is whether the means by which this course is learned will bring us the joy it promises. If we believed it would, the learning would be no problem. We are not happy learners yet, because we are uncertain that vision gives us more than judgment. And we have learned that we cannot have both vision and judgment.

6. The blind become accustomed to their world by their adjustments to it. They think they know their way around in their world. So they KEEP the world they learned to "see" in their imagination, believing that their choice is that or nothing. They hate the world they learned through pain and stern limits they believed they could not overcome, not understanding the limiting lessons keep them blind. And everything they "see" in their world serves to remind them that they are incomplete and bitterly deprived. And still they cannot see.

7. Thus they define their life and where they live, adjusting to it as they think they must, afraid to lose the little that they have. And so it is with all who see the body as all they have and all their brothers have. They try to reach each other, failing again and again. And they adjust to loneliness, believing that to keep the body is to save the little that they have. I will listen to what Jesus speaks of now, and try to remember:

8. Listening---perhaps I will catch a hint of an ancient state, dim and almost forgotten, and yet familiar, like a song whose name and the circumstances where I heard it are forgotten. The whole song has not stayed with me, only a little wisp of the melody, not associated with a person, place, or anything particular. Yet remembering from this little part, how lovely was the song, how wonderful where I heard it, and how I loved those who were there, and listened with me.

9. I have kept the notes with me, not for themselves, but as a soft reminder of what would make me weep if I remembered how dear the song was to me. Nothing in the world I learned is so dear as this. I listen to see if I remember what I knew so long ago, and held more dear than any melody I taught myself to cherish since. I could remember, yet I am afraid, believing I would lose the world I learned, since then.

10. There is an arc of familiar golden light, that stretches into a great, shining circle, as I look beyond the body, beyond the sun and stars, past everything I see. And all the circle fills with light before my eyes. The edges of the circle disappear, and what is in the circle is not contained at all. The light expands, covering everything, forever shining, extending to infinity, with no break or limit anywhere. Within the light, everything is joined in perfect continuity. There is nowhere that this light is not, and it is impossible to imagine that anything could be outside.

11. I know well this vision of the Son of God. This is the sight of him who knows his Father. Here is the memory of what I am---a part of this, with all of it within, and joined to all as surely as all is joined in me. I accept the vision which can show me this, and not the body. I know well the ancient song. Nothing will ever be as dear to me as is this ancient hymn of love the Son of God still sings to his Father.

12. And now the blind can see, for that same song they sing in honor of their Creator gives praise to them as well. The blindness which they made, will not withstand the memory of this song. And they look upon the vision of the Son of God, remembering it is of him they sing. The light in one awakens the light in all. And when we see the light in each other, we are remembering for everyone, for this memory lies in everyone. This remembering is the miracle!]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5141711Wed, 29 Oct 2014 14:20:43 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-21.2-The Imagined World 3. The world the sightless "see" must be imagined, for what it really looks like is unknown to them. They must infer from INDIRECT evidence, and reconstruct their inferences. They stumble and fall, or walk unharmed...
3. The world the sightless "see" must be imagined, for what it really looks like is unknown to them. They must infer from INDIRECT evidence, and reconstruct their inferences. They stumble and fall, or walk unharmed through doors that they thought were closed. So it is with me. I do not see. My cues for inference are wrong. I stumble, fall down, and am not aware I can go through doors I thought were closed. But the doors stand open before my unseeing eyes, waiting in welcome for me.

4. The world must be seen, before I can recognize the world for what it is. What can be seen, cannot be imagined or judged. Judgment will give me false directions that lead to darkness. Vision shows me which doors are open that lead to safety and the light. Why should I guess which way to go?

5. There is no need to learn through pain. Gentle lessons are acquired joyously and are remembered gladly. I want to learn and not forget what gives me happiness. I would not deny this. Our question is whether the means by which this course is learned will bring us the joy it promises. If we believed it would, the learning would be no problem. We are not happy learners yet, because we are uncertain that vision gives us more than judgment. And we have learned that we cannot have both vision and judgment.

6. The blind become accustomed to their world by their adjustments to it. They think they know their way around in their world. So they KEEP the world they learned to "see" in their imagination, believing that their choice is that or nothing. They hate the world they learned through pain and stern limits they believed they could not overcome, not understanding the limiting lessons keep them blind. And everything they "see" in their world serves to remind them that they are incomplete and bitterly deprived. And still they cannot see.

7. Thus they define their life and where they live, adjusting to it as they think they must, afraid to lose the little that they have. And so it is with all who see the body as all they have and all their brothers have. They try to reach each other, failing again and again. And they adjust to loneliness, believing that to keep the body is to save the little that they have. I will listen to what Jesus speaks of now, and try to remember:

8. Listening---perhaps I will catch a hint of an ancient state, dim and almost forgotten, and yet familiar, like a song whose name and the circumstances where I heard it are forgotten. The whole song has not stayed with me, only a little wisp of the melody, not associated with a person, place, or anything particular. Yet remembering from this little part, how lovely was the song, how wonderful where I heard it, and how I loved those who were there, and listened with me.

9. I have kept the notes with me, not for themselves, but as a soft reminder of what would make me weep if I remembered how dear the song was to me. Nothing in the world I learned is so dear as this. I listen to see if I remember what I knew so long ago, and held more dear than any melody I taught myself to cherish since. I could remember, yet I am afraid, believing I would lose the world I learned, since then.

10. There is an arc of familiar golden light, that stretches into a great, shining circle, as I look beyond the body, beyond the sun and stars, past everything I see. And all the circle fills with light before my eyes. The edges of the circle disappear, and what is in the circle is not contained at all. The light expands, covering everything, forever shining, extending to infinity, with no break or limit anywhere. Within the light, everything is joined in perfect continuity. There is nowhere that this light is not, and it is impossible to imagine that anything could be outside.

11. I know well this vision of the Son of God. This is...]]>472acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-21-1-intro-the-inner-picture
1. Projection makes perception. The world I see is what I gave it, nothing more nor less. Therefore, to me it is important. The world is the witness to my state of mind, the outside picture of an inward condition. As a man thinks, so does he perceive. Therefore, I do not seek to change the world, but I will to change my mind about the world. Perception is a result, not a cause. That is why order of difficulty in miracles is meaningless. Everything looked upon with vision is healed and holy. Everything perceived without vision means nothing. And where there is no meaning, there is chaos.

2. Damnation is my judgment on myself, and I will project this upon the world. See the world as damned, and I see what I did to hurt the Son of God. If I behold disaster and catastrophe, I tried to crucify him. If I see holiness and hope, I will join with the Will of God to set him free. There is no choice that lies between these two decisions. And I will see the witness to the choice I made. I learn from what I see to recognize which one was chosen. The world shows me how much joy I have allowed myself to see in myself and to accept as mine. And if this IS the world's meaning, then the power to give joy to the world must lie within me.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5130881Sun, 26 Oct 2014 21:26:34 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-21.1-Intro.The Inner Picture 1. Projection makes perception. The world I see is what I gave it, nothing more nor less. Therefore, to me it is important. The world is the witness to my state of mind, the outside picture of an inward...
1. Projection makes perception. The world I see is what I gave it, nothing more nor less. Therefore, to me it is important. The world is the witness to my state of mind, the outside picture of an inward condition. As a man thinks, so does he perceive. Therefore, I do not seek to change the world, but I will to change my mind about the world. Perception is a result, not a cause. That is why order of difficulty in miracles is meaningless. Everything looked upon with vision is healed and holy. Everything perceived without vision means nothing. And where there is no meaning, there is chaos.

2. Damnation is my judgment on myself, and I will project this upon the world. See the world as damned, and I see what I did to hurt the Son of God. If I behold disaster and catastrophe, I tried to crucify him. If I see holiness and hope, I will join with the Will of God to set him free. There is no choice that lies between these two decisions. And I will see the witness to the choice I made. I learn from what I see to recognize which one was chosen. The world shows me how much joy I have allowed myself to see in myself and to accept as mine. And if this IS the world's meaning, then the power to give joy to the world must lie within me.]]>139acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-20-9-vision-of-sinlessness
67. Truth is restored to me through my desire, as I lost it through my desire for something else. I will open the holy place which I closed off by valuing the 'something else', and what was never lost will quietly return. It has been saved for me. Had judgment not been made, vision would not be necessary. Now, I desire the whole undoing of judgment, and it is done for me. As I see my brother sinless, vision will first come to me in glimpses. That will be enough to show me what is being given me.

68. Vision is freely given to those who ask to see. Would I be willing to be free of misery and learn of joy again? Would I happily exchange my doubts for certainty? Do I want to know my own Identity? All this is offered me by my holy relationship. As the holy relationship was given, so will its effects be given. And as its holy purpose was not made by me, the means by which its happy end is mine, is also not of me. I rejoice in what is mine for the asking, and do not think that I need to make either means or end. All this is given, waiting on my desire to receive it. All this is given me, who would only see my brother sinless.

69. Peace will come to all who ask for it with real desire and sincerity of purpose, shared with the Holy Spirit, and at one with Him on what salvation is. My brother's sinlessness is given me in shining light, to look on with the Holy Spirit's vision, and to rejoice in along with Him. I am willing, then, to see my brother sinless, that Christ may rise before my vision and give me joy. It is my brother's desire to see his sinlessness, also, as it is mine. I place no value on my brother's body, which holds him to illusions of what he is. I do not see in my brother what I have made of him, and I bless the Son of God in our relationship.

70. Why do we think the body is a better home, a safer shelter for God's Son? Why would we rather look on it than on the truth? How can the engine of destruction be preferred, and chosen to replace the holy home the Holy Spirit offers, where He will dwell with us? The Holy Spirit guarantees that what God willed and gave me shall be mine. This is my purpose now, and the vision that makes it mine is ready to be given. I have the vision which enables each one to not see the body. And as we look upon each other, we will see an altar to our Father, holy as Heaven, glowing with radiant purity and sparkling with the shining lilies we laid upon it. What can we value more than this?

71. Would I turn in my distress, and need for help, unto the helpless? Is the pitifully little the choice to call upon for strength? Can such a savior help me? Judgment will seem to make my savior weak. Yet, I need his strength. The body is the sign of weakness, vulnerability, and loss of power. However, all is redeemed when looked upon with the vision of the Holy Spirit. There is no perplexity, problem, event, or situation that vision will not solve. Vision brings with it the laws, beloved of Him, Whose sight it is.

*72. Everything looked upon with vision falls gently into place, according to the laws brought to it by the Holy Spirit's calm and certain sight. The end is always sure for everything He looks upon. The end, seen in unadjusted form, is perfectly suited to meet His purpose. Destructiveness becomes benign, and sin is turned to blessing under His gentle gaze. With the body's eyes, perception has no power to correct. Its eyes adjust, and are unable to overlook sin, seeing it everywhere, and in everything. Everything before me stands condemned. I will never see what could save me. Our holy relationship, the source of our salvation, is deprived of meaning, and is without means for the accomplishment of its most holy purpose.

*73. What if I recognized this world is an hallucination? What if I realized that those who seem to walk about in it, to sin and die, attack, murder and destroy themselves, are wholly unreal? What if I really understood I made it up? Could I have faith in what I see if I accepted this? And would I see it? Judgment is a toy, a whim, the senseless means to play the game of death in my imagination. But vision sets all things right, bringing them gently within the kindly sway of Heaven's laws.

74. Hallucinations disappear when they are recognized for what they are. I need to recognize that I did this. They are gone if I do not believe them. When I accept this simple fact, and take back the power I gave them, I am released. It is sure that hallucinations serve a purpose. When that purpose is no longer held, they disappear. This is the remedy and the healing. Therefore, the question is never 'Do I want hallucinations?', but always, 'Do I want the purpose that they serve?' This world seems to hold out many purposes, each different, with different values. Yet they are all the same, for there is no order of values, only a seeming hierarchy.

75. Only two purposes are possible. One is holiness, and the other sin. Nothing is in between, and which I choose determines what I will see. For how I elect to meet my goal is what I will see. Hallucinations serve to meet the goal of madness. They are the means by which the outside world, projected from within, adjusts to sin and seems to witness its reality. Yet all projections are made of nothing, and it is true that nothing is without. And it is the projection which gives the 'nothing' all the meaning that it has.

76. Meaning always looks within to find itself, and then looks out. All meaning that I give the world outside must reflect what I saw within. Or better, merely judged against, and did not see at all. What has no meaning cannot be perceived. Vision is the means the Holy Spirit uses to translate my nightmares and wild hallucinations, into happy dreams, and calm, reassuring sights He would give instead. These gentle sights and sounds are looked on happily, and heard with joy. They are His substitutes for all the terrifying sights and sounds the ego's purpose brought to my horrified awareness. Vision steps away from sin, reminding me that it is not reality which frightens me, and the errors that I made can be corrected.

77. When I have looked on what seemed terrifying, and seen it change to sights of loveliness and peace---when I have looked on scenes of violence and death, and watched them change to quiet views of gardens, under open skies, with clear, life-giving water running beside them in dancing brooks that never waste away, who needs persuade me to accept the gift of vision? And, who is there who could refuse what must come after vision? Think an instant just on this----I can behold the holiness God gave His Son. I never need think that there is something else for me to see.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5121182Fri, 24 Oct 2014 14:57:49 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-20.9-Vision of Sinlessness 67. Truth is restored to me through my desire, as I lost it through my desire for something else. I will open the holy place which I closed off by valuing the 'something else', and what was never lost will quietly...
67. Truth is restored to me through my desire, as I lost it through my desire for something else. I will open the holy place which I closed off by valuing the 'something else', and what was never lost will quietly return. It has been saved for me. Had judgment not been made, vision would not be necessary. Now, I desire the whole undoing of judgment, and it is done for me. As I see my brother sinless, vision will first come to me in glimpses. That will be enough to show me what is being given me.

68. Vision is freely given to those who ask to see. Would I be willing to be free of misery and learn of joy again? Would I happily exchange my doubts for certainty? Do I want to know my own Identity? All this is offered me by my holy relationship. As the holy relationship was given, so will its effects be given. And as its holy purpose was not made by me, the means by which its happy end is mine, is also not of me. I rejoice in what is mine for the asking, and do not think that I need to make either means or end. All this is given, waiting on my desire to receive it. All this is given me, who would only see my brother sinless.

69. Peace will come to all who ask for it with real desire and sincerity of purpose, shared with the Holy Spirit, and at one with Him on what salvation is. My brother's sinlessness is given me in shining light, to look on with the Holy Spirit's vision, and to rejoice in along with Him. I am willing, then, to see my brother sinless, that Christ may rise before my vision and give me joy. It is my brother's desire to see his sinlessness, also, as it is mine. I place no value on my brother's body, which holds him to illusions of what he is. I do not see in my brother what I have made of him, and I bless the Son of God in our relationship.

70. Why do we think the body is a better home, a safer shelter for God's Son? Why would we rather look on it than on the truth? How can the engine of destruction be preferred, and chosen to replace the holy home the Holy Spirit offers, where He will dwell with us? The Holy Spirit guarantees that what God willed and gave me shall be mine. This is my purpose now, and the vision that makes it mine is ready to be given. I have the vision which enables each one to not see the body. And as we look upon each other, we will see an altar to our Father, holy as Heaven, glowing with radiant purity and sparkling with the shining lilies we laid upon it. What can we value more than this?

71. Would I turn in my distress, and need for help, unto the helpless? Is the pitifully little the choice to call upon for strength? Can such a savior help me? Judgment will seem to make my savior weak. Yet, I need his strength. The body is the sign of weakness, vulnerability, and loss of power. However, all is redeemed when looked upon with the vision of the Holy Spirit. There is no perplexity, problem, event, or situation that vision will not solve. Vision brings with it the laws, beloved of Him, Whose sight it is.

*72. Everything looked upon with vision falls gently into place, according to the laws brought to it by the Holy Spirit's calm and certain sight. The end is always sure for everything He looks upon. The end, seen in unadjusted form, is perfectly suited to meet His purpose. Destructiveness becomes benign, and sin is turned to blessing under His gentle gaze. With the body's eyes, perception has no power to correct. Its eyes adjust, and are unable to overlook sin, seeing it everywhere, and in everything. Everything before me stands condemned. I will never see what could save me. Our holy relationship, the source of our salvation, is deprived of meaning, and is without means for the accomplishment of its most holy purpose.

*73. What if I recognized this world is an...]]>722acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-20-8-consistency-of-means-end
58. Jesus has spoken about discrepancies between means and end, and how these must be brought together before our holy relationship can bring us only joy. He said that the means to meet the Holy Spirit's goal comes from the same Source as His purpose. Being so simple and direct, this course is consistent. The seeming inconsistencies, or parts we find more difficult than others, are only indications of areas where means and end are still discrepant. This produces great discomfort, and need not be. This course requires almost nothing of us. It is impossible to imagine a course that asks so little or could offer more.

59. The period of discomfort that follows the sudden change in a relationship from sin to holiness is now almost over. To the extent that we still experience discomfort, we are refusing to leave the means to Him Who changed the purpose. We recognize we want the goal. We must also be willing to accept the means. If not, we admit that we are inconsistent. A purpose is attained by means, and if we want a purpose, we are willing to want the means as well. One cannot be sincere and say, "I want this above all else, and yet I do not want to learn the means to get it".

60. To obtain the goal, the Holy Spirit asks little. The means are second to the goal. He asks no more, to give the means as well. When we hesitate, it is because the purpose frightens us, not the means. Let us remember this, for otherwise we make the error of believing the means are difficult. Yet, how can the means be difficult if they are given to us? The means guarantee the goal, and are perfectly in line with the goal. I will remember that if I think the means are impossible, my wanting of the purpose has been shaken. For if a goal is possible to reach, the means to do so must be possible as well.

*61. It is impossible to see my brother as sinless and still see him as a body. This is perfectly consistent with the goal of holiness. For holiness is the result of letting the effects of sin be lifted so what was always true is recognized. The body is not sinful or sinless, but merely neutral. To see a sinless body is impossible. The body is nothing, and it cannot be invested with attributes of the ego or of Christ. Both investments would place attributes where they cannot be, and for the purpose of truth must be undone.

62. The body is the means by which the ego tries to make the unholy relationship seem real. The time of bodies is the unholy instant. The purpose here is sin. Sin can only be attained in illusion, and the illusion of a brother as a body, is quite in keeping with the purpose of unholiness. While the end is cherished, the means remain unquestioned, because of this consistency. Vision adapts to desire, and I will see what I wish to see. If I see the body, I have chosen judgment and not vision. I either see or not, for vision, like relationship, has no order.

63. Those who 'see' a brother's body have laid a judgment on him, and do not see him. The brother is not seen as sinful, but is not seen at all. In the darkness of sin, he is invisible. He can only be imagined in the darkness. Here the illusions about him are not held up to the brother's reality. Here illusions and reality are kept separated. Here illusions are hidden and never brought to truth. And here, in darkness, my brother's reality is imagined as a body, in unholy relationships with other bodies, serving the cause of sin an instant before he dies.

64. There is a difference between imagining and vision. The difference lies in their purpose. Imagining and vision are different means, each appropriate to the purpose it serves, and they cannot serve the purpose of the other. Being a choice of purpose, each has no value separated from its end. The means seem real because the goal is valued. And judgment values only sin.

65. A holy relationship can achieve its purpose only through the means of vision. The body can only be seen through judgment, and judgment I taught myself. Vision is learned from Him Who would undo judgment. To see the body is a sign that I lack vision, and have denied the means the Holy Spirit offers me. I closed my eyes, and my imaginings about my brother seemed real in the darkness. My purpose was to shut him out. And as long as this purpose seems to have meaning for me, I will not have vision, choosing judgment instead. The vision of my holy brother is no illusion. This vision is leading me to reality and release.

66. Salvation is the Holy Spirit's goal, and vision is His means. I will not ask, "How can I see my brother without the body?" Instead I ask, "Do I wish to see my brother sinless?" I will remember that my brother's sinlessness is my escape from fear. No one who loves can judge, and what he sees is free of condemnation. What love looks on is sinless, and what I see is given, as is the vision which makes my seeing possible.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5112772Wed, 22 Oct 2014 17:28:20 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-20.8-Consistency of Means-End 58. Jesus has spoken about discrepancies between means and end, and how these must be brought together before our holy relationship can bring us only joy. He said that the means to meet the...
58. Jesus has spoken about discrepancies between means and end, and how these must be brought together before our holy relationship can bring us only joy. He said that the means to meet the Holy Spirit's goal comes from the same Source as His purpose. Being so simple and direct, this course is consistent. The seeming inconsistencies, or parts we find more difficult than others, are only indications of areas where means and end are still discrepant. This produces great discomfort, and need not be. This course requires almost nothing of us. It is impossible to imagine a course that asks so little or could offer more.

59. The period of discomfort that follows the sudden change in a relationship from sin to holiness is now almost over. To the extent that we still experience discomfort, we are refusing to leave the means to Him Who changed the purpose. We recognize we want the goal. We must also be willing to accept the means. If not, we admit that we are inconsistent. A purpose is attained by means, and if we want a purpose, we are willing to want the means as well. One cannot be sincere and say, "I want this above all else, and yet I do not want to learn the means to get it".

60. To obtain the goal, the Holy Spirit asks little. The means are second to the goal. He asks no more, to give the means as well. When we hesitate, it is because the purpose frightens us, not the means. Let us remember this, for otherwise we make the error of believing the means are difficult. Yet, how can the means be difficult if they are given to us? The means guarantee the goal, and are perfectly in line with the goal. I will remember that if I think the means are impossible, my wanting of the purpose has been shaken. For if a goal is possible to reach, the means to do so must be possible as well.

*61. It is impossible to see my brother as sinless and still see him as a body. This is perfectly consistent with the goal of holiness. For holiness is the result of letting the effects of sin be lifted so what was always true is recognized. The body is not sinful or sinless, but merely neutral. To see a sinless body is impossible. The body is nothing, and it cannot be invested with attributes of the ego or of Christ. Both investments would place attributes where they cannot be, and for the purpose of truth must be undone.

62. The body is the means by which the ego tries to make the unholy relationship seem real. The time of bodies is the unholy instant. The purpose here is sin. Sin can only be attained in illusion, and the illusion of a brother as a body, is quite in keeping with the purpose of unholiness. While the end is cherished, the means remain unquestioned, because of this consistency. Vision adapts to desire, and I will see what I wish to see. If I see the body, I have chosen judgment and not vision. I either see or not, for vision, like relationship, has no order.

63. Those who 'see' a brother's body have laid a judgment on him, and do not see him. The brother is not seen as sinful, but is not seen at all. In the darkness of sin, he is invisible. He can only be imagined in the darkness. Here the illusions about him are not held up to the brother's reality. Here illusions and reality are kept separated. Here illusions are hidden and never brought to truth. And here, in darkness, my brother's reality is imagined as a body, in unholy relationships with other bodies, serving the cause of sin an instant before he dies.

64. There is a difference between imagining and vision. The difference lies in their purpose. Imagining and vision are different means, each appropriate to the purpose it serves, and they cannot serve the purpose of the other. Being a choice of purpose, each has no value separated from its end. The means seem real because the goal is valued....]]>589acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-20-7-temple-of-the-holy-spirit-2
51. Idolaters will always be afraid of love, for nothing so severely threatens them as love's approach. Let love draw near them, overlooking the body, as it will surely do, and they retreat in fear, feeling the seeming firm foundation of their temple begin to shake and loosen. Brothers, we tremble with them. Yet what we fear is only the herald of escape. This place of darkness is not our home. Our temple is not threatened. We are no longer idolaters. The Holy Spirit's purpose lies safe in our relationship, not our bodies. We have escaped the body. Where we are the body cannot enter, for the Holy Spirit has set His temple there.

52. There is no order in relationships. They either are or not. An unholy relationship is no relationship. It is a state of isolation which seems to be what it is not. No more than that. When the mad idea of making my relationship with God unholy seemed to be possible, all my relationships were made meaningless. In that unholy instant, time was born, and bodies were made to house the mad idea, and give it the illusion of reality. And so the mad idea seemed to have a home that held together for a little while in time, and then it vanished.

53. Idols must disappear. They leave no trace behind their going. The unholy instant is as frail as a snowflake in its seeming power. Is my preference the malevolence of the unholy relationship, seemingly powerful, bitterly misunderstood, and invested in false attraction? Instead, I want the holy instant, which offers me peace, understanding, and the eternal blessing of its unlimited beneficence. So, I lay aside the body and quietly transcend it, rising to the welcome of what I really want. And from the Holy Spirit's holy temple, I will not look back. For idols cannot attract the minds that have transcended illusions, and left them far behind.

54. The holy relationship reflects the true relationship the Son of God has with his Father, in reality. The Holy Spirit rests within it, certain the holy relationship will endure forever. Its firm foundation is eternally upheld by truth. And love shines on it with the gentle smile and tender blessing it offers to its own. Here the unholy instant is exchanged in gladness for the holy instant of safe return. The way to true relationships is gently held open, and we walk through together. Love's arms are open to receive us and give us peace forever. We leave the body thankfully behind, and rest in the Everlasting Arms.

55. The body is the ego's idol, the belief in sin made flesh, and then projected outward. This produces what seems to be a wall of flesh around the mind, keeping the mind prisoner in a tiny spot of space and time. The prisoner is given only an instant in which to sigh, grieve and die in honor of its master. This unholy instant seems to be life, an instant of despair, a tiny island of dry sand, bereft of water and set uncertainly upon oblivion. Here the Son of God stops briefly, to offer his devotion to the idols of death, and then pass on, more dead than living. However, it is here that he again makes the choice between idolatry and love.

56. Here it is given him to choose to spend this instant paying tribute to the body, or let himself be given freedom from the body. Here he can accept the holy instant, offered to him to replace the unholy one he chose before. And here he can learn relationships are his salvation and not his doom. We who are learning this may still be fearful, but we are not immobilized. The holy instant is now of greater value to us than its unholy seeming counterpart. We have learned what we really want. There is no time for sadness. Maybe there is confusion, but not discouragement.

57. We have a real relationship, and it has meaning. It is as like our real relationship with God as equal things are like to each other. Idolatry is past and meaningless. Perhaps we still fear each other a little, and a shadow of the fear of God remains with us. Yet, that is easily overcome by us, who have been given one true relationship beyond the body. We cannot be held back from looking on the face of Christ. We cannot withhold from ourselves the memory of our relationship with the Father. And, we cannot keep out of our awareness the remembrance of God's love.
OrEd-T-20.7-Temple of the Holy Spirit.2

51. Idolaters will always be afraid of love, for nothing so severely threatens them as love's approach. Let love draw near them, overlooking the body, as it will surely do, and they retreat in fear, feeling the seeming firm foundation of their temple begin to shake and loosen. Brothers, we tremble with them. Yet what we fear is only the herald of escape. This place of darkness is not our home. Our temple is not threatened. We are no longer idolaters. The Holy Spirit's purpose lies safe in our relationship, not our bodies. We have escaped the body. Where we are the body cannot enter, for the Holy Spirit has set His temple there.

52. There is no order in relationships. They either are or not. An unholy relationship is no relationship. It is a state of isolation which seems to be what it is not. No more than that. When the mad idea of making my relationship with God unholy seemed to be possible, all my relationships were made meaningless. In that unholy instant, time was born, and bodies were made to house the mad idea, and give it the illusion of reality. And so the mad idea seemed to have a home that held together for a little while in time, and then it vanished.

53. Idols must disappear. They leave no trace behind their going. The unholy instant is as frail as a snowflake in its seeming power. Is my preference the malevolence of the unholy relationship, seemingly powerful, bitterly misunderstood, and invested in false attraction? Instead, I want the holy instant, which offers me peace, understanding, and the eternal blessing of its unlimited beneficence. So, I lay aside the body and quietly transcend it, rising to the welcome of what I really want. And from the Holy Spirit's holy temple, I will not look back. For idols cannot attract the minds that have transcended illusions, and left them far behind.

54. The holy relationship reflects the true relationship the Son of God has with his Father, in reality. The Holy Spirit rests within it, certain the holy relationship will endure forever. Its firm foundation is eternally upheld by truth. And love shines on it with the gentle smile and tender blessing it offers to its own. Here the unholy instant is exchanged in gladness for the holy instant of safe return. The way to true relationships is gently held open, and we walk through together. Love's arms are open to receive us and give us peace forever. We leave the body thankfully behind, and rest in the Everlasting Arms.

55. The body is the ego's idol, the belief in sin made flesh, and then projected outward. This produces what seems to be a wall of flesh around the mind, keeping the mind prisoner in a tiny spot of space and time. The prisoner is given only an instant in which to sigh, grieve and die in honor of its master. This unholy instant seems to be life, an instant of despair, a tiny island of dry sand, bereft of water and set uncertainly upon oblivion. Here the Son of God stops briefly, to offer his devotion to the idols of death, and then pass on, more dead than living. However, it is here that he again makes the choice between idolatry and love.

56. Here it is given him to choose to spend this instant paying tribute to the body, or let himself be given freedom from the body. Here he can accept the holy instant, offered to him to replace the unholy one he chose before. And here he can learn relationships are his salvation and not his doom. We who are learning this may still be fearful, but we are not immobilized. The holy instant is now of greater value to us than its unholy seeming counterpart. We have learned what we really want. There is no time for sadness. Maybe there is confusion, but not discouragement.

57. We have a real relationship, and it has meaning. It is as like our real relationship with God as equal things are like to each other. Idolatry is past and meaningless. Perhaps we still fear each other a little, and a shadow of the fear of God remains with us. Yet, that is easily overcome by us, who have been given one true relationship beyond the body. We cannot be held back from looking on the face of Christ. We cannot withhold from ourselves the memory of our relationship with the Father. And, we cannot keep out of our awareness the remembrance of God's love.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5104139Mon, 20 Oct 2014 17:41:10 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-20.7-Temple of the Holy Spirit.2 51. Idolaters will always be afraid of love, for nothing so severely threatens them as love's approach. Let love draw near them, overlooking the body, as it will surely do, and they retreat in fear, feeling...
51. Idolaters will always be afraid of love, for nothing so severely threatens them as love's approach. Let love draw near them, overlooking the body, as it will surely do, and they retreat in fear, feeling the seeming firm foundation of their temple begin to shake and loosen. Brothers, we tremble with them. Yet what we fear is only the herald of escape. This place of darkness is not our home. Our temple is not threatened. We are no longer idolaters. The Holy Spirit's purpose lies safe in our relationship, not our bodies. We have escaped the body. Where we are the body cannot enter, for the Holy Spirit has set His temple there.

52. There is no order in relationships. They either are or not. An unholy relationship is no relationship. It is a state of isolation which seems to be what it is not. No more than that. When the mad idea of making my relationship with God unholy seemed to be possible, all my relationships were made meaningless. In that unholy instant, time was born, and bodies were made to house the mad idea, and give it the illusion of reality. And so the mad idea seemed to have a home that held together for a little while in time, and then it vanished.

53. Idols must disappear. They leave no trace behind their going. The unholy instant is as frail as a snowflake in its seeming power. Is my preference the malevolence of the unholy relationship, seemingly powerful, bitterly misunderstood, and invested in false attraction? Instead, I want the holy instant, which offers me peace, understanding, and the eternal blessing of its unlimited beneficence. So, I lay aside the body and quietly transcend it, rising to the welcome of what I really want. And from the Holy Spirit's holy temple, I will not look back. For idols cannot attract the minds that have transcended illusions, and left them far behind.

54. The holy relationship reflects the true relationship the Son of God has with his Father, in reality. The Holy Spirit rests within it, certain the holy relationship will endure forever. Its firm foundation is eternally upheld by truth. And love shines on it with the gentle smile and tender blessing it offers to its own. Here the unholy instant is exchanged in gladness for the holy instant of safe return. The way to true relationships is gently held open, and we walk through together. Love's arms are open to receive us and give us peace forever. We leave the body thankfully behind, and rest in the Everlasting Arms.

55. The body is the ego's idol, the belief in sin made flesh, and then projected outward. This produces what seems to be a wall of flesh around the mind, keeping the mind prisoner in a tiny spot of space and time. The prisoner is given only an instant in which to sigh, grieve and die in honor of its master. This unholy instant seems to be life, an instant of despair, a tiny island of dry sand, bereft of water and set uncertainly upon oblivion. Here the Son of God stops briefly, to offer his devotion to the idols of death, and then pass on, more dead than living. However, it is here that he again makes the choice between idolatry and love.

56. Here it is given him to choose to spend this instant paying tribute to the body, or let himself be given freedom from the body. Here he can accept the holy instant, offered to him to replace the unholy one he chose before. And here he can learn relationships are his salvation and not his doom. We who are learning this may still be fearful, but we are not immobilized. The holy instant is now of greater value to us than its unholy seeming counterpart. We have learned what we really want. There is no time for sadness. Maybe there is confusion, but not discouragement.

57. We have a real relationship, and it has meaning. It is as like our real relationship with God as equal things are like to each other....]]>512acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-20-7-temple-of-the-holy-spirit-1
45. The meaning of the Son of God lies solely in his relationship with his Creator. And this is wholly loving and forever. If his relationship were elsewhere, it would rest upon contingency, but there is nothing else. Yet, the Son of God has invented an unholy relationship between him and his Father. His real relationship is one of perfect union and unbroken continuity. The one he made is partial, self-centered, broken into fragments, and full of fear. The one created by his Father is wholly self-encompassing and self-extending. The one he made is wholly self-destructive and self -limiting.

46. Nothing can show the contrast better than the experience of both a holy and an unholy relationship. The first is based and rests on love, serene and undisturbed. The body does not intrude upon it. Any relationship in which the body enters is not based on love, but on idolatry. Love wishes to be known, completely understood, and shared. It has no secrets, nothing that it would keep apart and hide. Love walks in sunlight, open-eyes and calm, in smiling welcome and in sincerity so simple and so obvious it cannot be misunderstood. But idols do not share.

47. Idols accept, but never make return. They can be loved, but cannot love. They do not understand what they are offered, and any relationship in which they enter has lost its meaning. They live in secrecy, hating the sunlight and happy in the body's darkness, where they can hide and keep their secrets hidden along with them. And they have no relationships, for no one else is welcome there. They smile on no one, and they do not see those who smile on them.

48. Love has no darkened temples where mysteries are kept obscure, and hidden from the sun. Love does not seek for power, but for relationships. The body is the ego's chosen weapon for seeking power through relationships. And the ego's relationships must be unholy, for it does not see what they are. The ego wants relationships solely for the offerings that sustain its idols. The rest it throws away as valueless. Homeless, the ego seeks as many bodies as it can collect for placement of its idols, establishing the bodies as temples to itself.

49. The Holy Spirit's temple is a relationship, not a body. The body is an isolated speck of darkness, a secret hidden room, a tiny spot of senseless mystery, a meaningless enclosure carefully protected, yet hiding nothing. Here the unholy relationship hides from reality, and seeks for crumbs to keep itself alive. Here it would drag its brothers, holding them here in its idolatry. Here the unholy relationship is 'safe', because love cannot enter. The Holy Spirit does not build His temples where love can never be. Would He, Who sees the face of Christ, choose as His home the only place in all the universe where Christ's face can not be seen?

50. The temple of the Holy Spirit cannot be the body, for the body will never be the seat of love. The body is the home of the idolater and of love's condemnation. For here love is made fearful and hope abandoned. Even the idols that are worshiped here are shrouded in mystery and kept apart from those who worship them. Here is the 'mystery' of separation perceived in awe and held in reverence. This is the temple dedicated to no relationships and no return. What God would not have be, is kept 'safe' from Him here. I fear, and am blind to what my brother is, making God seem unknown and fearful to me.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5103661Mon, 20 Oct 2014 15:51:20 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-20.7-Temple of the Holy Spirit.1 45. The meaning of the Son of God lies solely in his relationship with his Creator. And this is wholly loving and forever. If his relationship were elsewhere, it would rest upon contingency, but there is...
45. The meaning of the Son of God lies solely in his relationship with his Creator. And this is wholly loving and forever. If his relationship were elsewhere, it would rest upon contingency, but there is nothing else. Yet, the Son of God has invented an unholy relationship between him and his Father. His real relationship is one of perfect union and unbroken continuity. The one he made is partial, self-centered, broken into fragments, and full of fear. The one created by his Father is wholly self-encompassing and self-extending. The one he made is wholly self-destructive and self -limiting.

46. Nothing can show the contrast better than the experience of both a holy and an unholy relationship. The first is based and rests on love, serene and undisturbed. The body does not intrude upon it. Any relationship in which the body enters is not based on love, but on idolatry. Love wishes to be known, completely understood, and shared. It has no secrets, nothing that it would keep apart and hide. Love walks in sunlight, open-eyes and calm, in smiling welcome and in sincerity so simple and so obvious it cannot be misunderstood. But idols do not share.

47. Idols accept, but never make return. They can be loved, but cannot love. They do not understand what they are offered, and any relationship in which they enter has lost its meaning. They live in secrecy, hating the sunlight and happy in the body's darkness, where they can hide and keep their secrets hidden along with them. And they have no relationships, for no one else is welcome there. They smile on no one, and they do not see those who smile on them.

48. Love has no darkened temples where mysteries are kept obscure, and hidden from the sun. Love does not seek for power, but for relationships. The body is the ego's chosen weapon for seeking power through relationships. And the ego's relationships must be unholy, for it does not see what they are. The ego wants relationships solely for the offerings that sustain its idols. The rest it throws away as valueless. Homeless, the ego seeks as many bodies as it can collect for placement of its idols, establishing the bodies as temples to itself.

49. The Holy Spirit's temple is a relationship, not a body. The body is an isolated speck of darkness, a secret hidden room, a tiny spot of senseless mystery, a meaningless enclosure carefully protected, yet hiding nothing. Here the unholy relationship hides from reality, and seeks for crumbs to keep itself alive. Here it would drag its brothers, holding them here in its idolatry. Here the unholy relationship is 'safe', because love cannot enter. The Holy Spirit does not build His temples where love can never be. Would He, Who sees the face of Christ, choose as His home the only place in all the universe where Christ's face can not be seen?

50. The temple of the Holy Spirit cannot be the body, for the body will never be the seat of love. The body is the home of the idolater and of love's condemnation. For here love is made fearful and hope abandoned. Even the idols that are worshiped here are shrouded in mystery and kept apart from those who worship them. Here is the 'mystery' of separation perceived in awe and held in reverence. This is the temple dedicated to no relationships and no return. What God would not have be, is kept 'safe' from Him here. I fear, and am blind to what my brother is, making God seem unknown and fearful to me.]]>423acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-20-6-heralds-of-eternity
37. In this world, God's Son comes closest to himself in a holy relationship. There he begins to find his Father's certainty in him. In a holy relationship, his function becomes bringing that which is outside and lost, back under the laws of God. Only in time can anything be lost, and never lost forever. So, the parts of God's Son gradually join in time, and with each joining, the end of time is brought nearer. Each miracle of joining is a mighty herald of eternity. No one has fear who has a single purpose, unified and sure. And, everyone who shares his purpose, is 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 time. 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 our holy relationship, which has the power to hold together the unity of the Son of God. We give to one another for everyone, and in our gift is everyone made glad. We will not forget Who has given us the gifts we give, and through our not forgetting this, we will remember Who gave the gifts to the Holy Spirit to give to us.

39. It is impossible to overestimate my brother's value. The ego seems to do this, but it wants to possess the other for itself, and therefore values him too little. What is inestimable cannot be evaluated. Fear arises from the meaningless attempt to judge what is so far beyond my judgment, that I cannot even see it. I will not judge what is invisible to me, but wait in patience for its coming, or I will never see it. It will be given me to see my brother's worth when all I want for him is peace. And what I want for him, I will receive.

40. How can I estimate the worth of him who offers peace to me? What would I want except his offering of peace? His worth has been established by his Father, and I will recognize his worth as I receive God's gift through him. The gift that is in him will shine so brightly in my grateful vision that I will only love him and be glad. I will not think to judge him. I would see the face of Christ, and know that judgment has no meaning, for judgment is of those who do not see. My choice is judgment or vision, but never both of these.

41. My brother's body is as of little use to him as it is to me. When it is used only as the Holy Spirit teaches, it has no function, for minds do not need the body to communicate. The sight that sees the body has no use which serves the purpose of a holy relationship. And while we look upon each other with the body's eyes, the means and end have not been brought in line. It should not take so many holy instants to let this be accomplished, when one would do. There is only one holy instant. The little breath of eternity that runs through time like golden light is all the same--nothing before it, and nothing afterwards.

42. We look upon each holy instant as a different point in time. But the holy instant never changes. And 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 is everything. Here is the loveliness of our relationship, with means and end in perfect harmony already. Here is the perfect faith that we will one day offer to each other, already offered to us. And here is the limitless forgiveness we will give each other, already given, and the face of Christ we yet will look upon, already seen.

43. Can I evaluate the giver of a gift like this? Would I exchange this gift for any other? This gift returns the laws of God to my remembrance. And merely by remembering God's laws, the laws that held me prisoner to pain and death must be forgotten. This is not a gift my brother's body offers to me. The veil that hides the gift hides my brother as well. He is the gift, and yet he does not know it. Neither do I. And yet, I have faith that the Holy Spirit sees the gift in both of us, and will offer and receive it for us both. And through His vision we will see the gift, and through His understanding we will recognize it, and love it as our own.

44. We are comforted, and feel the Holy Spirit watching over us in love and in perfect confidence in what He sees. He knows the Son of God, and shares his Father's certainty that 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 the universe to him and know it rests in safety? He does not look upon himself as his Father knows him. And yet it is impossible that the confidence of God should be misplaced.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5095377Sat, 18 Oct 2014 13:27:07 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-20.6-Heralds of Eternity 37. In this world, God's Son comes closest to himself in a holy relationship. There he begins to find his Father's certainty in him. In a holy relationship, his function becomes bringing that which is outside and...
37. In this world, God's Son comes closest to himself in a holy relationship. There he begins to find his Father's certainty in him. In a holy relationship, his function becomes bringing that which is outside and lost, back under the laws of God. Only in time can anything be lost, and never lost forever. So, the parts of God's Son gradually join in time, and with each joining, the end of time is brought nearer. Each miracle of joining is a mighty herald of eternity. No one has fear who has a single purpose, unified and sure. And, everyone who shares his purpose, is 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 time. 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 our holy relationship, which has the power to hold together the unity of the Son of God. We give to one another for everyone, and in our gift is everyone made glad. We will not forget Who has given us the gifts we give, and through our not forgetting this, we will remember Who gave the gifts to the Holy Spirit to give to us.

39. It is impossible to overestimate my brother's value. The ego seems to do this, but it wants to possess the other for itself, and therefore values him too little. What is inestimable cannot be evaluated. Fear arises from the meaningless attempt to judge what is so far beyond my judgment, that I cannot even see it. I will not judge what is invisible to me, but wait in patience for its coming, or I will never see it. It will be given me to see my brother's worth when all I want for him is peace. And what I want for him, I will receive.

40. How can I estimate the worth of him who offers peace to me? What would I want except his offering of peace? His worth has been established by his Father, and I will recognize his worth as I receive God's gift through him. The gift that is in him will shine so brightly in my grateful vision that I will only love him and be glad. I will not think to judge him. I would see the face of Christ, and know that judgment has no meaning, for judgment is of those who do not see. My choice is judgment or vision, but never both of these.

41. My brother's body is as of little use to him as it is to me. When it is used only as the Holy Spirit teaches, it has no function, for minds do not need the body to communicate. The sight that sees the body has no use which serves the purpose of a holy relationship. And while we look upon each other with the body's eyes, the means and end have not been brought in line. It should not take so many holy instants to let this be accomplished, when one would do. There is only one holy instant. The little breath of eternity that runs through time like golden light is all the same--nothing before it, and nothing afterwards.

42. We look upon each holy instant as a different point in time. But the holy instant never changes. And 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 is everything. Here is the loveliness of our relationship, with means and end in perfect harmony already. Here is the perfect faith that we will one day offer to each other, already offered to us. And here is the limitless forgiveness we will give each other, already given, and the face of Christ we yet will look upon, already seen.

43. Can I evaluate the giver of a gift like this? Would I exchange this gift for any other? This gift returns the laws of God to my remembrance. And merely by remembering God's laws, the laws that held me prisoner to pain and death must be forgotten. This is not a gift my brother's body offers to me. The veil that hides the gift hides my brother as well....]]>548acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-20-5-entering-the-ark
28. Nothing can hurt me unless I give it the power to do so. For I give power as the laws of this world interpret giving--giving is losing. However, it is not up to me to give power at all. Power is of God, given by Him, and the power is reawakened by the Holy Spirit, Who knows that giving is gaining. Sin has no power, because the Holy Spirit gives it no power. The results of sin as this world judges---sickness, death, misery and pain, likewise have no power. The Holy Spirit does not see them, and gives no power to their seeming source, so these things have not occurred. He, being without illusion of what I am, would keep me free from them. The Holy Spirit gives everything to God, Who has already given and received all that is true. God has neither given nor received the untrue.

29. Sin has no place in Heaven, where sin's source and results are alien, and cannot enter. My need is to see my brother sinless. Heaven is in him. See sin in him instead, and Heaven is lost to me. See him as he is, and what is mine shines from him to me. My savior gives me only love, but what I receive of him is up to me. It lies in him to overlook all my mistakes, and therein lies his own salvation. And it is the same with mine. As the Holy Spirit interprets it, salvation is a lesson in giving. Salvation is the reawakening of the laws of God in our minds. Our minds have established alien laws and given power to enforce them.

30. My insane laws guarantee that I will make mistakes, give them power over me, and accept their results as my just due. This could only be madness. I will not see this within my brother. He is as free from this insanity as I am. The freedom that I see in him is my own, for we share this freedom. What God has given follows only His laws. It is not possible for those who follow God's laws to suffer results from any other source.

31. Those who choose freedom will experience freedom's results. Their power is of God, and they will give that power only to what God has shared and given to them. Only this can touch them, and only this they see, sharing their power according to the Will of God. And thus their freedom is established and maintained. It is upheld through all temptation to imprison and be imprisoned. I should ask what freedom is of those who have learned of freedom. I will not ask the sparrow how the eagle soars, for those with little wings have not accepted the power to share with me, for themselves.

32. The sinless give as they have received. I will see the power of sinlessness within my brother, and will share with him the release from sin offered to him. A savior is given to each one who walks this earth in seeming solitude. His special function here is to release this one, and so free himself. Each savior is appointed separately in the world of separation, though they all are the same. And each one finds his savior when he is ready to look upon the face of Christ and see Him sinless. Yet those who know that they are all the same do not need salvation.

33. The plan is not of me. I need not be concerned with anything except the part that has been given me to learn. For He Who knows all of the plan will see to it without my help. But I know that He needs my part to help Him with the rest. For all of it lies in my part, without which no part is complete, and my part completes the whole. The ark of peace is entered two by two, as the beginning of another world goes with them. Now that each holy relationship shares His purpose, that holy relationship must enter here to learn its special function in the Holy Spirit's plan. And as this purpose is fulfilled, a new world rises where the Son of God can enter without fear, for sin is gone. Here the Son of God rests a while, to forget imprisonment and to remember freedom. He remembers his completion here, and I am his completion. We enter together to rest, to remember, and find completion. He cannot enter without me. Unless I am there, he is not complete. And it is his completion that he remembers here.

34. This is the purpose given me. Our forgiveness of each other serves the whole, not us alone. For the new world lies in the hands of every two who enter here to rest. And as they rest, the face of Christ shines upon them, and forgetting all else, they remember the laws of God. They yearn to have His laws fulfilled perfectly in them and all their brothers. I will rest with them when this has been achieved. I could no more leave one of them outside than Jesus could leave us, and forget part of himself.

35. While in time, I may wonder how I can be at peace, when there is so much that must be done before the way to peace is open. This seems impossible to me. However, it is not possible that God would have a plan for my salvation that does not work. Once I accept His plan as the one function that I would fulfill, the Holy Spirit will arrange everything else for me without my effort.

36. He goes before me, making my path straight, leaving no stones to trip on, and no obstacles to bar the way. Nothing I need will be denied. Each seeming difficulty will melt away before I reach it. I do not need to think about anything, and caring for nothing, except the purpose that I would fulfill. God's guarantee holds against all obstacles, for it rests on certainty with no contingencies. The purpose is given me, and also its fulfillment will be given. It rests on me, and nothing is more certain than a Son of God.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5087655Thu, 16 Oct 2014 17:38:20 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-20.5-Entering the Ark 28. Nothing can hurt me unless I give it the power to do so. For I give power as the laws of this world interpret giving--giving is losing. However, it is not up to me to give power at all. Power is of God, given by...
28. Nothing can hurt me unless I give it the power to do so. For I give power as the laws of this world interpret giving--giving is losing. However, it is not up to me to give power at all. Power is of God, given by Him, and the power is reawakened by the Holy Spirit, Who knows that giving is gaining. Sin has no power, because the Holy Spirit gives it no power. The results of sin as this world judges---sickness, death, misery and pain, likewise have no power. The Holy Spirit does not see them, and gives no power to their seeming source, so these things have not occurred. He, being without illusion of what I am, would keep me free from them. The Holy Spirit gives everything to God, Who has already given and received all that is true. God has neither given nor received the untrue.

29. Sin has no place in Heaven, where sin's source and results are alien, and cannot enter. My need is to see my brother sinless. Heaven is in him. See sin in him instead, and Heaven is lost to me. See him as he is, and what is mine shines from him to me. My savior gives me only love, but what I receive of him is up to me. It lies in him to overlook all my mistakes, and therein lies his own salvation. And it is the same with mine. As the Holy Spirit interprets it, salvation is a lesson in giving. Salvation is the reawakening of the laws of God in our minds. Our minds have established alien laws and given power to enforce them.

30. My insane laws guarantee that I will make mistakes, give them power over me, and accept their results as my just due. This could only be madness. I will not see this within my brother. He is as free from this insanity as I am. The freedom that I see in him is my own, for we share this freedom. What God has given follows only His laws. It is not possible for those who follow God's laws to suffer results from any other source.

31. Those who choose freedom will experience freedom's results. Their power is of God, and they will give that power only to what God has shared and given to them. Only this can touch them, and only this they see, sharing their power according to the Will of God. And thus their freedom is established and maintained. It is upheld through all temptation to imprison and be imprisoned. I should ask what freedom is of those who have learned of freedom. I will not ask the sparrow how the eagle soars, for those with little wings have not accepted the power to share with me, for themselves.

32. The sinless give as they have received. I will see the power of sinlessness within my brother, and will share with him the release from sin offered to him. A savior is given to each one who walks this earth in seeming solitude. His special function here is to release this one, and so free himself. Each savior is appointed separately in the world of separation, though they all are the same. And each one finds his savior when he is ready to look upon the face of Christ and see Him sinless. Yet those who know that they are all the same do not need salvation.

33. The plan is not of me. I need not be concerned with anything except the part that has been given me to learn. For He Who knows all of the plan will see to it without my help. But I know that He needs my part to help Him with the rest. For all of it lies in my part, without which no part is complete, and my part completes the whole. The ark of peace is entered two by two, as the beginning of another world goes with them. Now that each holy relationship shares His purpose, that holy relationship must enter here to learn its special function in the Holy Spirit's plan. And as this purpose is fulfilled, a new world rises where the Son of God can enter without fear, for sin is gone. Here the Son of God rests a while, to forget imprisonment and to remember freedom. He remembers his completion here, and I am his...]]>635acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-20-4-sin-as-an-adjustment-2
22. The world believes in sin, but the belief that made the world as I see it, is within myself. I will not try to make the Son of God adjust to his insanity. There is a stranger who carelessly wandered into the home of truth, and he will wander off again. He came without a purpose, and he will leave, because I accepted the shining light the Holy Spirit offered. For in the light I am welcome, but the stranger is made homeless.

23. I should not ask this transient stranger, "What am I?" He is the only thing in all the universe that does not know. Yet, I did ask him, "What am I?", and I try to adjust to his answer. This wild thought becomes my guide to the meaning of the universe, slipping unnoticed through the universe of truth. It is arrogant and fierce, and yet so meaningless and tiny. In all the seeing universe, I ask the one blind thing, "How shall I look upon the Son of God?"

24. One does not ask judgment of what is totally bereft of judgment. And if I did, would I believe the answer, and adjust to the answer as if it were the truth? The world I look on is the answer that it gave me, and I have given it the power to adjust the world, to make its answer "true". I asked this puff of madness for the meaning of our unholy relationship, and adjusted the relationship according to its insane answer. Did it make me happy? Did we meet with joy to bless the Son of God and give thanks to him for all the happiness which he held out to me? Did we recognize each other as the eternal gift of God to us? Did we see the holiness that shone in both of us to bless the other? That is the purpose of our holy relationship. I will not ask the one thing that still would have our relationship be unholy. I give it no power to adjust.

25. Prisoners bound with heavy chains for years, starved and emaciated, weak and exhausted, with eyes so long cast down in darkness they do not remember the light, do not leap up in joy the instant they are made free. It takes a while for them to understand what freedom is. We groped feebly in the dust, and found each other's hand, uncertain whether to take hold on life so long forgotten, or to let it go. We will strengthen our hold and raise our eyes to our strong companion, in whom the meaning of our freedom lies. He seemed to be crucified beside us, and yet his holiness remained untouched and perfect. With him beside us, we shall this day enter with him into Paradise and know the peace of God.

26. This is Jesus's will for both of us, and for each of us for one another and for himself. In Heaven there is only holiness and joining without limit. For Heaven is union, direct, perfect, and without the veil of fear. Here we are one, looking with perfect gentleness on ourselves and upon each other. Here, all thoughts become impossible of any separation between us. We who were prisoners in separation, are made free in Paradise. And here Jesus unites with us, his friends, his brothers, and his Self. Our gift to each other has given him the certainty that our union will be soon.

27. We share this faith with Jesus, and know that faith is justified. Because perfect love knows no sin, there is no fear, and it looks on others as on itself. Looking within with charity, perfect love has no fear without. The innocent see safety, and the pure in heart see God within His Son. They look to the Son to lead them to the Father. They go only where they will to be. As surely as God created His Son holy and kept him so, now each of us will lead the other to the Father. The light of God's eternal promise of immortality is in our brother. There can be no fear in me, for I see my brother sinless.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5082434Wed, 15 Oct 2014 13:14:48 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-20.4-Sin as an Adjustment.2 22. The world believes in sin, but the belief that made the world as I see it, is within myself. I will not try to make the Son of God adjust to his insanity. There is a stranger who carelessly wandered into the...
22. The world believes in sin, but the belief that made the world as I see it, is within myself. I will not try to make the Son of God adjust to his insanity. There is a stranger who carelessly wandered into the home of truth, and he will wander off again. He came without a purpose, and he will leave, because I accepted the shining light the Holy Spirit offered. For in the light I am welcome, but the stranger is made homeless.

23. I should not ask this transient stranger, "What am I?" He is the only thing in all the universe that does not know. Yet, I did ask him, "What am I?", and I try to adjust to his answer. This wild thought becomes my guide to the meaning of the universe, slipping unnoticed through the universe of truth. It is arrogant and fierce, and yet so meaningless and tiny. In all the seeing universe, I ask the one blind thing, "How shall I look upon the Son of God?"

24. One does not ask judgment of what is totally bereft of judgment. And if I did, would I believe the answer, and adjust to the answer as if it were the truth? The world I look on is the answer that it gave me, and I have given it the power to adjust the world, to make its answer "true". I asked this puff of madness for the meaning of our unholy relationship, and adjusted the relationship according to its insane answer. Did it make me happy? Did we meet with joy to bless the Son of God and give thanks to him for all the happiness which he held out to me? Did we recognize each other as the eternal gift of God to us? Did we see the holiness that shone in both of us to bless the other? That is the purpose of our holy relationship. I will not ask the one thing that still would have our relationship be unholy. I give it no power to adjust.

25. Prisoners bound with heavy chains for years, starved and emaciated, weak and exhausted, with eyes so long cast down in darkness they do not remember the light, do not leap up in joy the instant they are made free. It takes a while for them to understand what freedom is. We groped feebly in the dust, and found each other's hand, uncertain whether to take hold on life so long forgotten, or to let it go. We will strengthen our hold and raise our eyes to our strong companion, in whom the meaning of our freedom lies. He seemed to be crucified beside us, and yet his holiness remained untouched and perfect. With him beside us, we shall this day enter with him into Paradise and know the peace of God.

26. This is Jesus's will for both of us, and for each of us for one another and for himself. In Heaven there is only holiness and joining without limit. For Heaven is union, direct, perfect, and without the veil of fear. Here we are one, looking with perfect gentleness on ourselves and upon each other. Here, all thoughts become impossible of any separation between us. We who were prisoners in separation, are made free in Paradise. And here Jesus unites with us, his friends, his brothers, and his Self. Our gift to each other has given him the certainty that our union will be soon.

27. We share this faith with Jesus, and know that faith is justified. Because perfect love knows no sin, there is no fear, and it looks on others as on itself. Looking within with charity, perfect love has no fear without. The innocent see safety, and the pure in heart see God within His Son. They look to the Son to lead them to the Father. They go only where they will to be. As surely as God created His Son holy and kept him so, now each of us will lead the other to the Father. The light of God's eternal promise of immortality is in our brother. There can be no fear in me, for I see my brother sinless.]]>452acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-20-4-sin-as-an-adjustment-1
16. The belief in sin is a shift in perception, or an adjustment. An adjustment is a change. It is a belief that what was so before is made different. Every adjustment is a distortion, and it calls on defenses to hold up the adjustment against reality. Knowledge requires no adjustment, and is lost if any shift or change is made. Any shift or change at once reduces knowledge to perception--a way of looking in which doubt has entered, and certainty is lost. Adjustments are necessary to this impaired condition because perceptions are not true. No one needs to adjust the truth, which calls on only what he is to understand.

17. All adjustments of are of the ego. The ego's believes that all relationships depend on adjustments to make them what it would have them be. Direct relationships, where there is no interference, are always seen as dangerous. The ego, the self-appointed mediator of all relationships, makes and interposes adjustments between those who would meet, keeping them separate and preventing their union. It is this deliberate interference which makes it difficult for me to recognize my holy relationship for what it is.

18. The holy are not afraid of truth, and do not interfere with it. For within the truth, they recognized their holiness, and rejoiced at what they saw. The holy looked on truth directly, not attempting to adjust themselves to it or it to them. Not deciding first where they would have truth be, they saw that truth was within them. Their looking asked a question, and what they SAW answered it. I make the world, and then I adjust to the world, and adjust the world to myself. There is no difference between myself and the world in my perception, as my perception made them both.

19. Now, this question needs an answer. Do I like what I have made? I thread my way through a world of constant dangers, alone, afraid of attack, and murder. I hope at most that death will wait a little longer before it overtakes me and I disappear. THIS IS WHAT I MADE UP! It is a picture of what I think I am, of how I see myself. All these are only the fearful thoughts of those who would adjust themselves to a world made fearful by their adjustments. A murderer is frightened, and those who kill fear death. And they look out in sorrow from what is sad within, and see the sadness out there.

20. The world I see is not there at all. It is only a judgment of myself! Yet MY JUDGMENT lays a sentence on it, justifies the sentence, and makes the world seem real. Such is the world I see, made by me as a judgment on myself. This sickly "picture of myself", the ego's cherished image, is carefully preserved by the ego and placed outside me in the world. And to this world I must adjust, as long as I believe this picture is outside and has me at its mercy. This world is merciless, and were it outside me, I should indeed be fearful. Yet it was I who made it merciless, and now if mercilessness seems to look back at me, it can be corrected. I long have wondered how the world would look through happy eyes, and what the world is really like.

21. No one in a holy relationship can remain unholy for long. The holy see a world that is one with them. The holy see a world that is beautiful, because they see their innocence in it. They did not make adjustments to fit their demands, and they did not tell the world what it was. They gently questioned the world and whispered, "What are you?" And the Holy Spirit, Who watches over all perception answered. "What am I?", is a question answered by the Holy Spirit, but not by the judgment of the world.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5082408Wed, 15 Oct 2014 13:06:02 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-20.4-Sin as an Adjustment.1 16. The belief in sin is a shift in perception, or an adjustment. An adjustment is a change. It is a belief that what was so before is made different. Every adjustment is a distortion, and it calls on defenses...
16. The belief in sin is a shift in perception, or an adjustment. An adjustment is a change. It is a belief that what was so before is made different. Every adjustment is a distortion, and it calls on defenses to hold up the adjustment against reality. Knowledge requires no adjustment, and is lost if any shift or change is made. Any shift or change at once reduces knowledge to perception--a way of looking in which doubt has entered, and certainty is lost. Adjustments are necessary to this impaired condition because perceptions are not true. No one needs to adjust the truth, which calls on only what he is to understand.

17. All adjustments of are of the ego. The ego's believes that all relationships depend on adjustments to make them what it would have them be. Direct relationships, where there is no interference, are always seen as dangerous. The ego, the self-appointed mediator of all relationships, makes and interposes adjustments between those who would meet, keeping them separate and preventing their union. It is this deliberate interference which makes it difficult for me to recognize my holy relationship for what it is.

18. The holy are not afraid of truth, and do not interfere with it. For within the truth, they recognized their holiness, and rejoiced at what they saw. The holy looked on truth directly, not attempting to adjust themselves to it or it to them. Not deciding first where they would have truth be, they saw that truth was within them. Their looking asked a question, and what they SAW answered it. I make the world, and then I adjust to the world, and adjust the world to myself. There is no difference between myself and the world in my perception, as my perception made them both.

19. Now, this question needs an answer. Do I like what I have made? I thread my way through a world of constant dangers, alone, afraid of attack, and murder. I hope at most that death will wait a little longer before it overtakes me and I disappear. THIS IS WHAT I MADE UP! It is a picture of what I think I am, of how I see myself. All these are only the fearful thoughts of those who would adjust themselves to a world made fearful by their adjustments. A murderer is frightened, and those who kill fear death. And they look out in sorrow from what is sad within, and see the sadness out there.

20. The world I see is not there at all. It is only a judgment of myself! Yet MY JUDGMENT lays a sentence on it, justifies the sentence, and makes the world seem real. Such is the world I see, made by me as a judgment on myself. This sickly "picture of myself", the ego's cherished image, is carefully preserved by the ego and placed outside me in the world. And to this world I must adjust, as long as I believe this picture is outside and has me at its mercy. This world is merciless, and were it outside me, I should indeed be fearful. Yet it was I who made it merciless, and now if mercilessness seems to look back at me, it can be corrected. I long have wondered how the world would look through happy eyes, and what the world is really like.

21. No one in a holy relationship can remain unholy for long. The holy see a world that is one with them. The holy see a world that is beautiful, because they see their innocence in it. They did not make adjustments to fit their demands, and they did not tell the world what it was. They gently questioned the world and whispered, "What are you?" And the Holy Spirit, Who watches over all perception answered. "What am I?", is a question answered by the Holy Spirit, but not by the judgment of the world.]]>413acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-20-3-thorns-and-lilies-2
10. We have forgiven Jesus. This Easter we look with different eyes upon each other. And yet, until WE can see our gift of lilies, Jesus cannot use them. Nor can we use what HE has given unless we share it. Listen and hear this carefully. The Holy Spirit's vision is no idle gift, no plaything to be tossed about and laid aside. We will not think it is only a dream, a careless thought to play with from time to time, or a toy we would pick up and then put away. For if we do, that is what its value will be to us.

11. Now we have the vision to look past all illusions. It has been given us to see no thorns, no strangers, and no obstacles to peace. Knowing his savior stands beside him, who is afraid to look on illusions? Our vision has become the greatest power for the undoing of illusion that God HImself could give. For what God gave the Holy Spirit, we have received. We have asked for, and been given the strength to look upon this final obstacle. The fear of God is nothing to us now. The Son of God looks to us for his release. And we see no thorns, nor nails to crucify the Son and crown him king of death. Our chosen home is beyond the veil. It has been carefully prepared for us, and is ready to receive us now. We have the vision to see our home, but not with the body's eyes.

112. Since time began our home has called to us, and we have heard. We heard, but did not know where to look nor how. And now we know. The knowledge is in us, freed from the terror that kept it hidden, ready to be unveiled. The song of Easter is the glad refrain that the Son of God was never crucified. In faith we lift our eyes together. There is no fear in love. And there will be no fear in us, for there will be no illusions in our vision--only a pathway to the open door of Heaven, the home we share, and where we live in gentleness and peace together, as one.

113. I would have my holy brother lead me there. Shining from the holy altar within him where I laid the lilies of forgiveness, his innocence will light my way, offering me its guiding light and sure protection. I let him be to me the savior from illusions, and look on him with the new vision that looks on lilies and brings me joy. We go beyond the veil of fear, lighting each other's way. Our home, and the holiness that leads us, is within us. So we will find what we were meant to find by Him Who leads us.

114. This is the way to Heaven and to the peace of Easter. We join in the glad awareness that the Son of God is risen from the past and awakened to the present. Now he is free, unlimited in his communion with all that is within him. Now, the lilies of his innocence are perfectly protected from the cold chill of fear and withering blight of sin. My savior is free to guide me safely through thorns, nails and beyond, for my gift has saved him. Rejoicing, I walk with him, for the savior from illusions has come to lead me home with him.

115. Here is my savior and my friend, released from crucifixion through my vision, and free to lead me where he would be. As the savior from his pain, he will not leave nor forsake me. Gladly we will walk the way of innocence together, singing as we behold the open door of Heaven, and recognize the home that called to us. Joyously, we give to one another the freedom and the strength to take us there. The lamp is lit in both of us for one another, and both of us shall be led past fear to love. We come before each other's holy altar where strength and freedom wait, to offer and receive the bright awareness that leads us home.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5066242Sat, 11 Oct 2014 07:34:34 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-20.3-Thorns and Lilies.2 10. We have forgiven Jesus. This Easter we look with different eyes upon each other. And yet, until WE can see our gift of lilies, Jesus cannot use them. Nor can we use what HE has given unless we share it....
10. We have forgiven Jesus. This Easter we look with different eyes upon each other. And yet, until WE can see our gift of lilies, Jesus cannot use them. Nor can we use what HE has given unless we share it. Listen and hear this carefully. The Holy Spirit's vision is no idle gift, no plaything to be tossed about and laid aside. We will not think it is only a dream, a careless thought to play with from time to time, or a toy we would pick up and then put away. For if we do, that is what its value will be to us.

11. Now we have the vision to look past all illusions. It has been given us to see no thorns, no strangers, and no obstacles to peace. Knowing his savior stands beside him, who is afraid to look on illusions? Our vision has become the greatest power for the undoing of illusion that God HImself could give. For what God gave the Holy Spirit, we have received. We have asked for, and been given the strength to look upon this final obstacle. The fear of God is nothing to us now. The Son of God looks to us for his release. And we see no thorns, nor nails to crucify the Son and crown him king of death. Our chosen home is beyond the veil. It has been carefully prepared for us, and is ready to receive us now. We have the vision to see our home, but not with the body's eyes.

112. Since time began our home has called to us, and we have heard. We heard, but did not know where to look nor how. And now we know. The knowledge is in us, freed from the terror that kept it hidden, ready to be unveiled. The song of Easter is the glad refrain that the Son of God was never crucified. In faith we lift our eyes together. There is no fear in love. And there will be no fear in us, for there will be no illusions in our vision--only a pathway to the open door of Heaven, the home we share, and where we live in gentleness and peace together, as one.

113. I would have my holy brother lead me there. Shining from the holy altar within him where I laid the lilies of forgiveness, his innocence will light my way, offering me its guiding light and sure protection. I let him be to me the savior from illusions, and look on him with the new vision that looks on lilies and brings me joy. We go beyond the veil of fear, lighting each other's way. Our home, and the holiness that leads us, is within us. So we will find what we were meant to find by Him Who leads us.

114. This is the way to Heaven and to the peace of Easter. We join in the glad awareness that the Son of God is risen from the past and awakened to the present. Now he is free, unlimited in his communion with all that is within him. Now, the lilies of his innocence are perfectly protected from the cold chill of fear and withering blight of sin. My savior is free to guide me safely through thorns, nails and beyond, for my gift has saved him. Rejoicing, I walk with him, for the savior from illusions has come to lead me home with him.

115. Here is my savior and my friend, released from crucifixion through my vision, and free to lead me where he would be. As the savior from his pain, he will not leave nor forsake me. Gladly we will walk the way of innocence together, singing as we behold the open door of Heaven, and recognize the home that called to us. Joyously, we give to one another the freedom and the strength to take us there. The lamp is lit in both of us for one another, and both of us shall be led past fear to love. We come before each other's holy altar where strength and freedom wait, to offer and receive the bright awareness that leads us home.]]>410acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-20-3-thorns-and-lilies-1
5. I look on all the trinkets made for the body's use, to hang on it, to cover it. I see all the useless things made for its eyes to see. I think of the many offerings made for its pleasure, and remember that all these were made to make what I hate seem lovely. Would I use this hated thing to attract my brother and his body's eyes? I learn that I offer him a crown of thorns, not recognizing it for what it is. His acceptance of the gift seems to justify my interpretation of its value. However, the gift of thorns is a symbol of my judgement of my brother, and his acceptance of the gift is a symbol of the value he places on himself.

6. Only the mind can value, and only the mind decides what it would receive, and give. The gift it offers is what it wants to receive. True gifts are truly given and received, and are not made through bodies. For bodies can neither give nor take, accept nor offer. The mind will decorate its home carefully, making it ready to receive the gifts it wants, and attracting those who would bring these gifts by offering gifts to them. They will exchange their gifts, offering and receiving what their minds judge to be worthy of each other. Each gift is an evaluation of both giver and receiver.

7. Everyone sees his home as an altar to himself, and seeks to draw worshippers to what he placed on the altar. A light is set on this altar so worshippers can see what is there, and accept it as theirs. The gift on the altar is the value that I put on myself, and my brother. This gift to both of us is my judgment of the Son of God and what he is. This is the gift I offer to my savior. Offer him thorns, and I am crucified. Offer him lilies, and it is myself I free.

8. Jesus has great need for lilies, for the Son of God has not forgiven him. If the Son offers thorns to Jesus, can Jesus offer forgiveness to the Son? For he who offers thorns to anyone is still against Jesus, and no one is whole without him. I will be my brother's friend for Jesus, that Jesus may be forgiven, and I may see the Son as whole. Now, I look on the altar in my chosen home to see what I have laid on it to offer Jesus. If it is thorns whose points gleam sharply in a blood-red light, the body is my chosen home, and it is separation that I offer. But look, the thorns are gone! I look closer, and see that my altar is no longer what it was!

9. I still look with the body's eyes, and they see only thorns. Yet, I have asked for another sight, and it is given and received. Those who accept the Holy Spirit's purpose also share His vision. This vision enables the Holy Spirit to see His purpose shining from every altar. And this vision is mine now, as well as His. Gleaming in the gentle glow of peace that shines on everything He looks upon and loves, He sees only lilies. He sees no strangers, only dearly loved and loving friends.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5066235Sat, 11 Oct 2014 07:27:35 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-20.3-Thorns and Lilies.1 5. I look on all the trinkets made for the body's use, to hang on it, to cover it. I see all the useless things made for its eyes to see. I think of the many offerings made for its pleasure, and remember that all...
5. I look on all the trinkets made for the body's use, to hang on it, to cover it. I see all the useless things made for its eyes to see. I think of the many offerings made for its pleasure, and remember that all these were made to make what I hate seem lovely. Would I use this hated thing to attract my brother and his body's eyes? I learn that I offer him a crown of thorns, not recognizing it for what it is. His acceptance of the gift seems to justify my interpretation of its value. However, the gift of thorns is a symbol of my judgement of my brother, and his acceptance of the gift is a symbol of the value he places on himself.

6. Only the mind can value, and only the mind decides what it would receive, and give. The gift it offers is what it wants to receive. True gifts are truly given and received, and are not made through bodies. For bodies can neither give nor take, accept nor offer. The mind will decorate its home carefully, making it ready to receive the gifts it wants, and attracting those who would bring these gifts by offering gifts to them. They will exchange their gifts, offering and receiving what their minds judge to be worthy of each other. Each gift is an evaluation of both giver and receiver.

7. Everyone sees his home as an altar to himself, and seeks to draw worshippers to what he placed on the altar. A light is set on this altar so worshippers can see what is there, and accept it as theirs. The gift on the altar is the value that I put on myself, and my brother. This gift to both of us is my judgment of the Son of God and what he is. This is the gift I offer to my savior. Offer him thorns, and I am crucified. Offer him lilies, and it is myself I free.

8. Jesus has great need for lilies, for the Son of God has not forgiven him. If the Son offers thorns to Jesus, can Jesus offer forgiveness to the Son? For he who offers thorns to anyone is still against Jesus, and no one is whole without him. I will be my brother's friend for Jesus, that Jesus may be forgiven, and I may see the Son as whole. Now, I look on the altar in my chosen home to see what I have laid on it to offer Jesus. If it is thorns whose points gleam sharply in a blood-red light, the body is my chosen home, and it is separation that I offer. But look, the thorns are gone! I look closer, and see that my altar is no longer what it was!

9. I still look with the body's eyes, and they see only thorns. Yet, I have asked for another sight, and it is given and received. Those who accept the Holy Spirit's purpose also share His vision. This vision enables the Holy Spirit to see His purpose shining from every altar. And this vision is mine now, as well as His. Gleaming in the gentle glow of peace that shines on everything He looks upon and loves, He sees only lilies. He sees no strangers, only dearly loved and loving friends.]]>329acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-20-1-2-intro-holy-week
1. This is Palm Sunday, the celebration of victory and the acceptance of the truth. We will not spend this holy week brooding on the crucifixion of God's Son, but happily in the celebration of his release. For Easter is the sign of peace, not pain. A slain Christ has no meaning. But a risen Christ becomes the symbol of the Son of God's forgiveness of himself, the sign he looks upon himself as healed and whole.

2. This week begins with palms and ends with lilies, the white and holy sign the Son of God is innocent. No dark sign of crucifixion intervenes between the journey and its purpose, between the acceptance of the truth and its expression. This week we celebrate life, not death. And we honor the perfect purity of the Son of God, not his 'sins'. We offer to each other the gift of lilies, not a crown of thorns, the gift of love and not the 'gift' of fear. We stand beside each other, thorns in one hand and lilies in the other, uncertain which to give. Now we join with Jesus, throwing away the thorns, offering the lilies instead. This Easter, Jesus would receive the gift to him of our forgiveness, and the same gift is returned to us by Jesus.

3. We cannot be united in crucifixion and death. Nor can the resurrection be complete until our forgiveness, along with Jesus', rests on Christ. A week is short, and yet this holy week is the symbol of the whole journey the Son of God has undertaken. He started with the sign of victory, the promise of the resurrection already given him. He will not wander into the temptation of crucifixion and be delayed there. I help him to go in peace beyond it, with the light of his own innocence lighting the way to his redemption and release. We will not hold him back with thorns and nails when his redemption is so near. We let the whiteness of our shining gift of lilies speed him on his way to resurrection.

4. Easter is a time of joy, not of mourning. It is the celebration of the end of sin, not its cost. If we see glimpses of the face of Christ behind the veil, looking between the petals of the lilies we have given and received, we will behold each other's face and recognize it. Because we gave our brother lilies, we know him. Jesus was a stranger and we took him in, not knowing who he was. Yet, in our forgiveness of him is his release, and our redemption with him. I look on my risen Friend, and celebrate his holiness with Jesus. With Jesus, Easter is the time of my salvation, along with his.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5050562Tue, 07 Oct 2014 13:14:47 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-20.1,2-Intro, Holy Week 1. This is Palm Sunday, the celebration of victory and the acceptance of the truth. We will not spend this holy week brooding on the crucifixion of God's Son, but happily in the celebration of his release. For Easter...
1. This is Palm Sunday, the celebration of victory and the acceptance of the truth. We will not spend this holy week brooding on the crucifixion of God's Son, but happily in the celebration of his release. For Easter is the sign of peace, not pain. A slain Christ has no meaning. But a risen Christ becomes the symbol of the Son of God's forgiveness of himself, the sign he looks upon himself as healed and whole.

2. This week begins with palms and ends with lilies, the white and holy sign the Son of God is innocent. No dark sign of crucifixion intervenes between the journey and its purpose, between the acceptance of the truth and its expression. This week we celebrate life, not death. And we honor the perfect purity of the Son of God, not his 'sins'. We offer to each other the gift of lilies, not a crown of thorns, the gift of love and not the 'gift' of fear. We stand beside each other, thorns in one hand and lilies in the other, uncertain which to give. Now we join with Jesus, throwing away the thorns, offering the lilies instead. This Easter, Jesus would receive the gift to him of our forgiveness, and the same gift is returned to us by Jesus.

3. We cannot be united in crucifixion and death. Nor can the resurrection be complete until our forgiveness, along with Jesus', rests on Christ. A week is short, and yet this holy week is the symbol of the whole journey the Son of God has undertaken. He started with the sign of victory, the promise of the resurrection already given him. He will not wander into the temptation of crucifixion and be delayed there. I help him to go in peace beyond it, with the light of his own innocence lighting the way to his redemption and release. We will not hold him back with thorns and nails when his redemption is so near. We let the whiteness of our shining gift of lilies speed him on his way to resurrection.

4. Easter is a time of joy, not of mourning. It is the celebration of the end of sin, not its cost. If we see glimpses of the face of Christ behind the veil, looking between the petals of the lilies we have given and received, we will behold each other's face and recognize it. Because we gave our brother lilies, we know him. Jesus was a stranger and we took him in, not knowing who he was. Yet, in our forgiveness of him is his release, and our redemption with him. I look on my risen Friend, and celebrate his holiness with Jesus. With Jesus, Easter is the time of my salvation, along with his.]]>280acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-19-5-obstacles-to-peace-d-2-2
d.2-The Lifting of the Veil.2

104. All the grace of Heaven I can offer to, and receive from, my most holy Friend. He would offer grace to me, for by receiving grace, I offer grace to him. He will receive of me what I received of him. Redemption has been given us to give, and to receive from each other. What we give we share, and the one we forgive is free. I forgive all the guilt I think I see in my brother, and all the sins my brother thinks he has committed.

105. We come again to the holy place of resurrection. We will return here until redemption is accomplished and received. Before I would condemn my brother, I will think who he is, and give thanks to God that he is holy and has the gift of holiness for me. I join my brother in gladness, and remove all trace of guilt from his disturbed and tortured mind. I help him lift the heavy burden of sin I laid on him, and that he accepted as his own. With happy laughter we toss the burden if sin lightly away from him, saving him from crucifixion.

106. We give each other faith, for faith, hope, and mercy are ours to give. Into the hands that give, the gift is given. I look on my brother, and see the gift of God that I would receive. It is almost Easter, the time of resurrection. We give redemption to each other and share in it, that we may rise in resurrection as one. We behold the gift of freedom that Jesus gave the Holy Spirit for both of us. And we are free together, as we offer this same gift to the Holy Spirit. And giving it we receive it of Him in return for what we gave. He leads Jesus and us together that we might meet in this holy place and make the same decision.

107. I will free my brother here, as Jesus freed me. I will not look upon my brother with condemnation of any kind. As Jesus sees me guiltless, I will see my brother guiltless. And I will overlook the sins my brother thinks he sees within himself. We offer each other freedom and complete release from sin, here in the garden of seeming agony and death. So together we will prepare the way for the resurrection of God's Son, and let him rise again to glad remembrance of his Father, Who knows no sin, no death, but only eternal life

108. We will disappear into the Presence beyond the veil together, not lost, but found, not seen, but known. And knowing, God's plan for salvation will be done. This is the purpose of the journey, giving it meaning. This is the reason for the journey from its beginning. Here is the rest and quiet, and the eternal peace of God given to us. We owe each other a debt of gratitude, the gift of Heaven, offered to the Son of God in thanks for what he is, and what his Father created him to be.

109. I will think carefully how I judge the giver of this gift, for the gift itself will appear to be as I judge him. He is judged as the giver of either guilt or salvation. His offering is judged and received accordingly. The crucified give pain because they are in pain. The redeemed give joy because they have been healed. Everyone gives as he receives, but he chooses what it will be that he receives. He will recognize his choice by what he gives, and what is given to him. Nothing in Heaven nor hell can interfere with his choice and his decision.

110. I have come this far on the journey because it was my choice. And, no one undertakes to do what he believes is meaningless. What I had faith in is still faithful, and watches over me in faith so gentle and so strong that it would lift me far beyond the veil, and place the Son of God safely within the sure protection of his Father. This is the only purpose that gives this world, and the long journey through this world, any meaning at all. Except for this, they are meaningless. We stand together, not convinced the world and journey have a purpose. However, it is given to me to see this purpose in my holy Friend, and recognize it as my own.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5044360Sun, 05 Oct 2014 18:55:30 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-19.5-Obstacles to Peace-d.2.2 d.2-The Lifting of the Veil.2 104. All the grace of Heaven I can offer to, and receive from, my most holy Friend. He would offer grace to me, for by receiving grace, I offer grace to him. He will receive of me...
d.2-The Lifting of the Veil.2

104. All the grace of Heaven I can offer to, and receive from, my most holy Friend. He would offer grace to me, for by receiving grace, I offer grace to him. He will receive of me what I received of him. Redemption has been given us to give, and to receive from each other. What we give we share, and the one we forgive is free. I forgive all the guilt I think I see in my brother, and all the sins my brother thinks he has committed.

105. We come again to the holy place of resurrection. We will return here until redemption is accomplished and received. Before I would condemn my brother, I will think who he is, and give thanks to God that he is holy and has the gift of holiness for me. I join my brother in gladness, and remove all trace of guilt from his disturbed and tortured mind. I help him lift the heavy burden of sin I laid on him, and that he accepted as his own. With happy laughter we toss the burden if sin lightly away from him, saving him from crucifixion.

106. We give each other faith, for faith, hope, and mercy are ours to give. Into the hands that give, the gift is given. I look on my brother, and see the gift of God that I would receive. It is almost Easter, the time of resurrection. We give redemption to each other and share in it, that we may rise in resurrection as one. We behold the gift of freedom that Jesus gave the Holy Spirit for both of us. And we are free together, as we offer this same gift to the Holy Spirit. And giving it we receive it of Him in return for what we gave. He leads Jesus and us together that we might meet in this holy place and make the same decision.

107. I will free my brother here, as Jesus freed me. I will not look upon my brother with condemnation of any kind. As Jesus sees me guiltless, I will see my brother guiltless. And I will overlook the sins my brother thinks he sees within himself. We offer each other freedom and complete release from sin, here in the garden of seeming agony and death. So together we will prepare the way for the resurrection of God's Son, and let him rise again to glad remembrance of his Father, Who knows no sin, no death, but only eternal life

108. We will disappear into the Presence beyond the veil together, not lost, but found, not seen, but known. And knowing, God's plan for salvation will be done. This is the purpose of the journey, giving it meaning. This is the reason for the journey from its beginning. Here is the rest and quiet, and the eternal peace of God given to us. We owe each other a debt of gratitude, the gift of Heaven, offered to the Son of God in thanks for what he is, and what his Father created him to be.

109. I will think carefully how I judge the giver of this gift, for the gift itself will appear to be as I judge him. He is judged as the giver of either guilt or salvation. His offering is judged and received accordingly. The crucified give pain because they are in pain. The redeemed give joy because they have been healed. Everyone gives as he receives, but he chooses what it will be that he receives. He will recognize his choice by what he gives, and what is given to him. Nothing in Heaven nor hell can interfere with his choice and his decision.

110. I have come this far on the journey because it was my choice. And, no one undertakes to do what he believes is meaningless. What I had faith in is still faithful, and watches over me in faith so gentle and so strong that it would lift me far beyond the veil, and place the Son of God safely within the sure protection of his Father. This is the only purpose that gives this world, and the long journey through this world, any meaning at all. Except for this, they are meaningless. We stand together, not convinced the world and journey have a purpose. However, it is given to me to see...]]>451acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-19-5-obstacles-to-peace-d-2-1
The Lifting of the Veil.1
97. We remember that we came this far together. The Guide Who brought us here remains with us, and when we raise our eyes, we will be ready to look on terror with no fear at all. But first, we will lift our eyes and look upon each other, in innocence born of complete forgiveness of each other's illusions, and through the eyes of faith, that do not see illusions.

98. Unless he has accepted Atonement for himself and learned illusions are not real, no one can look upon the fear of God without terror. No one could have come this far unless his brother walked beside him. No one can stand before this obstacle alone. And no one would dare to look on this obstacle without complete forgiveness of his brother in his heart. We stand here a while and do not tremble. We will be ready. We are led here by the purpose given in the holy instant. Here, in this place, we join together in a holy instant. We join with Jesus, in faith that the Holy Spirit, Who brought us here, will offer us the innocence we need. We will accept our innocence, in the love that Jesus and the Holy Spirit give.

99. This is the place to which everyone must come when he is ready. It is not possible to look on this too soon. Once he has found his brother, he is ready. Yet merely to reach the place is not enough. A journey without a purpose is meaningless, and even when it is over it seems to make no sense. We cannot know the journey is over unless we realize the purpose is accomplished. Here, with the end of the journey before us, we see its purpose. It is here we choose to look upon the journey's purpose, or to wander on, to return, to make the choice again.

100. Some preparation is needed to look upon the fear of God. Only the sane can look on insanity and madness without fear. Insanity seems fearful only if it is shared. Until we look upon each other with perfect faith, love and tenderness, we do share in the madness. We stand unforgiving until forgiveness is complete. And we fear those we do not forgive. Fearing each other, we are afraid of God. And no one reaches love with fear beside him.

101. The brother who stands beside me seems to be a stranger, and my interpretation of him is very fearful. To keep what seems to be myself unharmed, I attack him. I hate his madness because I share it. Yet, in my brother's hands is my salvation. The forgiveness that would heal the madness is overshadowed by fear. We need forgiveness of each other, for we will share in madness, or in Heaven, together. And we will raise our eyes in faith, together, or not at all.

102. Beside me is one offering me the chalice of Atonement. The Holy Spirit is in him. I can hold his sins against him, or accept his gift to me. This giver of salvation is either my friend or my enemy. I will receive from him, according to my choice. He has the power to forgive my sins, as I can forgive his. We cannot give forgiveness to ourselves alone. We stand together in forgiveness of each other. I let him be what he is, and I do not make an enemy of love.

103. My Friend, the Christ, stands beside me. How holy and beautiful He is! To hide His loveliness, I cast the veil of sin upon Him, and thought He had sinned. Yet, He holds forgiveness out to me, to share His holiness. As a Friend, this one time stranger offers me salvation. This is my brother, crucified by sin, and waiting for release from pain. I would offer forgiveness to him, for only he can offer forgiveness to me. For his redemption, he will give me my redemption, as surely as God created every living thing and loves it. And he gives truly, for redemption is offered and received.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5035945Fri, 03 Oct 2014 14:10:11 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-19.5-Obstacles to Peace-d.2.1 The Lifting of the Veil.1 97. We remember that we came this far together. The Guide Who brought us here remains with us, and when we raise our eyes, we will be ready to look on terror with no fear at all. But...
The Lifting of the Veil.1
97. We remember that we came this far together. The Guide Who brought us here remains with us, and when we raise our eyes, we will be ready to look on terror with no fear at all. But first, we will lift our eyes and look upon each other, in innocence born of complete forgiveness of each other's illusions, and through the eyes of faith, that do not see illusions.

98. Unless he has accepted Atonement for himself and learned illusions are not real, no one can look upon the fear of God without terror. No one could have come this far unless his brother walked beside him. No one can stand before this obstacle alone. And no one would dare to look on this obstacle without complete forgiveness of his brother in his heart. We stand here a while and do not tremble. We will be ready. We are led here by the purpose given in the holy instant. Here, in this place, we join together in a holy instant. We join with Jesus, in faith that the Holy Spirit, Who brought us here, will offer us the innocence we need. We will accept our innocence, in the love that Jesus and the Holy Spirit give.

99. This is the place to which everyone must come when he is ready. It is not possible to look on this too soon. Once he has found his brother, he is ready. Yet merely to reach the place is not enough. A journey without a purpose is meaningless, and even when it is over it seems to make no sense. We cannot know the journey is over unless we realize the purpose is accomplished. Here, with the end of the journey before us, we see its purpose. It is here we choose to look upon the journey's purpose, or to wander on, to return, to make the choice again.

100. Some preparation is needed to look upon the fear of God. Only the sane can look on insanity and madness without fear. Insanity seems fearful only if it is shared. Until we look upon each other with perfect faith, love and tenderness, we do share in the madness. We stand unforgiving until forgiveness is complete. And we fear those we do not forgive. Fearing each other, we are afraid of God. And no one reaches love with fear beside him.

101. The brother who stands beside me seems to be a stranger, and my interpretation of him is very fearful. To keep what seems to be myself unharmed, I attack him. I hate his madness because I share it. Yet, in my brother's hands is my salvation. The forgiveness that would heal the madness is overshadowed by fear. We need forgiveness of each other, for we will share in madness, or in Heaven, together. And we will raise our eyes in faith, together, or not at all.

102. Beside me is one offering me the chalice of Atonement. The Holy Spirit is in him. I can hold his sins against him, or accept his gift to me. This giver of salvation is either my friend or my enemy. I will receive from him, according to my choice. He has the power to forgive my sins, as I can forgive his. We cannot give forgiveness to ourselves alone. We stand together in forgiveness of each other. I let him be what he is, and I do not make an enemy of love.

103. My Friend, the Christ, stands beside me. How holy and beautiful He is! To hide His loveliness, I cast the veil of sin upon Him, and thought He had sinned. Yet, He holds forgiveness out to me, to share His holiness. As a Friend, this one time stranger offers me salvation. This is my brother, crucified by sin, and waiting for release from pain. I would offer forgiveness to him, for only he can offer forgiveness to me. For his redemption, he will give me my redemption, as surely as God created every living thing and loves it. And he gives truly, for redemption is offered and received.]]>447acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-19-5-obstacles-to-peace-d-1
d. The Fourth Obstacle: The Fear of God
90. What would I see without the fear of death? What would I feel and think if death had no attraction for me? Very simply, I would remember my Father. I would remember the Creator of life, the Source of everything that lives, the Father of the universe and of the universe of universes, and of everything that lies beyond them. As the memory of this rises in my mind, peace still must surmount a final obstacle for salvation to be completed, and the Son of God restored entirely to sanity. And here my world ends.

91. The fourth obstacle to be surmounted hangs like a heavy veil hiding the face of Christ. This dark veil which seems to hide Christ's face, fades in the blazing light beyond it. And as His face rises beyond the veil, shining with joy because He is in His Father's Love, peace will lightly brush the veil aside and run to meet and join with Him at last, when the fear of death is gone.

92. This is the darkest veil, upheld and protected by the attraction to, and belief in death. This dedication to the sovereignty of death, is the secret promise I made to the ego never to lift this veil, never to approach it nor even suspect that it is there. This is the bargain made to keep what lies beyond the veil unremembered, reinforcing the belief that I am separate and alone. This is the great amnesia in which the memory of God seems completely forgotten, separating myself from my Self. This is the fear of God, the final step in my dissociation.

93. I see how the belief in death would seem to 'save' me. If this is gone, what can I fear but life? It is the attraction of death that makes life seem ugly, and cruel. I am as afraid of the ego as of death. These are my chosen friends. In my secret alliance with them, I have agreed to never let the fear of God be lifted. If I did, I would look upon the face of Christ and join Him in His Father.

94. Every obstacle that peace must flow across is surmounted in the same way. When the fear that raised the obstacle yields to the love beneath, the fear is gone. This one is the same. The desire to get rid of peace and drive the Holy Spirit from me, fades in the presence of the quiet recognition that I love the Holy Spirit. The exaltation of the body is given up in favor of the Spirit, which I love as I could never love the body. And the appeal of death is lost forever as love's attraction stirs and calls to me. From beyond each of the obstacles to love, Love Itself has called, and each obstacle has been overcome by the power of Love. Wanting fear seemed to be what was holding the obstacles in place. Yet, when I heard the voice of Love beyond the obstacles, I answered and the obstacles disappeared.

95. Now I stand in terror before what I swore never to look upon. My eyes look down as I remember my promise to my 'friends'-- the 'loveliness' of sin, the delicate appeal of guilt, the 'holy' image of death, and the vengeful ego. They all rise and tell me not to raise my eyes. I realize that if I look on this obstacle, and let the veil be lifted, they will be gone forever. All my 'friends,' 'protectors,' 'home' will vanish, and I will not remember anything that I remember now.

96. If I raise my eyes, it seems as if the world will abandon me. Yet, what will occur is that I will be leaving the world forever. This reestablishes my will. I will look on my will with open eyes. I will never again believe that I am at the mercy of things beyond me, forces I cannot control, and thoughts that come to me against my will. It is my will to look on this. Nothing can stand against my will--no mad desire, no impulse to forget again, no threat of death, nor stab of fear. For the Love that calls to me from beyond the veil, is also deep within me, completely one with the Love of God.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5022246Mon, 29 Sep 2014 23:39:23 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-19.5-Obstacles to Peace-d.1 d. The Fourth Obstacle: The Fear of God 90. What would I see without the fear of death? What would I feel and think if death had no attraction for me? Very simply, I would remember my Father. I would remember...
d. The Fourth Obstacle: The Fear of God
90. What would I see without the fear of death? What would I feel and think if death had no attraction for me? Very simply, I would remember my Father. I would remember the Creator of life, the Source of everything that lives, the Father of the universe and of the universe of universes, and of everything that lies beyond them. As the memory of this rises in my mind, peace still must surmount a final obstacle for salvation to be completed, and the Son of God restored entirely to sanity. And here my world ends.

91. The fourth obstacle to be surmounted hangs like a heavy veil hiding the face of Christ. This dark veil which seems to hide Christ's face, fades in the blazing light beyond it. And as His face rises beyond the veil, shining with joy because He is in His Father's Love, peace will lightly brush the veil aside and run to meet and join with Him at last, when the fear of death is gone.

92. This is the darkest veil, upheld and protected by the attraction to, and belief in death. This dedication to the sovereignty of death, is the secret promise I made to the ego never to lift this veil, never to approach it nor even suspect that it is there. This is the bargain made to keep what lies beyond the veil unremembered, reinforcing the belief that I am separate and alone. This is the great amnesia in which the memory of God seems completely forgotten, separating myself from my Self. This is the fear of God, the final step in my dissociation.

93. I see how the belief in death would seem to 'save' me. If this is gone, what can I fear but life? It is the attraction of death that makes life seem ugly, and cruel. I am as afraid of the ego as of death. These are my chosen friends. In my secret alliance with them, I have agreed to never let the fear of God be lifted. If I did, I would look upon the face of Christ and join Him in His Father.

94. Every obstacle that peace must flow across is surmounted in the same way. When the fear that raised the obstacle yields to the love beneath, the fear is gone. This one is the same. The desire to get rid of peace and drive the Holy Spirit from me, fades in the presence of the quiet recognition that I love the Holy Spirit. The exaltation of the body is given up in favor of the Spirit, which I love as I could never love the body. And the appeal of death is lost forever as love's attraction stirs and calls to me. From beyond each of the obstacles to love, Love Itself has called, and each obstacle has been overcome by the power of Love. Wanting fear seemed to be what was holding the obstacles in place. Yet, when I heard the voice of Love beyond the obstacles, I answered and the obstacles disappeared.

95. Now I stand in terror before what I swore never to look upon. My eyes look down as I remember my promise to my 'friends'-- the 'loveliness' of sin, the delicate appeal of guilt, the 'holy' image of death, and the vengeful ego. They all rise and tell me not to raise my eyes. I realize that if I look on this obstacle, and let the veil be lifted, they will be gone forever. All my 'friends,' 'protectors,' 'home' will vanish, and I will not remember anything that I remember now.

96. If I raise my eyes, it seems as if the world will abandon me. Yet, what will occur is that I will be leaving the world forever. This reestablishes my will. I will look on my will with open eyes. I will never again believe that I am at the mercy of things beyond me, forces I cannot control, and thoughts that come to me against my will. It is my will to look on this. Nothing can stand against my will--no mad desire, no impulse to forget again, no threat of death, nor stab of fear. For the Love that calls to me from beyond the veil, is also deep within me, completely one with the Love of God.]]>433acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-19-5-obstacles-to-peace-c-2
c. The Third Obstacle.2
The Incorruptible Body
80. In opposition to life, innocence, and the Will of God, from the ego came sin, guilt, and death. Such opposition can lie only in the sick minds of the insane, dedicated to madness, set against the peace of Heaven. God did not create sin or death, and does not know of either sin or its results. The figures in the funeral procession are not marching in honor of God. They are opposing His Will, for God wills they live.

81. And what is this black-draped thing they would bury? It is the body, dedicated to death, a symbol of corruption, a sacrifice to sin for sin to feed upon, condemned by its maker, and lamented by every mourner who looks upon it as himself. We are arrogant to believe we have condemned the Son of God to this. Yet, we would release him, honoring the Will of his Creator. The arrogance of sin, the pride of guilt, the sepulcher of separation--are all part of our unrecognized dedication to death. The guilt laid on the body would kill it. The ego kills what it loves for its obedience, but what does not obey, the ego cannot kill.

82. We have another dedication which would keep the body incorruptible and perfect as long as it is useful for our holy purpose. The body no more dies than it can feel. It does nothing. Of itself, it is neither corruptible nor incorruptible. It is nothing. It is the result of a tiny mad idea of corruption, which can be corrected. For God has answered this insane idea with His own idea, the Answer which He extended, and which brings the awareness of the Creator to every mind which heard His Answer and accepted it.

83. Through our acceptance, we are dedicated to the incorruptible, and have been given the power to release from corruption. What better way to teach the fundamental principle in a course in miracles than by showing us the miracle which seems to be the hardest, can be accomplished first? The body can only serve my purpose. As I look upon it, so it will seem to be. If death were true, it
would be the complete, final disruption of communication. That is the ego's goal.

84. Fearing death, we do not see how often and how loudly we call to death to come and save us from communication. For death is seen as safety, savior from the light of truth, answer to God's Answer, silencing the Voice that speaks for God. However, death is not the end of conflict. Only God's Answer is the end of conflict. My attraction to death seems to be very great. All the ego's secrets, its strange devices for deception, its sick ideas and weird imaginings are hidden there. Death is the end of union, the ego triumphing over creation, the victory of lifelessness over Life Itself.

85. Killing the Son of God, the ego would lay Him under the edge of its distorted world, proof that God Himself is powerless against the ego's wish to kill, and unable to protect the life that He created. Brothers of Jesus, children of our Father, this is a dream of death. There are no funerals, dark altars, grim commandments nor rites of condemnation, to which the body leads us. We will not ask release of the body. But I will forgive the body for what I ordered it to do, and free it from the merciless and unrelenting orders that I laid upon it. I commanded it to die, believing death could conquer life. Only insanity could look upon the defeat of God and think it real.

86. Love's real attraction will overcome the fear of death. The end of sin, which lies quietly in our relationship, is very near. The infancy of salvation is guarded by love, protected from thoughts that would attack it, and made ready to fulfill the mighty purpose for which it was given us. Our newborn purpose is nursed by angels, cherished by the Holy Spirit, and protected by God himself. This purpose is our protection, for in purpose is the end of death.

87. No danger can harm the innocent. Nothing can attack the guiltless. No fear can disturb the peace of sinlessness. Even in its infancy, what has been given us is in full communication with God and us. Its hands hold out to us every miracle we will perform. The miracle of life is ageless. By our forgiveness of each other, we gave a resting-place to this infant, and see there the Will of God. Here the babe of Bethlehem is reborn. And everyone who gives him shelter will follow him to the Resurrection and the Life.

88. When anything seems to be a source of fear, when any situation brings terror, the ego has perceived it as a symbol of fear, sin and death. Then I remember that neither sign nor symbol should be confused with Source, for symbols stand for something other than themselves. Meaning cannot be in symbols, but can only be found in what they represent. And they may mean everything, or nothing, according to the truth or falsity of the idea they reflect. Confronted with uncertainty of meaning, I do not judge it. I remember the holy Presence of the One given to me to be the Source of judgment. I give it to Him to judge for me, and say:

89. 'Holy Spirit, take this from me, look upon it, judging it for me. I would not see it as a sign of sin and death, nor use it for destruction. Teach me how to let You use it to facilitate the coming of peace, and to not make of it an obstacle to peace.']]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5013712Sat, 27 Sep 2014 17:07:07 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-19.5-Obstacles to Peace-c.2 c. The Third Obstacle.2 The Incorruptible Body 80. In opposition to life, innocence, and the Will of God, from the ego came sin, guilt, and death. Such opposition can lie only in the sick minds of the insane,...
c. The Third Obstacle.2
The Incorruptible Body
80. In opposition to life, innocence, and the Will of God, from the ego came sin, guilt, and death. Such opposition can lie only in the sick minds of the insane, dedicated to madness, set against the peace of Heaven. God did not create sin or death, and does not know of either sin or its results. The figures in the funeral procession are not marching in honor of God. They are opposing His Will, for God wills they live.

81. And what is this black-draped thing they would bury? It is the body, dedicated to death, a symbol of corruption, a sacrifice to sin for sin to feed upon, condemned by its maker, and lamented by every mourner who looks upon it as himself. We are arrogant to believe we have condemned the Son of God to this. Yet, we would release him, honoring the Will of his Creator. The arrogance of sin, the pride of guilt, the sepulcher of separation--are all part of our unrecognized dedication to death. The guilt laid on the body would kill it. The ego kills what it loves for its obedience, but what does not obey, the ego cannot kill.

82. We have another dedication which would keep the body incorruptible and perfect as long as it is useful for our holy purpose. The body no more dies than it can feel. It does nothing. Of itself, it is neither corruptible nor incorruptible. It is nothing. It is the result of a tiny mad idea of corruption, which can be corrected. For God has answered this insane idea with His own idea, the Answer which He extended, and which brings the awareness of the Creator to every mind which heard His Answer and accepted it.

83. Through our acceptance, we are dedicated to the incorruptible, and have been given the power to release from corruption. What better way to teach the fundamental principle in a course in miracles than by showing us the miracle which seems to be the hardest, can be accomplished first? The body can only serve my purpose. As I look upon it, so it will seem to be. If death were true, it
would be the complete, final disruption of communication. That is the ego's goal.

84. Fearing death, we do not see how often and how loudly we call to death to come and save us from communication. For death is seen as safety, savior from the light of truth, answer to God's Answer, silencing the Voice that speaks for God. However, death is not the end of conflict. Only God's Answer is the end of conflict. My attraction to death seems to be very great. All the ego's secrets, its strange devices for deception, its sick ideas and weird imaginings are hidden there. Death is the end of union, the ego triumphing over creation, the victory of lifelessness over Life Itself.

85. Killing the Son of God, the ego would lay Him under the edge of its distorted world, proof that God Himself is powerless against the ego's wish to kill, and unable to protect the life that He created. Brothers of Jesus, children of our Father, this is a dream of death. There are no funerals, dark altars, grim commandments nor rites of condemnation, to which the body leads us. We will not ask release of the body. But I will forgive the body for what I ordered it to do, and free it from the merciless and unrelenting orders that I laid upon it. I commanded it to die, believing death could conquer life. Only insanity could look upon the defeat of God and think it real.

86. Love's real attraction will overcome the fear of death. The end of sin, which lies quietly in our relationship, is very near. The infancy of salvation is guarded by love, protected from thoughts that would attack it, and made ready to fulfill the mighty purpose for which it was given us. Our newborn purpose is nursed by angels, cherished by the Holy Spirit, and protected by God himself. This purpose is our protection, for in purpose is the end...]]>604acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-19-5-obstacles-to-peace-c-1
c. The Third Obstacle.1

The Attraction of Death
77. To us in whose special relationship the Holy Spirit entered, it is given to release and be released from the dedication to death. For release was offered us, and we accepted. Yet we must still learn more about this strange devotion, for it contains the third of the obstacles which peace must flow across. No one can die unless he chooses death. What seems to be the fear of death is really its attraction. Guilt, too, is feared and fearful. Yet it could have no hold at all except on those who are attracted to it and seek it out. And so it is with death. Made by the ego, death's dark shadow falls across all living things because the ego is the 'enemy' of life.

78. And yet a shadow cannot kill. What is a shadow to the living? They only walk past, and it is gone. But what of those whose dedication is not to live--the black-draped 'sinners,' the ego's mournful chorus, plodding so heavily away from life, dragging their chains and marching in the slow procession which honors their grim master, lord of death? Touch any one of them with the gentle hands of forgiveness and I watch the chains fall away along with mine. I see him throw aside the black robe he was wearing to his funeral and hear him laugh at death. He can escape the sentence sin would lay upon him, through my forgiveness.

79. This is not arrogance. It is the Will of God. What is impossible to me who chose God's Will as mine? What is death to me? My dedication is not to death nor to its master. When I accepted the Holy Spirit's purpose in place of the ego's, I renounced death, exchanging it for life. We know that an idea does not leave its source. And death is the result of the thought we call the ego, as surely as life is the result of the Thought of God.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5007073Thu, 25 Sep 2014 22:38:28 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-19.5-Obstacles to Peace-c.1 c. The Third Obstacle.1 The Attraction of Death 77. To us in whose special relationship the Holy Spirit entered, it is given to release and be released from the dedication to death. For release was offered us,...
c. The Third Obstacle.1

The Attraction of Death
77. To us in whose special relationship the Holy Spirit entered, it is given to release and be released from the dedication to death. For release was offered us, and we accepted. Yet we must still learn more about this strange devotion, for it contains the third of the obstacles which peace must flow across. No one can die unless he chooses death. What seems to be the fear of death is really its attraction. Guilt, too, is feared and fearful. Yet it could have no hold at all except on those who are attracted to it and seek it out. And so it is with death. Made by the ego, death's dark shadow falls across all living things because the ego is the 'enemy' of life.

78. And yet a shadow cannot kill. What is a shadow to the living? They only walk past, and it is gone. But what of those whose dedication is not to live--the black-draped 'sinners,' the ego's mournful chorus, plodding so heavily away from life, dragging their chains and marching in the slow procession which honors their grim master, lord of death? Touch any one of them with the gentle hands of forgiveness and I watch the chains fall away along with mine. I see him throw aside the black robe he was wearing to his funeral and hear him laugh at death. He can escape the sentence sin would lay upon him, through my forgiveness.

79. This is not arrogance. It is the Will of God. What is impossible to me who chose God's Will as mine? What is death to me? My dedication is not to death nor to its master. When I accepted the Holy Spirit's purpose in place of the ego's, I renounced death, exchanging it for life. We know that an idea does not leave its source. And death is the result of the thought we call the ego, as surely as life is the result of the Thought of God.]]>199acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-19-5-obstacles-to-peace-b-2
b. The Second Obstacle.2

Pleasure and Pain
68. My little part is to give the Holy Spirit the whole idea of sacrifice, and to accept the peace He gave instead, without the limits which would hold its extension back and so would limit my awareness of it, for what He gives must be extended if I would have its limitless power and use it for the Son of God's release. It is not peace I would be rid of, and having it I cannot limit it. If peace is homeless, so am I and so is Jesus. And He who is our home is homeless with us. Is this my will? Would I forever be a wanderer in search of peace? Would I invest my hope of peace and happiness in what must fail?

69. Faith in the eternal is always justified, for the eternal is forever kind, infinite in its patience, and wholly loving. It will accept me wholly and give me peace. Yet it can unite only with what is already at peace in me, immortal as itself. The body can bring me neither peace nor turmoil, neither pain nor joy. It is a means and not an end. It has no purpose of itself, but only what is given to it. The body will seem to be whatever is the means for reaching the goal that I assign to it. Only the mind can set a purpose, and only mind can see the means for its accomplishment and justify its use. Peace and guilt are both conditions of the mind to be attained. And these conditions are the home of the emotion which called them forth, and therefore is compatible with them. Only I must think which emotion it is that is compatible with me.

70. Here is my choice, and it is free. But all that lies in it will comes with it. What I think I am can never be apart from my choice. The body is the great seeming betrayer of faith. In it lies disillusionment and the seeds of faithlessness, but only if I ask of it what it cannot give. Can my mistake be reasonable grounds for depression and disillusionment, and for retaliative attack on what I think has failed me? I must not use my error as the justification for faithlessness. I have not sinned, but I have been mistaken in what is faithful. And the correction of my mistake will give me grounds for faith.

71. It is impossible to seek pleasure through the body and not find pain. It is essential that this relationship be understood, for it is one the ego sees as proof of sin. It is not really punitive at all. It is only the inevitable result of equating myself with the body, which is the invitation to pain. For it invites fear to enter and become my purpose. The attraction of guilt must enter with it, and whatever fear directs the body to do is painful. The body will share the pain of all illusions, and the illusion of pleasure will be the same as pain.

72. This is inevitable. Under fear's orders, the body will pursue guilt, serving the ego, its master, whose attraction to guilt maintains the whole illusion of its existence. This, then, is the attraction of pain. Ruled by this perception, the body becomes the servant of pain, seeking it dutifully and obeying the idea that pain is pleasure. It is this idea that underlies all of the ego's heavy investment in the body. And it is this insane relationship which it keeps hidden and yet feeds upon. To me it teaches that the body's pleasure is happiness. Yet to itself it whispers, "It is death."

73. Why should the body be anything to me? Certainly what it is made of is not precious. And just as certainly, it has no feeling. It transmits to me the feelings that I want. Like any communication medium, the body receives and sends the messages that it is given. It has no feeling for them. All of the feeling with which they are invested is given by the sender and the receiver. The ego and the Holy Spirit both recognize this, and both also recognize that here the sender and receiver are the same. The Holy Spirit tells me this with joy. The ego hides it, for it would keep me unaware of it. Who would send messages of hatred and attack if he only understood he sends them to himself? Who would accuse, make guilty, and condemn himself?

74. The ego's messages of attack and guilt are always sent away from me in the belief that someone other than me will suffer. And even if I suffer, someone else will suffer more. The great deceiver recognizes that this is not so, but as the "enemy" of peace, it urges me to send out all my messages of hate, and free myself. And to convince me this is possible, it bids the body search for pain in attack upon another, calling it pleasure and offering it to me as freedom from attack.

75. I will not hear its madness, and will not believe the impossible is true. Let me remember that the ego has dedicated the body to the goal of sin and places all its faith in the body that this can be accomplished. The ego's sad disciples chant the body's praise continually, in solemn celebration of the ego's rule. Every one believes that yielding to the attraction of guilt is the escape from pain. Every one must regard the body as himself, without which he would die, and yet within which is his death equally inevitable.

76. The ego's disciples do not realize that they have dedicated themselves to death. Freedom is offered them, but they have not accepted it. What is offered must also be received to be truly given. For the Holy Spirit, too, is a communication medium, receiving from the Father and offering His messages unto the Son. Like the ego, the Holy Spirit is both the sender and the receiver. For what is sent through Him returns to Him, seeking itself along the way and finding what it seeks. So does the ego find the death it seeks, returning it to me.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/5003867Thu, 25 Sep 2014 01:58:59 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-19.5-Obstacles to Peace-b.2 b. The Second Obstacle.2 Pleasure and Pain 68. My little part is to give the Holy Spirit the whole idea of sacrifice, and to accept the peace He gave instead, without the limits which would hold its extension back...
b. The Second Obstacle.2

Pleasure and Pain
68. My little part is to give the Holy Spirit the whole idea of sacrifice, and to accept the peace He gave instead, without the limits which would hold its extension back and so would limit my awareness of it, for what He gives must be extended if I would have its limitless power and use it for the Son of God's release. It is not peace I would be rid of, and having it I cannot limit it. If peace is homeless, so am I and so is Jesus. And He who is our home is homeless with us. Is this my will? Would I forever be a wanderer in search of peace? Would I invest my hope of peace and happiness in what must fail?

69. Faith in the eternal is always justified, for the eternal is forever kind, infinite in its patience, and wholly loving. It will accept me wholly and give me peace. Yet it can unite only with what is already at peace in me, immortal as itself. The body can bring me neither peace nor turmoil, neither pain nor joy. It is a means and not an end. It has no purpose of itself, but only what is given to it. The body will seem to be whatever is the means for reaching the goal that I assign to it. Only the mind can set a purpose, and only mind can see the means for its accomplishment and justify its use. Peace and guilt are both conditions of the mind to be attained. And these conditions are the home of the emotion which called them forth, and therefore is compatible with them. Only I must think which emotion it is that is compatible with me.

70. Here is my choice, and it is free. But all that lies in it will comes with it. What I think I am can never be apart from my choice. The body is the great seeming betrayer of faith. In it lies disillusionment and the seeds of faithlessness, but only if I ask of it what it cannot give. Can my mistake be reasonable grounds for depression and disillusionment, and for retaliative attack on what I think has failed me? I must not use my error as the justification for faithlessness. I have not sinned, but I have been mistaken in what is faithful. And the correction of my mistake will give me grounds for faith.

71. It is impossible to seek pleasure through the body and not find pain. It is essential that this relationship be understood, for it is one the ego sees as proof of sin. It is not really punitive at all. It is only the inevitable result of equating myself with the body, which is the invitation to pain. For it invites fear to enter and become my purpose. The attraction of guilt must enter with it, and whatever fear directs the body to do is painful. The body will share the pain of all illusions, and the illusion of pleasure will be the same as pain.

72. This is inevitable. Under fear's orders, the body will pursue guilt, serving the ego, its master, whose attraction to guilt maintains the whole illusion of its existence. This, then, is the attraction of pain. Ruled by this perception, the body becomes the servant of pain, seeking it dutifully and obeying the idea that pain is pleasure. It is this idea that underlies all of the ego's heavy investment in the body. And it is this insane relationship which it keeps hidden and yet feeds upon. To me it teaches that the body's pleasure is happiness. Yet to itself it whispers, "It is death."

73. Why should the body be anything to me? Certainly what it is made of is not precious. And just as certainly, it has no feeling. It transmits to me the feelings that I want. Like any communication medium, the body receives and sends the messages that it is given. It has no feeling for them. All of the feeling with which they are invested is given by the sender and the receiver. The ego and the Holy Spirit both recognize this, and both also recognize that here the sender and receiver are the same. The Holy Spirit tells me this with joy. The ego...]]>578cleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-19-5-obstacles-to-peace-b-1
b. The Second Obstacle.1

The Belief the Body is Valuable for What it Offers
59. Peace must first surmount the obstacle of our desire to get rid of peace. Peace is not wanted where the attraction of guilt holds sway. The second obstacle, and closely related to the first, is the belief that the body is valuable for what it offers. For here the attraction of guilt is made manifest in the body and seen in the body.

60. We think peace would rob us of this value, and believe that peace would dispossess and leave us homeless. Because of this, we would deny a home to peace. We feel this 'sacrifice' is too great, and too much to ask of us.

61. Is it a sacrifice or a release? What has the body really given me that justifies my strange belief that salvation lies in it? Do I not see that this is the belief in death? Here is the focus of the perception of Atonement as murder. Here is the source of the idea that love is fear. The Holy Spirit's messengers are sent far beyond the body, calling the mind to join in holy communion, and be at peace. Jesus gave them the Holy Spirit's message for us.

62. It is only the messengers of fear that see the body, for they look for what can suffer. Is it a sacrifice to be removed from what can suffer? The Holy Spirit does not demand I sacrifice the hope of the body's pleasure. The body has no hope of pleasure. But neither can the body bring me fear of pain. Pain is the only 'sacrifice' the Holy Spirit asks, and this He would remove.

63. Peace is extended from me only to the eternal, and peace reaches out from the eternal in me. It flows across all else. The second obstacle is no more solid than the first. For my will is neither to get rid of peace nor to limit it. These obstacles which I would interpose between peace and its going forth are only barriers I place between my will and its accomplishment. I want communion, not the feast of fear. I want salvation, not the pain of guilt. And I want my Father to be my home, not a little mound of clay. Our Father's Son is in our holy relationship. The Son has not lost communion with his Father nor with himself. When we agreed to join each other, we acknowledged this is so. This has no cost, but it is release from cost.

64. We have paid dearly for our illusions, and nothing we have paid has brought us peace. I am glad that Heaven cannot be sacrificed, and sacrifice cannot be asked of me. There is no obstacle which I can place before our union, for in our holy relationship, Jesus is already there. We will surmount all obstacles together, for we stand within the gates and not outside. How easily the gates are opened from within to let peace pass through to bless the tired world! It cannot be difficult for us to walk past barriers together when we have joined the limitless. The end of guilt is in our hands to give. Would we stop now to look for guilt in each other?

65. We will let Jesus be to us the symbol of the end of guilt, and look upon each other as we would look on Jesus. We would forgive Jesus all the sins we think the Son of God committed. And in the light of our forgiveness, the Son of God will remember who he is and forget what never was. Jesus asks for our forgiveness, for if we are guilty, so he must be. But if Jesus surmounted guilt and overcame the world, we were with him. We would see in Jesus the symbol of the end of guilt. We would remember that what Jesus represents to us, we see within ourselves.

66. From our holy relationship truth proclaims the truth, and love looks on itself. Salvation flows from deep within the home we offered to our Father and to Jesus. And we are there together in the quiet communion in which the Father and the Son are joined. Oh come ye faithful to the holy union of the Father and Son in us! We will not keep apart from what is offered us in gratitude for giving peace its home in Heaven. We send forth to all the world the joyous message of the end of guilt, and all the world will answer. We think of our happiness as everyone offers us witness of the end of sin, and shows us that its power is gone forever. Where can guilt be when the belief in sin is gone? And where is death, when its great advocate is heard no more?

67. We forgive Jesus our illusions, and release him from punishment for what he has not done. We will learn the freedom that Jesus taught by teaching freedom to each other, and so releasing him. Jesus is within our holy relationship, yet we would imprison him behind the obstacles we raise to freedom. Yet it is not possible to keep away One Who is already there. And in the Holy Spirit, where we are joined, it is possible that our communion will be the focus of the new perception. And the new perception will bring the light contained in us to all the world.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4998716Tue, 23 Sep 2014 20:39:36 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-19.5-Obstacles to Peace.b.1 b. The Second Obstacle.1 The Belief the Body is Valuable for What it Offers 59. Peace must first surmount the obstacle of our desire to get rid of peace. Peace is not wanted where the attraction of guilt holds...
b. The Second Obstacle.1

The Belief the Body is Valuable for What it Offers
59. Peace must first surmount the obstacle of our desire to get rid of peace. Peace is not wanted where the attraction of guilt holds sway. The second obstacle, and closely related to the first, is the belief that the body is valuable for what it offers. For here the attraction of guilt is made manifest in the body and seen in the body.

60. We think peace would rob us of this value, and believe that peace would dispossess and leave us homeless. Because of this, we would deny a home to peace. We feel this 'sacrifice' is too great, and too much to ask of us.

61. Is it a sacrifice or a release? What has the body really given me that justifies my strange belief that salvation lies in it? Do I not see that this is the belief in death? Here is the focus of the perception of Atonement as murder. Here is the source of the idea that love is fear. The Holy Spirit's messengers are sent far beyond the body, calling the mind to join in holy communion, and be at peace. Jesus gave them the Holy Spirit's message for us.

62. It is only the messengers of fear that see the body, for they look for what can suffer. Is it a sacrifice to be removed from what can suffer? The Holy Spirit does not demand I sacrifice the hope of the body's pleasure. The body has no hope of pleasure. But neither can the body bring me fear of pain. Pain is the only 'sacrifice' the Holy Spirit asks, and this He would remove.

63. Peace is extended from me only to the eternal, and peace reaches out from the eternal in me. It flows across all else. The second obstacle is no more solid than the first. For my will is neither to get rid of peace nor to limit it. These obstacles which I would interpose between peace and its going forth are only barriers I place between my will and its accomplishment. I want communion, not the feast of fear. I want salvation, not the pain of guilt. And I want my Father to be my home, not a little mound of clay. Our Father's Son is in our holy relationship. The Son has not lost communion with his Father nor with himself. When we agreed to join each other, we acknowledged this is so. This has no cost, but it is release from cost.

64. We have paid dearly for our illusions, and nothing we have paid has brought us peace. I am glad that Heaven cannot be sacrificed, and sacrifice cannot be asked of me. There is no obstacle which I can place before our union, for in our holy relationship, Jesus is already there. We will surmount all obstacles together, for we stand within the gates and not outside. How easily the gates are opened from within to let peace pass through to bless the tired world! It cannot be difficult for us to walk past barriers together when we have joined the limitless. The end of guilt is in our hands to give. Would we stop now to look for guilt in each other?

65. We will let Jesus be to us the symbol of the end of guilt, and look upon each other as we would look on Jesus. We would forgive Jesus all the sins we think the Son of God committed. And in the light of our forgiveness, the Son of God will remember who he is and forget what never was. Jesus asks for our forgiveness, for if we are guilty, so he must be. But if Jesus surmounted guilt and overcame the world, we were with him. We would see in Jesus the symbol of the end of guilt. We would remember that what Jesus represents to us, we see within ourselves.

66. From our holy relationship truth proclaims the truth, and love looks on itself. Salvation flows from deep within the home we offered to our Father and to Jesus. And we are there together in the quiet communion in which the Father and the Son are joined. Oh come ye faithful to the holy union of the Father and Son in us! We will not keep apart from what...]]>505acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-19-5-obstacles-to-peace-2
a.The First Obstacle.2

The Attraction of Guilt
49. The attraction of guilt produces fear of love, for love would never look on guilt at all. It is the nature of love to look only upon the truth, for there it sees itself, and would unite in holy union and completion. Love looks past fear, and fear does not see love at all. For love contains the end of guilt as surely as fear depends on guilt. Love is attracted only to love. Overlooking guilt completely, love sees no fear. Being wholly without attack, love could not be afraid. Fear is attracted to what love does not see, and each believes that what the other looks upon does not exist. Fear looks on guilt with just the same devotion that love looks on itself. And each has messengers which are sent out, and which return to them with messages confirming and proving what the messengers were sent to find.

50. Love's messengers are gently sent and return with messages of love and gentleness. The messengers of fear are harshly ordered to seek out guilt, and cherish every scrap of evil and sin they can find, losing none on pain of death and laying sin and evil respectfully before their master. Perception cannot obey two masters, each asking for messages of different things in different languages. What fear would feed upon, love overlooks. What fear demands, love cannot even see.
51. The fierce attraction which guilt holds for fear is wholly absent from love's gentle perception. What love would look upon is meaningless to fear and quite invisible. Relationships in this world are the result of how the world is seen. And this seeing depends on which emotion was called on to send its messengers to look upon the relationship and return with word of what they saw. Fear's messengers are trained through terror and they tremble when their master calls upon them to serve him. For fear is merciless even to its friends. Its messengers steal guiltily away in hungry search of guilt, for they are kept cold and starving and made very vicious by their master, who allows them to feast only upon what they return to him. No little shred of guilt escapes their hungry eyes. And in their savage search for sin, they pounce on any living thing they see and carry it screaming to their master to be devoured.

52. I would not send these savage messengers into the world to prey upon reality. For they will bring me word of bones and skin and flesh. They have been taught to seek for the corruptible and return with things decayed and rotted. To them such things seem to allay their savage pangs of hunger. They are frantic with the pain of fear and would avert the punishment of him who sends them by offering him what they hold dear.

53. The Holy Spirit has given us love's messengers to send instead of those we trained through fear. They are as eager to return to us what they hold dear, as are the others. If we send them forth, they will see only the blameless and the beautiful, the gentle and the kind. They will be careful to notice every little act of charity, every tiny expression of forgiveness, and every little breath of love. And they will return with all the happy things they found, to share lovingly with us. We are not afraid of them. They offer us salvation. Theirs are the messages of safety, for they see the world as kind.

54. If we send forth only the messengers the Holy Spirit gives us, wanting only their messages, we will see no more fear. The world will be transformed before our sight, cleansed of all guilt and softly brushed with beauty. The world contains only the fear we laid upon it. And we can ask love's messengers to remove all fear that we have laid upon the world. They have been given to replace the hungry dogs of fear we sent instead. The Holy Spirit has given us His messengers to send to each other, and return with what love sees. They go forth to signify the end of fear.

55. Love would set a feast before us on a table covered with a spotless cloth, set in a quiet garden where no sound but singing and a softly joyous whispering is ever heard. This is a feast which honors our holy relationship, and where everyone is welcomed as an honored guest. And in a holy instant, grace is said by everyone together, as they join in gentleness before the table of communion. Jesus will join us there. For in our new relationship Jesus is made welcome, and where he is welcome, Jesus is there.

56. Jesus is made welcome in the state of grace, which means we have forgiven him at last. For Jesus became the symbol of our sin, so Jesus had to die instead of us. To the ego sin means death, and so Atonement is achieved through murder. Salvation is looked upon as a way by which the Son of God was killed instead of us.

57. Yet, knowing its littleness, Jesus would not offer his body to us. He would not teach that bodies can keep us apart. His body had no greater value than our bodies have, and no better means for communication of salvation. His body was not the Source of salvation. No one can die for anyone, and death does not atone for sin. Yet, we can live to show that death is not real. While we believe that it can get us what we want, the body appears to be the symbol of sin. While I believe that the body can give me pleasure, I will also believe that it can bring me pain.

58. To think we could be satisfied and happy with so little is to hurt ourselves, and to limit the happiness that we would have. Fear calls on pain to fill our meager store, and make our lives complete. This is completion, as the ego see it. For guilt creeps in where happiness has been removed and substitutes for it. Communion is another kind of completion which goes beyond guilt because it goes beyond the body.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4993432Mon, 22 Sep 2014 14:13:13 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-19.5-Obstacles to Peace.2 a.The First Obstacle.2 The Attraction of Guilt 49. The attraction of guilt produces fear of love, for love would never look on guilt at all. It is the nature of love to look only upon the truth, for there it sees...
a.The First Obstacle.2

The Attraction of Guilt
49. The attraction of guilt produces fear of love, for love would never look on guilt at all. It is the nature of love to look only upon the truth, for there it sees itself, and would unite in holy union and completion. Love looks past fear, and fear does not see love at all. For love contains the end of guilt as surely as fear depends on guilt. Love is attracted only to love. Overlooking guilt completely, love sees no fear. Being wholly without attack, love could not be afraid. Fear is attracted to what love does not see, and each believes that what the other looks upon does not exist. Fear looks on guilt with just the same devotion that love looks on itself. And each has messengers which are sent out, and which return to them with messages confirming and proving what the messengers were sent to find.

50. Love's messengers are gently sent and return with messages of love and gentleness. The messengers of fear are harshly ordered to seek out guilt, and cherish every scrap of evil and sin they can find, losing none on pain of death and laying sin and evil respectfully before their master. Perception cannot obey two masters, each asking for messages of different things in different languages. What fear would feed upon, love overlooks. What fear demands, love cannot even see.
51. The fierce attraction which guilt holds for fear is wholly absent from love's gentle perception. What love would look upon is meaningless to fear and quite invisible. Relationships in this world are the result of how the world is seen. And this seeing depends on which emotion was called on to send its messengers to look upon the relationship and return with word of what they saw. Fear's messengers are trained through terror and they tremble when their master calls upon them to serve him. For fear is merciless even to its friends. Its messengers steal guiltily away in hungry search of guilt, for they are kept cold and starving and made very vicious by their master, who allows them to feast only upon what they return to him. No little shred of guilt escapes their hungry eyes. And in their savage search for sin, they pounce on any living thing they see and carry it screaming to their master to be devoured.

52. I would not send these savage messengers into the world to prey upon reality. For they will bring me word of bones and skin and flesh. They have been taught to seek for the corruptible and return with things decayed and rotted. To them such things seem to allay their savage pangs of hunger. They are frantic with the pain of fear and would avert the punishment of him who sends them by offering him what they hold dear.

53. The Holy Spirit has given us love's messengers to send instead of those we trained through fear. They are as eager to return to us what they hold dear, as are the others. If we send them forth, they will see only the blameless and the beautiful, the gentle and the kind. They will be careful to notice every little act of charity, every tiny expression of forgiveness, and every little breath of love. And they will return with all the happy things they found, to share lovingly with us. We are not afraid of them. They offer us salvation. Theirs are the messages of safety, for they see the world as kind.

54. If we send forth only the messengers the Holy Spirit gives us, wanting only their messages, we will see no more fear. The world will be transformed before our sight, cleansed of all guilt and softly brushed with beauty. The world contains only the fear we laid upon it. And we can ask love's messengers to remove all fear that we have laid upon the world. They have been given to replace the hungry dogs of fear we sent instead. The Holy Spirit has given us His messengers to send to each other, and return with what love sees....]]>606acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-19-5-obstacles-to-peace-1
a.The First Obstacle.1

The Desire to get Rid of It
40. The first obstacle that peace must flow across is our desire to get rid of it. For it cannot extend unless we keep it. We are the center from which peace radiates outward to call the others in. We are its home, its tranquil dwelling-place from which it gently reaches out, never leaving us. We must keep peace so it can abide within the Son of God. Peace must begin with us, spread across the whole creation, and from us reach to everyone who calls, and by joining us bring him rest.

41. What do I think peace must dispossess to dwell with me? What seems to be the cost I am so unwilling to pay? I would not reinforce the little barrier of sand that still stands between us. We are not asked to let it go for ourselves alone. Christ asks it of us for Himself. He would bring peace to everyone, and how can He do this except through us? Would we let a little bank of sand, a wall of dust, a tiny seeming barrier, stand between our brothers and salvation? And yet it is this little remnant of attack we still cherish against each other, that is the first obstacle the peace in us encounters in its going forth. This little wall of hatred would still oppose the Will of God and keep it limited.

42. The Holy Spirit's purpose rests in peace within us. Yet we are still unwilling to let His purpose join us wholly. We still oppose the Will of God, just by a little. And that little is a limit we would place upon the whole. God's Will is One, not many. It has no opposition, for there is none beside it. What we would contain behind our little barrier, and keep separate from each other, seems mightier than the universe, for it would hold back the universe and its Creator. This little wall would hide Heaven's purpose, and keep Heaven's purpose away from Heaven.

43. We would thrust salvation away from the Giver of salvation. This is what we have become. Yet peace cannot depart from us, nor from God. We do not fear this little obstacle, for it does not contain the Will of God. Peace will flow across it and join us without hindrance. Salvation cannot be withheld from us. It is our purpose, and there is no will apart from God's. We have no purpose apart from each other, nor apart from the purpose we asked the Holy Spirit to share with us. The little wall of dust falls away so quietly beneath the wings of peace! And peace will send its messengers from us to all the world. And barriers will fall away before them, as easily as those were surmounted that we interposed.

44. For peace to overcome the world is no more difficult than to surmount our little wall. For in the miracle of our relationship, without this barrier, is every miracle contained. There is no order of difficulty in miracles, for they are all the same. Each is a gentle winning over from the appeal of guilt to the appeal of love. How can this fail to be accomplished, wherever it is undertaken? Guilt can raise no real barriers against it. And all that seems to stand between us must fall away because of the call we answered. He whose call we answered calls back to us. Our holy relationship is His home. We let Him quietly extend the miracle of our relationship to everyone contained in it, as it was given.

45. There is a hush in Heaven, a little pause of gladness in acknowledgment of the journey's end. For Heaven knows us well, as we know Heaven. No illusions stand between us now. We do not look at the little wall of shadows. The sun has risen over it. A shadow cannot keep us from the sun. Every miracle is the end of an illusion. Such is the journey and its ending. All illusions must end in the goal of truth.

46. The little insane wish to get rid of the Holy Spirit must produce conflict. As we look upon the world, this little wish, uprooted and floating aimlessly, can land and settle briefly upon anything, for it has no purpose now. Before, it seemed to have a mighty purpose. Now it is aimless, wandering pointlessly, causing no more than tiny interruptions in love's appeal.

47. This feather of a wish, this tiny illusion, this microscopic remnant of the belief in sin, is all that remains of what seemed to be the world. No longer an unrelenting barrier to peace, its pointless wandering makes its results appear to be more erratic and unpredictable than ever. Its seeming stability is its weakness, extending to everything.

48. A little feather cannot oppose the great wings of truth, nor interfere with the effects of summer's sun upon a garden covered by the snow. It is easily lifted up and carried away, never to return. And we are glad, for it is nothing, and stood for nothing. We would rather greet the summer sun than fix our gaze upon a disappearing snowflake and shiver in remembrance of the winter's cold.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4988477Sun, 21 Sep 2014 00:23:09 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-19.5-Obstacles to Peace.1 a.The First Obstacle.1 The Desire to get Rid of It 40. The first obstacle that peace must flow across is our desire to get rid of it. For it cannot extend unless we keep it. We are the center from which peace...
a.The First Obstacle.1

The Desire to get Rid of It
40. The first obstacle that peace must flow across is our desire to get rid of it. For it cannot extend unless we keep it. We are the center from which peace radiates outward to call the others in. We are its home, its tranquil dwelling-place from which it gently reaches out, never leaving us. We must keep peace so it can abide within the Son of God. Peace must begin with us, spread across the whole creation, and from us reach to everyone who calls, and by joining us bring him rest.

41. What do I think peace must dispossess to dwell with me? What seems to be the cost I am so unwilling to pay? I would not reinforce the little barrier of sand that still stands between us. We are not asked to let it go for ourselves alone. Christ asks it of us for Himself. He would bring peace to everyone, and how can He do this except through us? Would we let a little bank of sand, a wall of dust, a tiny seeming barrier, stand between our brothers and salvation? And yet it is this little remnant of attack we still cherish against each other, that is the first obstacle the peace in us encounters in its going forth. This little wall of hatred would still oppose the Will of God and keep it limited.

42. The Holy Spirit's purpose rests in peace within us. Yet we are still unwilling to let His purpose join us wholly. We still oppose the Will of God, just by a little. And that little is a limit we would place upon the whole. God's Will is One, not many. It has no opposition, for there is none beside it. What we would contain behind our little barrier, and keep separate from each other, seems mightier than the universe, for it would hold back the universe and its Creator. This little wall would hide Heaven's purpose, and keep Heaven's purpose away from Heaven.

43. We would thrust salvation away from the Giver of salvation. This is what we have become. Yet peace cannot depart from us, nor from God. We do not fear this little obstacle, for it does not contain the Will of God. Peace will flow across it and join us without hindrance. Salvation cannot be withheld from us. It is our purpose, and there is no will apart from God's. We have no purpose apart from each other, nor apart from the purpose we asked the Holy Spirit to share with us. The little wall of dust falls away so quietly beneath the wings of peace! And peace will send its messengers from us to all the world. And barriers will fall away before them, as easily as those were surmounted that we interposed.

44. For peace to overcome the world is no more difficult than to surmount our little wall. For in the miracle of our relationship, without this barrier, is every miracle contained. There is no order of difficulty in miracles, for they are all the same. Each is a gentle winning over from the appeal of guilt to the appeal of love. How can this fail to be accomplished, wherever it is undertaken? Guilt can raise no real barriers against it. And all that seems to stand between us must fall away because of the call we answered. He whose call we answered calls back to us. Our holy relationship is His home. We let Him quietly extend the miracle of our relationship to everyone contained in it, as it was given.

45. There is a hush in Heaven, a little pause of gladness in acknowledgment of the journey's end. For Heaven knows us well, as we know Heaven. No illusions stand between us now. We do not look at the little wall of shadows. The sun has risen over it. A shadow cannot keep us from the sun. Every miracle is the end of an illusion. Such is the journey and its ending. All illusions must end in the goal of truth.

46. The little insane wish to get rid of the Holy Spirit must produce conflict. As we look upon the world, this little wish, uprooted and floating...]]>501acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/a-message-to-listeners-and-followers
I will be helping with the local Strawberry Fields Forever Music, Movie and Enlightenment Festival for the next month in Duchesne, Utah, USA. I will not be posting on Spreaker during this time. I invite you to go to previous postings beginning last November.

Love and Blessings,

Frances Allan]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4863311Mon, 18 Aug 2014 00:32:42 +0000Frances AllanA Message to Listeners and Followers I will be helping with the local Strawberry Fields Forever Music, Movie and Enlightenment Festival for the next month in Duchesne, Utah, USA. I will not be posting on Spreaker during this time. I invite you to...
I will be helping with the local Strawberry Fields Forever Music, Movie and Enlightenment Festival for the next month in Duchesne, Utah, USA. I will not be posting on Spreaker during this time. I invite you to go to previous postings beginning last November.

Love and Blessings,

Frances Allan]]>34acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-19-4-unreality-of-sin-2
33. If sin were real, it would forever be beyond the hope of healing. For there would be a power beyond God's power, capable of making another will which could attack and overcome His Will, giving His Son a will different from his Father's will, and stronger. Each part of God's fragmented creation would have a different will, in eternal opposition to God and to each other. Our holy relationship has as its purpose the goal of proving this is impossible. Heaven has smiled on our holy relationship. The belief in sin has been uprooted in Heaven's smile of love. Still seeing sin, I do not yet realize that its foundation has gone. The source of sin has been removed, and I can see it a little while before it vanishes. Only the habit of looking for sin still remains.

34. And yet, we look with Heaven's smile upon our lips and Heaven's blessing on our sight. We will not see it long, for in the new perception, when sin seems to be seen, the mind corrects it and it becomes invisible. And errors are quickly recognized and quickly given to correction to be healed, not hidden. We will be healed of sin and all its ravages the instant we do not give it power over each other. And we will help each other overcome mistakes by joyously releasing each other from the belief in sin.

35. In the holy instant, we will see the smile of Heaven shining on both of us. And we will shine upon each other in glad acknowledgment of the grace that has been given us. For sin will not prevail against a union Heaven has smiled upon. Our perception was healed in the holy instant Heaven gave us. We can forget what we have seen, and raise our eyes to what we now can see in faith. The barriers to heaven will disappear before our holy sight. We who were sightless have been given vision. We now can see the glory that has been restored for us, and do not look for what has been removed.

36. We would not let sin arise again to blind our eyes, but look upon our Redeemer and see what He would show us in each other. Our Redeemer would have us look upon each other as our self, as sin would keep us separate. Our relationship is now a temple of healing--a place where all the weary ones can come and rest. Rest that waits for all after the journey. And rest is brought nearer to all by our relationship.

37. As peace extends from deep inside ourselves to embrace all the Sonship, this peace will encounter many obstacles, some of them we will try to impose. Other obstacles will seem to arise from somewhere else--from our brothers and from aspects of the world outside. Yet, peace will gently cover the obstacles, extending past them completely unhindered. The Holy Spirit's purpose to gently bring others into our relationship has already begun. In this way He brings means and goal together. The peace He laid deep within us will quietly extend to every aspect of our lives, surrounding us with glowing happiness and calm awareness of complete protection. And we will carry the message of peace which is love, safety, freedom to everyone who comes near our temple, where healing waits for him.

38. We will not wait to give him this message, for we will call to him and he will answer us, recognizing in our call the Call of God. And we will draw him in and give him rest, as it was given us. All this we will do. Yet the peace which already lies deeply within must first expand and flow across the obstacles we placed before it. This we will do, for nothing undertaken with the Holy Spirit remains unfinished. We can be sure of nothing we see outside us, but we can be sure that the Holy Spirit asks we offer Him a resting-place where we will rest in Him. He answered us and entered our relationship. We now return His graciousness and enter into relationship with Him. For it is He Who offered our relationship the gift of holiness. Without holiness it would have been forever impossible to appreciate each other.

39. The gratitude we owe to Him, He asks that we receive for Him. And when we look with gentle graciousness upon each other, we are beholding Him. For we are looking where He is, and not apart from Him. We cannot see the Holy Spirit, but we can see our brothers truly. And the light in them will show us all that we need to see. When the peace in us has been extended to encompass everyone, the Holy Spirit's function here will be accomplished. What need is there for seeing then? When God has taken the last step Himself, the Holy Spirit will gather all our thanks and gratitude we have offered to Him and lay them gently before His Creator in the name of His most holy Son. And the Father will accept them in His name. What need is there of seeing in the presence of His gratitude?]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4854920Fri, 15 Aug 2014 14:41:56 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-19.4-Unreality of Sin.2 33. If sin were real, it would forever be beyond the hope of healing. For there would be a power beyond God's power, capable of making another will which could attack and overcome His Will, giving His Son a will...
33. If sin were real, it would forever be beyond the hope of healing. For there would be a power beyond God's power, capable of making another will which could attack and overcome His Will, giving His Son a will different from his Father's will, and stronger. Each part of God's fragmented creation would have a different will, in eternal opposition to God and to each other. Our holy relationship has as its purpose the goal of proving this is impossible. Heaven has smiled on our holy relationship. The belief in sin has been uprooted in Heaven's smile of love. Still seeing sin, I do not yet realize that its foundation has gone. The source of sin has been removed, and I can see it a little while before it vanishes. Only the habit of looking for sin still remains.

34. And yet, we look with Heaven's smile upon our lips and Heaven's blessing on our sight. We will not see it long, for in the new perception, when sin seems to be seen, the mind corrects it and it becomes invisible. And errors are quickly recognized and quickly given to correction to be healed, not hidden. We will be healed of sin and all its ravages the instant we do not give it power over each other. And we will help each other overcome mistakes by joyously releasing each other from the belief in sin.

35. In the holy instant, we will see the smile of Heaven shining on both of us. And we will shine upon each other in glad acknowledgment of the grace that has been given us. For sin will not prevail against a union Heaven has smiled upon. Our perception was healed in the holy instant Heaven gave us. We can forget what we have seen, and raise our eyes to what we now can see in faith. The barriers to heaven will disappear before our holy sight. We who were sightless have been given vision. We now can see the glory that has been restored for us, and do not look for what has been removed.

36. We would not let sin arise again to blind our eyes, but look upon our Redeemer and see what He would show us in each other. Our Redeemer would have us look upon each other as our self, as sin would keep us separate. Our relationship is now a temple of healing--a place where all the weary ones can come and rest. Rest that waits for all after the journey. And rest is brought nearer to all by our relationship.

37. As peace extends from deep inside ourselves to embrace all the Sonship, this peace will encounter many obstacles, some of them we will try to impose. Other obstacles will seem to arise from somewhere else--from our brothers and from aspects of the world outside. Yet, peace will gently cover the obstacles, extending past them completely unhindered. The Holy Spirit's purpose to gently bring others into our relationship has already begun. In this way He brings means and goal together. The peace He laid deep within us will quietly extend to every aspect of our lives, surrounding us with glowing happiness and calm awareness of complete protection. And we will carry the message of peace which is love, safety, freedom to everyone who comes near our temple, where healing waits for him.

38. We will not wait to give him this message, for we will call to him and he will answer us, recognizing in our call the Call of God. And we will draw him in and give him rest, as it was given us. All this we will do. Yet the peace which already lies deeply within must first expand and flow across the obstacles we placed before it. This we will do, for nothing undertaken with the Holy Spirit remains unfinished. We can be sure of nothing we see outside us, but we can be sure that the Holy Spirit asks we offer Him a resting-place where we will rest in Him. He answered us and entered our relationship. We now return His graciousness and enter into relationship with Him. For it is He Who offered our relationship the gift of holiness. Without holiness it would...]]>506acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-19-4-the-unreality-of-sin-1
25. The attraction of guilt is found in sin, not error. Sin will be repeated because of the attraction. Fear can become so acute that the sin is denied the acting out, but the mind will suffer and not let go of the idea of sin while guilt remains attractive. For guilt still calls to the mind, and the mind hears it and yearns for it, making itself a willing captive to guilt's sick appeal. Sin is an idea of evil that will forever be desirable and that cannot be corrected. That I will always want sin is an essential part of what the ego thinks I am. And only an avenger with a mind unlike my own could stamp sin out through fear.

26. The ego brings sin to fear, demanding punishment. Yet punishment is only another form of guilt's protection, for what is deserving punishment must really have been done. Punishment is the great preserver of sin, treating it with respect and honor. What must be punished must be true. And what is true must be eternal and will be repeated endlessly. I want what I think is real and will not let it go. An error, on the other hand, is not attractive. What I see clearly as a mistake I want corrected. Love, not fear, is called upon by sin, and love always answers.

27. Sometimes a sin can be repeated over and over with obviously distressing results, but without the loss of its appeal. Changing its status from a sin to a mistake, now I will not repeat it. But if guilt remains, I will have changed the form of sin, calling it an error, but keeping it uncorrectable. This is not really a change in my perception, for only sin calls for punishment, not error. The Holy Spirit cannot punish sin. Mistakes He recognizes and would correct them all. But He does not know sin, nor does He recognize 'uncorrectable' mistakes. For a mistake which cannot be corrected is meaningless to Him.

28. Mistakes are for correction, calling for nothing else. What calls for punishment calls for nothing. Every mistake must be a call for love. What, then, is sin? It could only be a mistake that I would keep hidden--a call for help that I would keep unheard and thus unanswered. The Holy Spirit clearly sees that the Son of God can make mistakes in time, and when correction is completed, time is eternity.

29. Time is like a downward spiral which seems to travel down from a long, unbroken line along another plane but which in no way breaks the line or interferes with its smooth continuousness. Along the spiral, it seems as if the line must have been broken. Yet at the line, its wholeness is apparent. Everything seen from the spiral is misperceived, but as I approach the line, I realize that it was not affected by the drop into another plane at all. Yet from the plane, the line seems discontinuous. This is an error in perception which can be corrected in the mind, although the body's eyes will never see change. The eyes see many things that the mind corrects. And I respond, not to the eyes' illusions, but to the mind's corrections.

30. I see the line as broken, and as I shift to different aspects of the spiral, the line looks different. Yet, in my mind is One Who knows it is unbroken and forever changeless. This One can teach me how to see beyond time. I can believe in error and see beyond time, for this can be corrected by the mind. But while I believe in sin, I will not see beyond time. For sin is the belief that my perception is unchangeable, and that the mind must accept as true what it is told through my perception. If the mind does not obey, it is judged insane. My perception of time can be changed by the Holy Spirit's power of correction. I can receive this power He brings of changed perception by not holding on to my fear.

31. When I am tempted to believe that sin is real, I will remember this: If sin is real, both God and myself are not. If creation is extension, the Creator must have extended Himself, and it is impossible that what is part of Him is totally unlike the rest of Him. If sin is real, God must be at war with Himself. He must be split and torn between good and evil--partly sane and partially insane. For He must have created what wills to destroy Him and has the power to do so. Is it not easier to believe that I have been mistaken than to believe this?

32. While I believe that my or my brother's reality is bounded by a body, I will believe in sin. While I believe that bodies can unite, I will find guilt attractive and believe that sin is precious. The belief that the mind is limited by the body leads to a perception of the world where the proof of separation seems to be everywhere. God and His creation seem to be split apart and overthrown. For sin would prove that what God created holy could not prevail and remain holy before the power of sin. If sin is perceived as mightier than God Himself, then God must bow down before sin, offering His creation to this conquerer. This cannot be humility, only madness.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4849195Thu, 14 Aug 2014 01:02:26 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-19.4-The Unreality of Sin.1 25. The attraction of guilt is found in sin, not error. Sin will be repeated because of the attraction. Fear can become so acute that the sin is denied the acting out, but the mind will suffer and not let go of...
25. The attraction of guilt is found in sin, not error. Sin will be repeated because of the attraction. Fear can become so acute that the sin is denied the acting out, but the mind will suffer and not let go of the idea of sin while guilt remains attractive. For guilt still calls to the mind, and the mind hears it and yearns for it, making itself a willing captive to guilt's sick appeal. Sin is an idea of evil that will forever be desirable and that cannot be corrected. That I will always want sin is an essential part of what the ego thinks I am. And only an avenger with a mind unlike my own could stamp sin out through fear.

26. The ego brings sin to fear, demanding punishment. Yet punishment is only another form of guilt's protection, for what is deserving punishment must really have been done. Punishment is the great preserver of sin, treating it with respect and honor. What must be punished must be true. And what is true must be eternal and will be repeated endlessly. I want what I think is real and will not let it go. An error, on the other hand, is not attractive. What I see clearly as a mistake I want corrected. Love, not fear, is called upon by sin, and love always answers.

27. Sometimes a sin can be repeated over and over with obviously distressing results, but without the loss of its appeal. Changing its status from a sin to a mistake, now I will not repeat it. But if guilt remains, I will have changed the form of sin, calling it an error, but keeping it uncorrectable. This is not really a change in my perception, for only sin calls for punishment, not error. The Holy Spirit cannot punish sin. Mistakes He recognizes and would correct them all. But He does not know sin, nor does He recognize 'uncorrectable' mistakes. For a mistake which cannot be corrected is meaningless to Him.

28. Mistakes are for correction, calling for nothing else. What calls for punishment calls for nothing. Every mistake must be a call for love. What, then, is sin? It could only be a mistake that I would keep hidden--a call for help that I would keep unheard and thus unanswered. The Holy Spirit clearly sees that the Son of God can make mistakes in time, and when correction is completed, time is eternity.

29. Time is like a downward spiral which seems to travel down from a long, unbroken line along another plane but which in no way breaks the line or interferes with its smooth continuousness. Along the spiral, it seems as if the line must have been broken. Yet at the line, its wholeness is apparent. Everything seen from the spiral is misperceived, but as I approach the line, I realize that it was not affected by the drop into another plane at all. Yet from the plane, the line seems discontinuous. This is an error in perception which can be corrected in the mind, although the body's eyes will never see change. The eyes see many things that the mind corrects. And I respond, not to the eyes' illusions, but to the mind's corrections.

30. I see the line as broken, and as I shift to different aspects of the spiral, the line looks different. Yet, in my mind is One Who knows it is unbroken and forever changeless. This One can teach me how to see beyond time. I can believe in error and see beyond time, for this can be corrected by the mind. But while I believe in sin, I will not see beyond time. For sin is the belief that my perception is unchangeable, and that the mind must accept as true what it is told through my perception. If the mind does not obey, it is judged insane. My perception of time can be changed by the Holy Spirit's power of correction. I can receive this power He brings of changed perception by not holding on to my fear.

31. When I am tempted to believe that sin is real, I will remember this: If sin is real, both God and myself are not. If creation is extension,...]]>558acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-19-3-sin-versus-error
17. The distinction between error and 'sin', is essential, and makes salvation possible. For an error can be corrected, and the wrong made right. But if sin were possible, it would be irreversible. The belief in sin is based on the conviction that minds can attack. The mind is guilty forever, unless another mind can give it absolution. As error calls for correction, sin calls for punishment, and the belief that punishment is correction is clearly insane.

18. Sin is not an error, for sin entails an arrogance which the idea of error lacks. To sin would be to violate reality and to succeed. Sin is the proclamation that attack is real and guilt is justified. Sin assumes that the Son of God is guilty, has lost his innocence, and has made himself into something God did not create. The Will of God can be opposed and defeated, and Creation is not seen as eternal. Sin is the 'grand illusion' underlying all the ego's grandiosity. God Himself is rendered incomplete and changed by sin.

19. The Son of God can be mistaken; he can deceive himself; he can even turn the power of his mind against himself. But he cannot sin. There is nothing that he can do that would make himself guilty, nor change his reality in any way. The purpose of sin is to do just that. Yet for all the wild insanity inherent in the whole idea of sin, sin is impossible. For the wages of sin is death, but the immortal cannot die.

20. A major tenet in the ego's insane religion is that sin is not error but truth, and it is innocence that would deceive. Purity is seen as arrogance, and the acceptance of the self as sinful is perceived as holiness. This is not humility. It is rather, an attempt to wrest creation away from truth and keep creation separate. This doctrine disputes the reality of the Son of God as his Father created him, and willed that he be forever.

21. The idea of sin is sacrosanct to the ego's thought system and is approached with awe and reverence. Sin is the most 'holy' concept in the ego's thought system--lovely, powerful, true, and sin is protected with every defense the ego has. For sin is the ego's 'best' defense which all its other defenses serve. Sin is the ego's armor, protection, and the fundamental purpose of the special relationship. The ego would never let sin be reinterpreted as error.

22. The ego made its world on sin. Sin is the strange illusion which makes clouds of guilt seem heavy and impenetrable. In such a world everything is upside-down. This world's seeming solid foundation is found in this illusion of sin. For the illusion of sin has changed God's Creation to an ideal the ego wants. The ego wants a world it rules, made up of mindless bodies, that are corruptible and will decay. If this is a mistake, it can be easily undone by truth. If truth is left to judge, any mistake can be corrected. However, if the mistake is given the status of truth, there is no appeal. The 'holiness' of sin is kept in place by just this strange device. As truth, sin is inviolate, and everything is brought to sin for judgment. As a mistake, sin must be brought to truth for judgement. It is possible to have faith that a mistake can be corrected. It is impossible to have faith in sin, for sin is faithlessness.

23. The most heavily defended idea in the ego's thought system is the idea that sin is real. To the ego, sin is the natural expression of what the Son of God has made himself to be and what he is. To the ego, this is no mistake . For the Son has corrupted his Father and changed His Mind completely. We mourn, then, the death of God, Whom sin has killed! This is the ego's wish, which in its madness, it thinks it has accomplished.

24. I would rather that all this be only a mistake, entirely correctable, and so easily escaped from that its whole correction is like walking through a mist into the sun. And that is all it is. Perhaps I would be tempted to agree with the ego that it is better to be sinful than mistaken. Yet, I will think carefully before I allow myself to make this choice, and I will not approach it lightly, for it is the choice between Heaven or hell.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4839251Mon, 11 Aug 2014 12:44:40 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-19.3-Sin Versus Error 17. The distinction between error and 'sin', is essential, and makes salvation possible. For an error can be corrected, and the wrong made right. But if sin were possible, it would be irreversible. The belief in sin...
17. The distinction between error and 'sin', is essential, and makes salvation possible. For an error can be corrected, and the wrong made right. But if sin were possible, it would be irreversible. The belief in sin is based on the conviction that minds can attack. The mind is guilty forever, unless another mind can give it absolution. As error calls for correction, sin calls for punishment, and the belief that punishment is correction is clearly insane.

18. Sin is not an error, for sin entails an arrogance which the idea of error lacks. To sin would be to violate reality and to succeed. Sin is the proclamation that attack is real and guilt is justified. Sin assumes that the Son of God is guilty, has lost his innocence, and has made himself into something God did not create. The Will of God can be opposed and defeated, and Creation is not seen as eternal. Sin is the 'grand illusion' underlying all the ego's grandiosity. God Himself is rendered incomplete and changed by sin.

19. The Son of God can be mistaken; he can deceive himself; he can even turn the power of his mind against himself. But he cannot sin. There is nothing that he can do that would make himself guilty, nor change his reality in any way. The purpose of sin is to do just that. Yet for all the wild insanity inherent in the whole idea of sin, sin is impossible. For the wages of sin is death, but the immortal cannot die.

20. A major tenet in the ego's insane religion is that sin is not error but truth, and it is innocence that would deceive. Purity is seen as arrogance, and the acceptance of the self as sinful is perceived as holiness. This is not humility. It is rather, an attempt to wrest creation away from truth and keep creation separate. This doctrine disputes the reality of the Son of God as his Father created him, and willed that he be forever.

21. The idea of sin is sacrosanct to the ego's thought system and is approached with awe and reverence. Sin is the most 'holy' concept in the ego's thought system--lovely, powerful, true, and sin is protected with every defense the ego has. For sin is the ego's 'best' defense which all its other defenses serve. Sin is the ego's armor, protection, and the fundamental purpose of the special relationship. The ego would never let sin be reinterpreted as error.

22. The ego made its world on sin. Sin is the strange illusion which makes clouds of guilt seem heavy and impenetrable. In such a world everything is upside-down. This world's seeming solid foundation is found in this illusion of sin. For the illusion of sin has changed God's Creation to an ideal the ego wants. The ego wants a world it rules, made up of mindless bodies, that are corruptible and will decay. If this is a mistake, it can be easily undone by truth. If truth is left to judge, any mistake can be corrected. However, if the mistake is given the status of truth, there is no appeal. The 'holiness' of sin is kept in place by just this strange device. As truth, sin is inviolate, and everything is brought to sin for judgment. As a mistake, sin must be brought to truth for judgement. It is possible to have faith that a mistake can be corrected. It is impossible to have faith in sin, for sin is faithlessness.

23. The most heavily defended idea in the ego's thought system is the idea that sin is real. To the ego, sin is the natural expression of what the Son of God has made himself to be and what he is. To the ego, this is no mistake . For the Son has corrupted his Father and changed His Mind completely. We mourn, then, the death of God, Whom sin has killed! This is the ego's wish, which in its madness, it thinks it has accomplished.

24. I would rather that all this be only a mistake, entirely correctable, and so easily escaped from that its whole correction is like walking through a mist...]]>484acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-19-2-healing-and-the-mind-2
10. To have faith is to heal. Faith is the sign that I have accepted the Atonement for myself, and would share the Atonement. Faith offers the gift of freedom from the past, for me to receive and to offer to my brother. Nothing my brother has done in the past can condemn him now. I freely choose to overlook his errors, and look past all barriers between my self and his self, seeing our selves as one. And in that one I see my faith is fully justified. Faith is always justified, but there is no justification for faithlessness.

11. As fear is part of attack, faith is a part of love, the opposite of fear. Faith acknowledges union. It is the gracious acknowledgment of everyone as a Son of our most loving Father, loved by Him, and loved by me as myself. It is God's love that joins us, and for God's love we would keep no one separate from our love. Each one appears just as he is perceived in the holy instant, united in our purpose to be released from guilt. We saw the Christ in him, and he was healed because we looked on what makes faith forever justified in everyone.

12. Faith is the gift of God, through the Holy Spirit Whom God has given me. Faithlessness looks upon the Son of God and judges him unworthy of forgiveness. But through the eyes of faith, the Son of God is seen already forgiven, free of all the guilt he lay upon himself. Faith sees him only now, because it does not look to the past to judge him, but sees in him only what it sees in me. Faith does not see through the body's eyes, nor look to bodies for its justification. It is the messenger of the new perception sent forth to gather witnesses for its coming, and to return their messages to me. Faith is as easily exchanged for knowledge as is the real world. For faith arises from the Holy Spirit's perception and is the sign that I share His perception. Through the Holy Spirit, faith is a gift I offer to the Son of God. The gift is wholly acceptable to God as it is to the Son, therefore the gift is offered me.

13. Our holy relationship, with its new purpose, offers us faith to give to each other. Our faithlessness had driven us apart, and so we did not recognize salvation in each other. Yet faith unites us in the holiness we see, not through the body's eyes but in the sight of Him Who joined us, and in Whom we are united. Grace is not given to a body, but to a mind. And the mind that receives grace looks instantly beyond the body and sees the holy place where it was healed. There the mind sees the altar, and the grace that was given. We, then, offer grace and blessing to each other, for we stand at the same altar where grace was laid for both of us. And we are healed by grace together, that we may heal through faith.

14. In the holy instant, we stand before the altar God has raised unto Himself and both of us. We lay faithlessness aside and come to the altar together. Here we will see the miracle of our relationship as it was made again through faith. And it is here that we realize that there is nothing faith cannot forgive. Faith's calm sight brings the miracle of healing with equal ease to all errors. The messengers of love do what they are sent to do. They return with the glad tidings that it was done to us, who stand together before the altar, from where they came.

15. As faithlessness will keep our little kingdoms barren and separate, so faith will help the Holy Spirit prepare the ground for the most holy garden which He would make of it. For faith brings peace, and peace calls on truth to enter to make lovely what has been prepared for loveliness. Truth follows faith and peace, completing the process of making lovely which they began. Faith is still a learning goal, but will no longer be needed when the lesson has been learned. Yet truth will stay forever.

16. Learning how to not interfere with the eternal, making it a slave to time, is our dedication. Whom God created as His Son is slave to nothing, being lord of all, along with his Creator. What we think we do to the eternal we do to ourselves. We can enslave a body, but an idea is free, incapable of being kept in prison or limited in any way, except by the mind that thought the idea. For the idea remains joined to its source, which is its liberator or jailor, according to which purpose the mind chooses for itself.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4831043Fri, 08 Aug 2014 23:57:02 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-19.2-Healing and the Mind.2 10. To have faith is to heal. Faith is the sign that I have accepted the Atonement for myself, and would share the Atonement. Faith offers the gift of freedom from the past, for me to receive and to offer to my...
10. To have faith is to heal. Faith is the sign that I have accepted the Atonement for myself, and would share the Atonement. Faith offers the gift of freedom from the past, for me to receive and to offer to my brother. Nothing my brother has done in the past can condemn him now. I freely choose to overlook his errors, and look past all barriers between my self and his self, seeing our selves as one. And in that one I see my faith is fully justified. Faith is always justified, but there is no justification for faithlessness.

11. As fear is part of attack, faith is a part of love, the opposite of fear. Faith acknowledges union. It is the gracious acknowledgment of everyone as a Son of our most loving Father, loved by Him, and loved by me as myself. It is God's love that joins us, and for God's love we would keep no one separate from our love. Each one appears just as he is perceived in the holy instant, united in our purpose to be released from guilt. We saw the Christ in him, and he was healed because we looked on what makes faith forever justified in everyone.

12. Faith is the gift of God, through the Holy Spirit Whom God has given me. Faithlessness looks upon the Son of God and judges him unworthy of forgiveness. But through the eyes of faith, the Son of God is seen already forgiven, free of all the guilt he lay upon himself. Faith sees him only now, because it does not look to the past to judge him, but sees in him only what it sees in me. Faith does not see through the body's eyes, nor look to bodies for its justification. It is the messenger of the new perception sent forth to gather witnesses for its coming, and to return their messages to me. Faith is as easily exchanged for knowledge as is the real world. For faith arises from the Holy Spirit's perception and is the sign that I share His perception. Through the Holy Spirit, faith is a gift I offer to the Son of God. The gift is wholly acceptable to God as it is to the Son, therefore the gift is offered me.

13. Our holy relationship, with its new purpose, offers us faith to give to each other. Our faithlessness had driven us apart, and so we did not recognize salvation in each other. Yet faith unites us in the holiness we see, not through the body's eyes but in the sight of Him Who joined us, and in Whom we are united. Grace is not given to a body, but to a mind. And the mind that receives grace looks instantly beyond the body and sees the holy place where it was healed. There the mind sees the altar, and the grace that was given. We, then, offer grace and blessing to each other, for we stand at the same altar where grace was laid for both of us. And we are healed by grace together, that we may heal through faith.

14. In the holy instant, we stand before the altar God has raised unto Himself and both of us. We lay faithlessness aside and come to the altar together. Here we will see the miracle of our relationship as it was made again through faith. And it is here that we realize that there is nothing faith cannot forgive. Faith's calm sight brings the miracle of healing with equal ease to all errors. The messengers of love do what they are sent to do. They return with the glad tidings that it was done to us, who stand together before the altar, from where they came.

15. As faithlessness will keep our little kingdoms barren and separate, so faith will help the Holy Spirit prepare the ground for the most holy garden which He would make of it. For faith brings peace, and peace calls on truth to enter to make lovely what has been prepared for loveliness. Truth follows faith and peace, completing the process of making lovely which they began. Faith is still a learning goal, but will no longer be needed when the lesson has been learned. Yet truth will stay forever.

16. Learning how to not interfere with the...]]>460cleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-19-2-healing-and-the-mind-1
3. The body cannot heal because the body cannot make itself sick. It needs no healing. The body's health or sickness depends entirely on how the mind perceives the body, and the mind's purpose for the body. It is obvious that a segment of the mind can see itself as separated from the Universal Purpose. Then the body becomes a weapon used against this Purpose, to demonstrate the 'fact' that separation has occurred. Acting out the separation, the body becomes the instrument of illusion, seeing what is not there, hearing what truth never said, behaving insanely, because it is imprisoned by insanity.

4. It was stated that faithlessness leads straight to illusions. For faithlessness is the perception of a brother as a body. If I see my brother as a body, uniting with him becomes impossible for bodies cannot join. My faithlessness to him has separated me from him and kept both of us from being healed. My faithlessness has brought body centered illusions to stand between us, opposing the Holy Spirit's purpose. The body then will seem to be sick, for I have made it an enemy of healing and opposed to truth.

5. I need to realize that faith is the opposite of faithlessness. Their differences in operation follow directly from the fundamental difference in what they are. Faithlessness would always limit and attack; faith would remove all limitations and make whole. Faithlessness would separate and destroy; faith would unite and heal. Faithlessness would put illusions between the Son of God and his Creator; faith would remove all obstacles that seem to come between them. Faithlessness is dedicated wholly to illusions; faith wholly to truth. Partial dedication is impossible. Truth is the absence of illusion; illusion is the absence of truth.

6. Both cannot be together, nor perceived in the same place. To dedicate myself to both would set up a goal that is impossible to reach. The body would fulfill its goal through attack, and the mind would fulfill its goal by healing. The inevitable compromise is the belief that it is the body that must be healed, and not the mind. Only this divided goal has given the body and the mind equal reality. If the mind is limited to the body, and divided within itself into little parts without connection this could be possible. This belief will keep the delusional system in the mind.

7. Truth and illusion have no connection. This is forever true, however much I try to connect them. Illusions are connected to illusions. Truth is connected to truth. Each is united, a complete thought system, but they are totally disconnected from each other. Where there is no overlap, separation must be complete. Recognizing where separation is, shows where it must be healed. The source of an idea is never separate from its result. The body is produced by, and identified with, the idea of separation. This makes the body sick. I think I am protecting the body by hiding this identification with separation, keeping the body safe from the 'attack' of truth.

8. This strange concealment has hurt my mind, and confused my identification more than I can understand! I do not see how much devastation is brought by my faithlessness. By withholding faith, I see what is unworthy of faith, but I cannot look beyond this barrier to see what is really there.

9. This is where healing is needed, and it is here that healing is. For God gave healing in the same place as sickness, and they are seen together. All attempts to keep both truth and illusion in the mind are given up when illusion is brought to truth and seen as irreconcilable with truth in any way.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4825651Thu, 07 Aug 2014 15:59:12 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-19.2-Healing and the Mind.1 3. The body cannot heal because the body cannot make itself sick. It needs no healing. The body's health or sickness depends entirely on how the mind perceives the body, and the mind's purpose for the body. It...
3. The body cannot heal because the body cannot make itself sick. It needs no healing. The body's health or sickness depends entirely on how the mind perceives the body, and the mind's purpose for the body. It is obvious that a segment of the mind can see itself as separated from the Universal Purpose. Then the body becomes a weapon used against this Purpose, to demonstrate the 'fact' that separation has occurred. Acting out the separation, the body becomes the instrument of illusion, seeing what is not there, hearing what truth never said, behaving insanely, because it is imprisoned by insanity.

4. It was stated that faithlessness leads straight to illusions. For faithlessness is the perception of a brother as a body. If I see my brother as a body, uniting with him becomes impossible for bodies cannot join. My faithlessness to him has separated me from him and kept both of us from being healed. My faithlessness has brought body centered illusions to stand between us, opposing the Holy Spirit's purpose. The body then will seem to be sick, for I have made it an enemy of healing and opposed to truth.

5. I need to realize that faith is the opposite of faithlessness. Their differences in operation follow directly from the fundamental difference in what they are. Faithlessness would always limit and attack; faith would remove all limitations and make whole. Faithlessness would separate and destroy; faith would unite and heal. Faithlessness would put illusions between the Son of God and his Creator; faith would remove all obstacles that seem to come between them. Faithlessness is dedicated wholly to illusions; faith wholly to truth. Partial dedication is impossible. Truth is the absence of illusion; illusion is the absence of truth.

6. Both cannot be together, nor perceived in the same place. To dedicate myself to both would set up a goal that is impossible to reach. The body would fulfill its goal through attack, and the mind would fulfill its goal by healing. The inevitable compromise is the belief that it is the body that must be healed, and not the mind. Only this divided goal has given the body and the mind equal reality. If the mind is limited to the body, and divided within itself into little parts without connection this could be possible. This belief will keep the delusional system in the mind.

7. Truth and illusion have no connection. This is forever true, however much I try to connect them. Illusions are connected to illusions. Truth is connected to truth. Each is united, a complete thought system, but they are totally disconnected from each other. Where there is no overlap, separation must be complete. Recognizing where separation is, shows where it must be healed. The source of an idea is never separate from its result. The body is produced by, and identified with, the idea of separation. This makes the body sick. I think I am protecting the body by hiding this identification with separation, keeping the body safe from the 'attack' of truth.

8. This strange concealment has hurt my mind, and confused my identification more than I can understand! I do not see how much devastation is brought by my faithlessness. By withholding faith, I see what is unworthy of faith, but I cannot look beyond this barrier to see what is really there.

9. This is where healing is needed, and it is here that healing is. For God gave healing in the same place as sickness, and they are seen together. All attempts to keep both truth and illusion in the mind are given up when illusion is brought to truth and seen as irreconcilable with truth in any way.]]>378acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-19-1-intro-beyond-the-body
1. When a situation has been dedicated wholly to truth, peace is inevitable. The attainment of peace is the criterion by which the wholeness of the dedication can safely be assumed. Yet, without faith, peace will never be attained. What is wholly dedicated to truth as its only goal is brought to truth by faith. This faith encompasses everyone involved, and the situation is perceived as meaningful and whole. Everyone must be involved in it, or our faith is limited and our dedication incomplete.

2. Properly perceived, every situation becomes an opportunity to heal the Son of God. He is healed because I offered faith to him, giving him to the Holy Spirit and releasing him from every demand my ego would make of him. This way I see him free, and the Holy Spirit shares this vision with me. And since the Holy Spirit shares the vision, He has given it, and so He heals through me. It is this joining with Him in a united purpose that makes this purpose real and makes it whole. This is healing. The body is healed because I came without it, and joined the Mind in which all healing rests.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4825638Thu, 07 Aug 2014 15:54:07 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-19.1-Intro-Beyond the Body 1. When a situation has been dedicated wholly to truth, peace is inevitable. The attainment of peace is the criterion by which the wholeness of the dedication can safely be assumed. Yet, without faith, peace will...
1. When a situation has been dedicated wholly to truth, peace is inevitable. The attainment of peace is the criterion by which the wholeness of the dedication can safely be assumed. Yet, without faith, peace will never be attained. What is wholly dedicated to truth as its only goal is brought to truth by faith. This faith encompasses everyone involved, and the situation is perceived as meaningful and whole. Everyone must be involved in it, or our faith is limited and our dedication incomplete.

2. Properly perceived, every situation becomes an opportunity to heal the Son of God. He is healed because I offered faith to him, giving him to the Holy Spirit and releasing him from every demand my ego would make of him. This way I see him free, and the Holy Spirit shares this vision with me. And since the Holy Spirit shares the vision, He has given it, and so He heals through me. It is this joining with Him in a united purpose that makes this purpose real and makes it whole. This is healing. The body is healed because I came without it, and joined the Mind in which all healing rests.]]>119acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-18-11-passing-of-the-dream
95. This Course will lead to knowledge, but knowledge itself is beyond the scope of our curriculum. Nor is there any need for us to speak of what lies beyond words, and beyond which learning cannot go. We will remember that who attains the real world will go beyond it, but in a different way. Learning ends where God begins, for learning ends before Him Who is complete and where there is no end. There is much to learn and we will not dwell on what cannot be learned. The readiness for knowledge still must be attained.

96. Love is not learned, for its meaning lies in itself. Love is not learned, because there never was a time when I did not know love. Learning is useless in the Presence of my Creator. His acknowledgement of me and my acknowledgment of Him so far transcend all learning that everything I ever learned is meaningless. Learning is replaced forever by the knowledge of love and love's one meaning. Learning ends when we recognize all that is not love, as that is the interference, and needs to be undone.

97. Our relationship has been uprooted from the world of shadows and set shining and firmly rooted in the world of light. Its unholy purpose has been washed with forgiveness and safely brought through the barriers of guilt. From there, its holy purpose calls to us to follow the course it took, to be lifted high above the darkness and gently placed before the gates of Heaven. The holy instant in which we were united, is the messenger of love, sent from beyond forgiveness to remind us of all that lies beyond the holy instant. And it is through forgiveness that the holy instant is remembered.

98. Forgiveness removes only the untrue, lifting the shadows from the world, and carrying the world safely, surely, gently to the bright world of new, clean perception. That is our purpose now. In the holy place of forgiveness, when the memory of God has come to us, we will remember nothing else, and memory will be as useless as learning. When every perception has been cleansed, purified and finally removed forever, our only purpose will be creating. And it is there that peace awaits us.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4825499Thu, 07 Aug 2014 15:14:14 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-18.11-Passing of the Dream 95. This Course will lead to knowledge, but knowledge itself is beyond the scope of our curriculum. Nor is there any need for us to speak of what lies beyond words, and beyond which learning cannot go. We will...
95. This Course will lead to knowledge, but knowledge itself is beyond the scope of our curriculum. Nor is there any need for us to speak of what lies beyond words, and beyond which learning cannot go. We will remember that who attains the real world will go beyond it, but in a different way. Learning ends where God begins, for learning ends before Him Who is complete and where there is no end. There is much to learn and we will not dwell on what cannot be learned. The readiness for knowledge still must be attained.

96. Love is not learned, for its meaning lies in itself. Love is not learned, because there never was a time when I did not know love. Learning is useless in the Presence of my Creator. His acknowledgement of me and my acknowledgment of Him so far transcend all learning that everything I ever learned is meaningless. Learning is replaced forever by the knowledge of love and love's one meaning. Learning ends when we recognize all that is not love, as that is the interference, and needs to be undone.

97. Our relationship has been uprooted from the world of shadows and set shining and firmly rooted in the world of light. Its unholy purpose has been washed with forgiveness and safely brought through the barriers of guilt. From there, its holy purpose calls to us to follow the course it took, to be lifted high above the darkness and gently placed before the gates of Heaven. The holy instant in which we were united, is the messenger of love, sent from beyond forgiveness to remind us of all that lies beyond the holy instant. And it is through forgiveness that the holy instant is remembered.

98. Forgiveness removes only the untrue, lifting the shadows from the world, and carrying the world safely, surely, gently to the bright world of new, clean perception. That is our purpose now. In the holy place of forgiveness, when the memory of God has come to us, we will remember nothing else, and memory will be as useless as learning. When every perception has been cleansed, purified and finally removed forever, our only purpose will be creating. And it is there that peace awaits us.]]>218acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-18-10-a-delusional-thought-system_1
84. I have been told to bring the darkness to the light and guilt to holiness. And I have also been told that error must be corrected at its source. Therefore, it is the tiny part of myself, the little thought that seems split off and separate, which the Holy Spirit needs. The rest is fully in God's keeping and needs no guide. Yet this wild and delusional thought needs help. In its delusions this little thought thinks it is the Son of God, sole ruler of a mad kingdom, set apart for it to tyrannize into obedience and slavery.

85. Within this kingdom is a tiny segment of the Son of God, unaware of what I think surrounds it, complete, holy, serene. This is the little part of myself I think I stole from Heaven. Heaven has not lost it, but I have lost sight of Heaven. I will give it back. I must let the Holy Spirit save the tiny segment of the Son of God from the dark kingdom, for the Holy Spirit, Who surrounds this kingdom, has brought union to me. By bringing my little gift of darkness to the eternal Light, I will not be separate.

86. How is this done? Being based on what this little kingdom really is, it is simple. The barren sands, the darkness and the lifelessness, are seen only through the body's eyes. The body's vision is distorted, and the messages this vision transmits to me are so little, limited, and fragmented they are meaningless. From the world of bodies, made by insanity, insane messages seem to be returned to the mind which made the body. And these messages bear witness to this world, telling me it is true. I made these messengers of the body to bring this message to me.

87. Everything these messages relay to me is quite external. There are no messages that speak of what lies underneath, for the body could not speak of this. Its eyes do not perceive, its senses are unaware, and its tongue cannot relay the messages of what is underneath. Yet God can bring me there if I am willing to follow the Holy Spirit through seeming terror, trusting Him not to abandon me and leave me there. For it is not His purpose to frighten me. Only I wish to be be frightened. He would lead me safely through and far beyond, though I am severely tempted to abandon Him at the outside ring of fear.

88. The circle of fear lies just below the level that the body sees. The circle of fear was made to keep guilt in place. And the world arose from it, hiding the circle of fear and everything that is underneath the world. Twisted thoughts, insane attacks, vengeance, fury, betrayal, illusion, seem to be the whole foundation on which the world is based. Rising with the world is the world's shadow, deep enough to hold the external manifestations in darkness, bringing despair and loneliness to the world, keeping it joyless. This intense foundation of fear, is veiled by heavy coverings, keeping the intense fear hidden from the world, as the world was made to hide the circle of fear. The body cannot see this, for the body became a protection for the circle of fear, protecting it from being seen. The body's eyes will never look on it. They will see only what fear tells them to see.

89. The body will remain guilt's messenger and will act as guilt directs as long as I believe that guilt is real. For the reality of guilt is the illusion which seems to make guilt heavy, opaque, impenetrable, and a real foundation for the ego's thought system. The thinness and transparency of guilt cannot be seen until I see the light behind it. Then I see guilt as a fragile veil before the light.

90. This seemingly heavy barrier, this artificial floor which looks like rock, is like a bank of low dark clouds that seems to be a solid wall before the sun. Its impenetrable appearance is wholly an illusion. It gives way softly to the mountain tops which rise above it, and the clouds have no power at all to hold back anyone willing to climb above them and see the sun. It isn't strong enough to stop a button's fall nor hold a feather. Nothing can rest upon it. Touch it and it disappears.

91. Yet in this cloud bank, it is easy to see a whole world rising. A solid mountain range, a lake, a city, all rise in my imagination, and from the clouds the messengers of my perception return to me, assuring me that it is all there. Figures stand out and move about, actions seem real, forms appear and shift from loveliness to grotesque. And back and forth they go, as long as I would play the game of children's make-believe. Yet however long I play, and no matter how much imagination I bring to the game, I do not confuse the game with the world below, nor try to make it real.

92. It should be like that with my perception of dark clouds of guilt. Guilt is also unsubstantial, like vapor. I will not bruise myself by traveling through it. My guide will teach me the unsubstantial nature of the clouds of guilt as He leads me past them, for beneath them is a world of light on which they cast no shadows. Their shadows fall upon the world behind them, still further from the light. Their shadows cannot fall forward, toward the light.

93. The world of light, the circle of brightness, is the real world where guilt meets forgiveness. The world outside is seen anew, without the shadow of guilt upon it. Here I am forgiven, for here I have forgiven everyone. Here is the new perception where everything is bright and shining with innocence, washed in the waters of forgiveness, and cleansed of every evil thought I had laid upon it. Here there is no attack upon the Son of God, and I am welcome. My innocence is here, waiting to clothe, protect, and make me ready for the final step in the journey inward. Here the dark and heavy garments of guilt are laid by, and gently replaced with purity and love.

94. Yet, forgiveness is not the end. Forgiveness does make lovely, but it doesn't create. Forgiveness is the source of healing, and the messenger of love, but it is not the Source of love. This is a step I cannot take. I am led here so God Himself can take the final step, unhindered. For nothing here interferes with love, letting love be itself. Love transports me to something completely different. Here is the Source of light. Nothing here is perceived, forgiven, nor transformed, only everything is known.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4821603Wed, 06 Aug 2014 13:54:13 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-18.10-A Delusional Thought System 84. I have been told to bring the darkness to the light and guilt to holiness. And I have also been told that error must be corrected at its source. Therefore, it is the tiny part of myself, the little...
84. I have been told to bring the darkness to the light and guilt to holiness. And I have also been told that error must be corrected at its source. Therefore, it is the tiny part of myself, the little thought that seems split off and separate, which the Holy Spirit needs. The rest is fully in God's keeping and needs no guide. Yet this wild and delusional thought needs help. In its delusions this little thought thinks it is the Son of God, sole ruler of a mad kingdom, set apart for it to tyrannize into obedience and slavery.

85. Within this kingdom is a tiny segment of the Son of God, unaware of what I think surrounds it, complete, holy, serene. This is the little part of myself I think I stole from Heaven. Heaven has not lost it, but I have lost sight of Heaven. I will give it back. I must let the Holy Spirit save the tiny segment of the Son of God from the dark kingdom, for the Holy Spirit, Who surrounds this kingdom, has brought union to me. By bringing my little gift of darkness to the eternal Light, I will not be separate.

86. How is this done? Being based on what this little kingdom really is, it is simple. The barren sands, the darkness and the lifelessness, are seen only through the body's eyes. The body's vision is distorted, and the messages this vision transmits to me are so little, limited, and fragmented they are meaningless. From the world of bodies, made by insanity, insane messages seem to be returned to the mind which made the body. And these messages bear witness to this world, telling me it is true. I made these messengers of the body to bring this message to me.

87. Everything these messages relay to me is quite external. There are no messages that speak of what lies underneath, for the body could not speak of this. Its eyes do not perceive, its senses are unaware, and its tongue cannot relay the messages of what is underneath. Yet God can bring me there if I am willing to follow the Holy Spirit through seeming terror, trusting Him not to abandon me and leave me there. For it is not His purpose to frighten me. Only I wish to be be frightened. He would lead me safely through and far beyond, though I am severely tempted to abandon Him at the outside ring of fear.

88. The circle of fear lies just below the level that the body sees. The circle of fear was made to keep guilt in place. And the world arose from it, hiding the circle of fear and everything that is underneath the world. Twisted thoughts, insane attacks, vengeance, fury, betrayal, illusion, seem to be the whole foundation on which the world is based. Rising with the world is the world's shadow, deep enough to hold the external manifestations in darkness, bringing despair and loneliness to the world, keeping it joyless. This intense foundation of fear, is veiled by heavy coverings, keeping the intense fear hidden from the world, as the world was made to hide the circle of fear. The body cannot see this, for the body became a protection for the circle of fear, protecting it from being seen. The body's eyes will never look on it. They will see only what fear tells them to see.

89. The body will remain guilt's messenger and will act as guilt directs as long as I believe that guilt is real. For the reality of guilt is the illusion which seems to make guilt heavy, opaque, impenetrable, and a real foundation for the ego's thought system. The thinness and transparency of guilt cannot be seen until I see the light behind it. Then I see guilt as a fragile veil before the light.

90. This seemingly heavy barrier, this artificial floor which looks like rock, is like a bank of low dark clouds that seems to be a solid wall before the sun. Its impenetrable appearance is wholly an illusion. It gives way softly to the mountain tops which rise above it, and the clouds have no power at all to...]]>726acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-18-9-purpose-of-the-body-2
78. Love knows no bodies, and it reaches to everything created like itself. Love's total lack of limit is its meaning. It is completely impartial in its giving, encompassing what it would give only to preserve and keep the gift complete. In my tiny kingdom, I have so little! The dry desert makes up my little kingdom-unproductive, scorched and joyless. I would call on love to enter there. I will realize the life and joy that love will bring to my desert, bringing life and joy from where it comes, and would return with me.

79. Waiting at the barrier I built, the Thought of God surrounds my little kingdom, waiting to come inside and shine upon the barren ground. The holy instant is my invitation for love to enter into my bleak and joyless kingdom, and to transform it into a garden of peace and welcome. I invite it in, and life springs up everywhere! The desert becomes a garden, green, deep and quiet, offering rest to those who lost their way and wander in the dust. Where there was once a desert, love prepared a place of refuge. My little garden will expand, and reach out to everyone who thirsts for living water, but has grown too weary to go on alone. They enter one by one into this holy place, but they will not depart alone. And everyone I welcome brings love with him from Heaven for me. The love they brought with them will stay with them and with me.

80. I will go and find them, and lead them gently to my quiet garden and receive their blessing there, for they bring my Self with them. So the garden will grow and stretch across the desert, leaving no lonely little kingdoms locked away from love and leaving me inside. Recognizing myself, I see my little garden gently transformed into the Kingdom of Heaven, with all the love of its Creator shining upon it.

81. Love's answer is inevitable. Love will come, because I came without the body and put no barriers that would interfere with love's glad coming. In the holy instant, I ask for what love offers everyone, neither more nor less. Asking for everything, I will receive everything. And my shining Self will lift the tiny aspect which I tried to hide from Heaven straight into Heaven. No part of love calls on the whole in vain. No Son of God remains outside His Father.

82. I will be sure of this--love has entered our special relationship and entered fully at our weak request. We do not recognize that love has come, because we have not yet let go of all the barriers we hold against each other. Yet, separately we will not be able to give love welcome. I could no more know God alone than He could know me without my brother. But together we are aware of love, and love will recognize itself in us.

83. We have reached the end of an ancient journey, not yet realizing that it is over. We are still worn and tired and the desert's dust seems to cloud our eyes and keep us sightless. Yet, He Whom we welcomed has come to us and would welcome us. He has long waited to give us welcome. We receive it now of Him, for He would have us know Him. Only a little wall of dust still stands between me and my brother. We blow on it lightly with happy laughter, and it falls away. And we walk into the garden that love has prepared for both of us.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4814825Mon, 04 Aug 2014 16:55:26 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-18.9-Purpose of the Body.2 78. Love knows no bodies, and it reaches to everything created like itself. Love's total lack of limit is its meaning. It is completely impartial in its giving, encompassing what it would give only to preserve and...
78. Love knows no bodies, and it reaches to everything created like itself. Love's total lack of limit is its meaning. It is completely impartial in its giving, encompassing what it would give only to preserve and keep the gift complete. In my tiny kingdom, I have so little! The dry desert makes up my little kingdom-unproductive, scorched and joyless. I would call on love to enter there. I will realize the life and joy that love will bring to my desert, bringing life and joy from where it comes, and would return with me.

79. Waiting at the barrier I built, the Thought of God surrounds my little kingdom, waiting to come inside and shine upon the barren ground. The holy instant is my invitation for love to enter into my bleak and joyless kingdom, and to transform it into a garden of peace and welcome. I invite it in, and life springs up everywhere! The desert becomes a garden, green, deep and quiet, offering rest to those who lost their way and wander in the dust. Where there was once a desert, love prepared a place of refuge. My little garden will expand, and reach out to everyone who thirsts for living water, but has grown too weary to go on alone. They enter one by one into this holy place, but they will not depart alone. And everyone I welcome brings love with him from Heaven for me. The love they brought with them will stay with them and with me.

80. I will go and find them, and lead them gently to my quiet garden and receive their blessing there, for they bring my Self with them. So the garden will grow and stretch across the desert, leaving no lonely little kingdoms locked away from love and leaving me inside. Recognizing myself, I see my little garden gently transformed into the Kingdom of Heaven, with all the love of its Creator shining upon it.

81. Love's answer is inevitable. Love will come, because I came without the body and put no barriers that would interfere with love's glad coming. In the holy instant, I ask for what love offers everyone, neither more nor less. Asking for everything, I will receive everything. And my shining Self will lift the tiny aspect which I tried to hide from Heaven straight into Heaven. No part of love calls on the whole in vain. No Son of God remains outside His Father.

82. I will be sure of this--love has entered our special relationship and entered fully at our weak request. We do not recognize that love has come, because we have not yet let go of all the barriers we hold against each other. Yet, separately we will not be able to give love welcome. I could no more know God alone than He could know me without my brother. But together we are aware of love, and love will recognize itself in us.

83. We have reached the end of an ancient journey, not yet realizing that it is over. We are still worn and tired and the desert's dust seems to cloud our eyes and keep us sightless. Yet, He Whom we welcomed has come to us and would welcome us. He has long waited to give us welcome. We receive it now of Him, for He would have us know Him. Only a little wall of dust still stands between me and my brother. We blow on it lightly with happy laughter, and it falls away. And we walk into the garden that love has prepared for both of us.]]>364acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-18-9-purpose-of-the-body-1
71. Can we know ourselves as an idea if we see ourselves within a body? Everything I recognize I identify with externals. I cannot even think of God without some form I think I recognize. The body was made to limit the unlimited Son of God. For the body is a limit on love. It is the awareness of the body that makes love seem limited.

72. The body is a tiny fence around a little part of a glorious and complete idea. The body draws a circle, infinitely small, around a very little segment of Heaven splintered from the whole. And I proclaim that within that circle is my kingdom, where God cannot enter. The body cannot know. And while I limit my awareness to the body's tiny senses, I will not see the grandeur which surrounds me. God cannot come into a body, nor can I join Him in a body. Limits on love will always seem to shut Him out and keep me apart from Him.

73. Within this kingdom the ego rules cruelly. The ego tells me to fight against the universe to defend this little speck of dust. This insane fragment of my mind is such a tiny part of the whole that, if I could know the whole, I would see that it is like the smallest sunbeam to the sun, or the faintest ripple on the surface of the ocean. In its amazing arrogance, the tiny sunbeam has decided it is the sun, and the tiny ripple calls itself the ocean. How alone and frightened is this infinitesimal illusion, holding itself apart from the universe. The sunbeam's 'enemy', the sun, would devour it, and the ocean would swallow the little ripple.

74. Yet neither the sun nor the ocean is even aware of all this strange and meaningless activity. They merely continue, unaware that they are feared and hated by a tiny segment of themselves. Even that segment is not lost to them, for it could not exist apart. And what that segment thinks it is, in no way changes its total dependence on them for its being. Its existence remains in the sun and ocean, in the whole.

75. Those living in a world inhabited by bodies seem to be in a strange position. Each body seems to house a separate mind, a disconnected thought living alone, and not joined to the Thought which created it. Those in bodies have no life or meaning apart and by themselves. Yet, each tiny fragment seems to be self-contained, needing each other for only a few things, and without meaning by themselves. Those in bodies are not totally dependent on their one Creator for everything, or need the whole to give them meaning.

76. Like the sun and ocean, my Self continues, unmindful that this tiny part regards itself as myself. This tiny part is not missing. It could not exist if it were separate, nor would the whole be whole without it. It is not a separate kingdom, ruled by an idea of separation from the rest. Nor does a fence surround it, preventing it from joining with the rest and keeping it apart from its Creator. This little aspect is no different from the whole, being continuous with it and at one with it. It leads no separate life because its life is the oneness in which its being was created.

77. I will not accept this little fenced-off aspect as myself. The sun and ocean are nothing beside what I am. The sunbeam sparkles only in the sunlight, and the ripple dances as it rests upon the ocean. Yet neither the sun nor the ocean has the power that rests in me. Would I remain within my tiny kingdom, a sorry king, a bitter ruler of all he surveys looking on nothing, yet who would die to defend it? This little self is not my kingdom. Arched high above it and surrounding it with love is the glorious whole, offering all its happiness and deep content to every part, including the little aspect I think I set apart.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4814814Mon, 04 Aug 2014 16:50:01 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-18.9-Purpose of the Body.1 71. Can we know ourselves as an idea if we see ourselves within a body? Everything I recognize I identify with externals. I cannot even think of God without some form I think I recognize. The body was made to...
71. Can we know ourselves as an idea if we see ourselves within a body? Everything I recognize I identify with externals. I cannot even think of God without some form I think I recognize. The body was made to limit the unlimited Son of God. For the body is a limit on love. It is the awareness of the body that makes love seem limited.

72. The body is a tiny fence around a little part of a glorious and complete idea. The body draws a circle, infinitely small, around a very little segment of Heaven splintered from the whole. And I proclaim that within that circle is my kingdom, where God cannot enter. The body cannot know. And while I limit my awareness to the body's tiny senses, I will not see the grandeur which surrounds me. God cannot come into a body, nor can I join Him in a body. Limits on love will always seem to shut Him out and keep me apart from Him.

73. Within this kingdom the ego rules cruelly. The ego tells me to fight against the universe to defend this little speck of dust. This insane fragment of my mind is such a tiny part of the whole that, if I could know the whole, I would see that it is like the smallest sunbeam to the sun, or the faintest ripple on the surface of the ocean. In its amazing arrogance, the tiny sunbeam has decided it is the sun, and the tiny ripple calls itself the ocean. How alone and frightened is this infinitesimal illusion, holding itself apart from the universe. The sunbeam's 'enemy', the sun, would devour it, and the ocean would swallow the little ripple.

74. Yet neither the sun nor the ocean is even aware of all this strange and meaningless activity. They merely continue, unaware that they are feared and hated by a tiny segment of themselves. Even that segment is not lost to them, for it could not exist apart. And what that segment thinks it is, in no way changes its total dependence on them for its being. Its existence remains in the sun and ocean, in the whole.

75. Those living in a world inhabited by bodies seem to be in a strange position. Each body seems to house a separate mind, a disconnected thought living alone, and not joined to the Thought which created it. Those in bodies have no life or meaning apart and by themselves. Yet, each tiny fragment seems to be self-contained, needing each other for only a few things, and without meaning by themselves. Those in bodies are not totally dependent on their one Creator for everything, or need the whole to give them meaning.

76. Like the sun and ocean, my Self continues, unmindful that this tiny part regards itself as myself. This tiny part is not missing. It could not exist if it were separate, nor would the whole be whole without it. It is not a separate kingdom, ruled by an idea of separation from the rest. Nor does a fence surround it, preventing it from joining with the rest and keeping it apart from its Creator. This little aspect is no different from the whole, being continuous with it and at one with it. It leads no separate life because its life is the oneness in which its being was created.

77. I will not accept this little fenced-off aspect as myself. The sun and ocean are nothing beside what I am. The sunbeam sparkles only in the sunlight, and the ripple dances as it rests upon the ocean. Yet neither the sun nor the ocean has the power that rests in me. Would I remain within my tiny kingdom, a sorry king, a bitter ruler of all he surveys looking on nothing, yet who would die to defend it? This little self is not my kingdom. Arched high above it and surrounding it with love is the glorious whole, offering all its happiness and deep content to every part, including the little aspect I think I set apart.]]>404acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-18-8-i-need-do-nothing
63. I still have too much faith in the body as a source of strength. In some way, all the plans I make involve the body's comfort, enjoyment or protection. This interprets the body as an end, not a means, and always means that I still find sin attractive. I prefer sin and pain, so I have not met my one responsibility to accept the Atonement for myself.

64. I have made much progress, and am trying to make more. Only I have never utterly forgotten the body, even for one instant. It has faded at times, but not completely disappeared. Only an instant is needed for the miracle of Atonement to happen. I will see the body again, but never quite the same. Every instant that I spend without awareness of the body gives me a different view of it when I return.

65. The body does not really exist at all. It is always remembered or anticipated, but never experienced now. Its past and future make the body seem real. The body is controlled entirely by time, for now there is no sin. Guilt's attraction is imaginary, and can only be thought of in the past or future. Guilt has no attraction now. In any single instant the attraction of guilt would be avoided, being experienced only as pain, and nothing else.

66. To accept the holy instant without reservation means that I am willing to see no past or future. Preparing for the holy instant places it in the future. Release is given the instant I desire it. The Course is aimed at saving time. Other ways, or methods, can succeed with much effort and time. But they all look to the future for release from a state of present unworthiness.

67. Our way will be different in means, but not in purpose. A holy relationship is a means of saving time. One instant spent together restores the universe to both of us. We are prepared. We remember we need do nothing. It is far more profitable to concentrate on this than to consider what we should do. Whatever means are used, release comes always with the happy realization: 'I need do nothing.'

68. Here is the ultimate release which everyone will find in his own way, at his own time. Jesus says we do not need this time. Time has been saved for us because we are together. The Course saves us time, by using this special means. We are not making use of the Course if we neglect what was made for us, and use other means instead. Jesus asks that we save time for him by using this one preparation and practice and nothing else. 'I need do nothing' is a statement of allegiance and loyalty. Believing it for one instant will accomplish more than a century of contemplation or struggle against sin and temptation.

69. To do anything involves the body. If I recognize I need do nothing, I have withdrawn the body's value from my mind. Here is the quick and open door through which I slip past centuries of effort, and escape from time. This is the way sin loses all attraction right now. Here time is denied, the past and future gone. Those who need do nothing have no need for time. To do nothing is to rest, and make a place within myself where the body ceases to demand attention. The Holy Spirit comes and abides in this place. He will stay when I forget, and the body's activities return to my conscious mind.

70. I am more aware of this quiet center, where the body is absent, than of all the outer storm's raging activity. There will always be this place of rest where I can return. And from this center I will be directed how to use the body sinlessly. This quiet center, in which I do nothing, will remain with me, giving me rest, even in the midst of busy doings on which I am sent.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4807932Sun, 03 Aug 2014 01:11:49 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-18.8-I Need Do Nothing 63. I still have too much faith in the body as a source of strength. In some way, all the plans I make involve the body's comfort, enjoyment or protection. This interprets the body as an end, not a means, and always...
63. I still have too much faith in the body as a source of strength. In some way, all the plans I make involve the body's comfort, enjoyment or protection. This interprets the body as an end, not a means, and always means that I still find sin attractive. I prefer sin and pain, so I have not met my one responsibility to accept the Atonement for myself.

64. I have made much progress, and am trying to make more. Only I have never utterly forgotten the body, even for one instant. It has faded at times, but not completely disappeared. Only an instant is needed for the miracle of Atonement to happen. I will see the body again, but never quite the same. Every instant that I spend without awareness of the body gives me a different view of it when I return.

65. The body does not really exist at all. It is always remembered or anticipated, but never experienced now. Its past and future make the body seem real. The body is controlled entirely by time, for now there is no sin. Guilt's attraction is imaginary, and can only be thought of in the past or future. Guilt has no attraction now. In any single instant the attraction of guilt would be avoided, being experienced only as pain, and nothing else.

66. To accept the holy instant without reservation means that I am willing to see no past or future. Preparing for the holy instant places it in the future. Release is given the instant I desire it. The Course is aimed at saving time. Other ways, or methods, can succeed with much effort and time. But they all look to the future for release from a state of present unworthiness.

67. Our way will be different in means, but not in purpose. A holy relationship is a means of saving time. One instant spent together restores the universe to both of us. We are prepared. We remember we need do nothing. It is far more profitable to concentrate on this than to consider what we should do. Whatever means are used, release comes always with the happy realization: 'I need do nothing.'

68. Here is the ultimate release which everyone will find in his own way, at his own time. Jesus says we do not need this time. Time has been saved for us because we are together. The Course saves us time, by using this special means. We are not making use of the Course if we neglect what was made for us, and use other means instead. Jesus asks that we save time for him by using this one preparation and practice and nothing else. 'I need do nothing' is a statement of allegiance and loyalty. Believing it for one instant will accomplish more than a century of contemplation or struggle against sin and temptation.

69. To do anything involves the body. If I recognize I need do nothing, I have withdrawn the body's value from my mind. Here is the quick and open door through which I slip past centuries of effort, and escape from time. This is the way sin loses all attraction right now. Here time is denied, the past and future gone. Those who need do nothing have no need for time. To do nothing is to rest, and make a place within myself where the body ceases to demand attention. The Holy Spirit comes and abides in this place. He will stay when I forget, and the body's activities return to my conscious mind.

70. I am more aware of this quiet center, where the body is absent, than of all the outer storm's raging activity. There will always be this place of rest where I can return. And from this center I will be directed how to use the body sinlessly. This quiet center, in which I do nothing, will remain with me, giving me rest, even in the midst of busy doings on which I am sent.]]>403acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-18-7-dreams-and-the-body-2
56. Yet, leaving the body without my guilt upon it is the only way I can escape. The place I set aside to house my vengeance and hate is not a prison, only an illusion of myself. Universal communication, an eternal property of the mind, is limited by the body. The universal communication is internal. Mind reaches into itself within itself. There are no limits, and no outside. I am within mind, and mind is within me. There is nothing else.

57. The body seems to surround me, shutting me off from others, but the body is not there. Only in illusions can God's Son can be separated from himself and his Father. Though he believes in illusions, this is not his reality. This is not the way God created reality. There are no orders of reality in God's Creation. God did not put a barrier between Himself and me, and I cannot put a barrier around myself. And love must be forever like itself, changeless and without alternative forever. This is the truth.

58. Everyone has experienced a sense of being transported beyond himself. We who have begun to reach within, have begun to reach our shared Identity together. We are surrounded only by God, and there can be no limit on what He encompasses. This feeling of liberation far exceeds the dream of freedom sometimes experienced in special relationships. It is the sense of actual escape from limitations.

59. I will consider what this transportation really entails, and realize it is a sudden unawareness of the body. The mind enlarges to encompass something else as we join and become united. Both become whole as neither is perceived as separate. We give up the illusion of limited awareness and lose our fear of union. Love instantly replaces fear, extends to what has freed us, and unites with it. We are certain of our Identity, and have escaped from fear to peace, asking no questions, and merely accepting peace. By not letting the mind be limited by the body, we have accepted joining, Oneness, and peace.

60. This can occur regardless of the physical distance which seems to be between what I join and me, our respective positions in space, and our differences in size and seeming quality. Time is not relevant. It can occur with something past, present, or anticipated. The 'something' can be anything and anywhere--a sound, sight, thought, memory, and even a general idea with no specific reference. Yet in every case, I joined it without reservation, because I love it and would be with it. And so I rush to meet it, letting my limits melt away, gently setting aside all the 'laws' my body obeys.

61. There is no violence at all in this escape. The body is not attacked, but simply properly perceived. It does not limit me, merely because I would not have it so. I am not 'lifted out' of the body. Only the body cannot contain me. I go where I would be, not losing, but gaining a sense of self. In these instants of release from physical restrictions, I experience much of what happens in the holy instant. There is the lifting of the barriers of time and space, the sudden experience of peace and joy, and above all, the lack of awareness of the body, and no questioning whether all this is possible.

62. This is the irresistible appeal of the holy instant, and is possible because I want it. With my desire for it, the sudden expansion of the self takes place. The holy instant calls to me to be myself within its safe embrace. There the limiting laws are lifted for me, and I am welcomed into freedom. I am willing to release the limits I placed on love, to join with love where it is, and answer the gentle call to be at peace.
Jesus invites me to this place of refuge, where, by a quiet 'melting in', I can be myself in peace.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4804747Sat, 02 Aug 2014 02:07:44 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-18.7-Dreams and the Body.2 56. Yet, leaving the body without my guilt upon it is the only way I can escape. The place I set aside to house my vengeance and hate is not a prison, only an illusion of myself. Universal communication, an...
56. Yet, leaving the body without my guilt upon it is the only way I can escape. The place I set aside to house my vengeance and hate is not a prison, only an illusion of myself. Universal communication, an eternal property of the mind, is limited by the body. The universal communication is internal. Mind reaches into itself within itself. There are no limits, and no outside. I am within mind, and mind is within me. There is nothing else.

57. The body seems to surround me, shutting me off from others, but the body is not there. Only in illusions can God's Son can be separated from himself and his Father. Though he believes in illusions, this is not his reality. This is not the way God created reality. There are no orders of reality in God's Creation. God did not put a barrier between Himself and me, and I cannot put a barrier around myself. And love must be forever like itself, changeless and without alternative forever. This is the truth.

58. Everyone has experienced a sense of being transported beyond himself. We who have begun to reach within, have begun to reach our shared Identity together. We are surrounded only by God, and there can be no limit on what He encompasses. This feeling of liberation far exceeds the dream of freedom sometimes experienced in special relationships. It is the sense of actual escape from limitations.

59. I will consider what this transportation really entails, and realize it is a sudden unawareness of the body. The mind enlarges to encompass something else as we join and become united. Both become whole as neither is perceived as separate. We give up the illusion of limited awareness and lose our fear of union. Love instantly replaces fear, extends to what has freed us, and unites with it. We are certain of our Identity, and have escaped from fear to peace, asking no questions, and merely accepting peace. By not letting the mind be limited by the body, we have accepted joining, Oneness, and peace.

60. This can occur regardless of the physical distance which seems to be between what I join and me, our respective positions in space, and our differences in size and seeming quality. Time is not relevant. It can occur with something past, present, or anticipated. The 'something' can be anything and anywhere--a sound, sight, thought, memory, and even a general idea with no specific reference. Yet in every case, I joined it without reservation, because I love it and would be with it. And so I rush to meet it, letting my limits melt away, gently setting aside all the 'laws' my body obeys.

61. There is no violence at all in this escape. The body is not attacked, but simply properly perceived. It does not limit me, merely because I would not have it so. I am not 'lifted out' of the body. Only the body cannot contain me. I go where I would be, not losing, but gaining a sense of self. In these instants of release from physical restrictions, I experience much of what happens in the holy instant. There is the lifting of the barriers of time and space, the sudden experience of peace and joy, and above all, the lack of awareness of the body, and no questioning whether all this is possible.

62. This is the irresistible appeal of the holy instant, and is possible because I want it. With my desire for it, the sudden expansion of the self takes place. The holy instant calls to me to be myself within its safe embrace. There the limiting laws are lifted for me, and I am welcomed into freedom. I am willing to release the limits I placed on love, to join with love where it is, and answer the gentle call to be at peace.
Jesus invites me to this place of refuge, where, by a quiet 'melting in', I can be myself in peace.]]>428acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-18-7-dreams-and-the-body-1
49. There is nothing outside me. That is what I must learn. That realization will restore the Kingdom of Heaven to me. God created only the Kingdom of Heaven, and He did not leave it nor separate Himself from it. The Son of God also dwells in the Kingdom of Heaven, along with His Father. And the Son of God has never left the Kingdom of Heaven either, where His Father and He dwell together. The awareness of perfect Oneness, and the knowledge that there is nothing else besides perfect Oneness is the Kingdom of Heaven. There is no inside or outside. There is no place and no condition that is the Kingdom of Heaven.

50. God could give only knowledge of Himself, as that was all there was to give. Believing that there was something else to give and get has deprived me of the awareness of the Kingdom of Heaven, and the loss of my Identity as the Son of God. And even stranger, I displaced the guilt I felt in the mind, onto a body. A body can do nothing of itself, so it cannot be guilty. I deceive myself when I think I hate the body, when it is the mind I hate. For guilt had entered into the mind, and the mind wished to separate, which it cannot do.

51. Separation seems to be possible by assigning properties of the body to the mind. The mind then seems to be fragmented, private and alone. Guilt in the mind is projected onto the body, which suffers and dies because it seems to be attacked. Guilt holds the separation in the mind, and the mind does not know its Identity. Mind cannot attack, but it can make fantasies, and direct the body to act out its fantasies. But this does not satisfy. The mind must believe that the body is actually acting out the mind's fantasies, or the mind will increase the projection of guilt upon the body.

52. Here, the mind is clearly delusional. The mind cannot attack, but it can deceive itself and maintain it can, and use what it does to hurt the body to prove it can attack. This is all it does when it believes it has attacked the body. The mind can project its guilt, but the guilt does not leave the mind. It misperceives the function of the body, only it cannot change the body's function from what the Holy Spirit establishes it to be. Love did not make the body, yet love does not condemn the body, and can use it lovingly, respecting what the Son of God has made, using the body to help save Him from illusions.

53. We would have the instruments of separation reinterpreted as means for salvation, and used for purposes of love. We would welcome and support release from all those fantasies. Our perception of the body can be sick, but we must not project this perception upon the body. For our wish to make the mind destructive can have no real effect at all. We can make fantasies in which our will conflicts with His, but they are nothing more than fantasies. We cannot make what God created into something that is not His Will.

54. It is insane for me to blame the body for what I wanted it to do, and then use it as a scapegoat for my guilt. It is impossible for the body to act out fantasies. My fantasies have nothing to do with what the body does. However, fantasies have made the body weak, vulnerable, and treacherous, worthy of the hate which I invest in it. Fantasies make the body into my enemy, a liability where it could be an asset. Yet, I still want fantasies, but the body doesn't dream of fantasies. I have identified with this thing I hate, proclaiming it to be the dwelling-place of the Son of God. I have made it an instrument of vengeance, and the perceived source of my guilt. I have done all this to a thing that has no meaning. All meaning lies in joining, but bodies do not join. Only minds join.

55. I have made the body as the host of God. But, neither God nor His most holy Son can enter where hate, vengeance, violence, and death abide. The body I made to serve my guilt, stands between my mind and other minds. The minds are joined, but I do not identify with them. I see myself locked in a separate prison, incapable of reaching out, or of being reached. But I would not escape from the body, leaving it unharmed. I hate this prison I have made, and with my guilt upon it, I would destroy it.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4803009Fri, 01 Aug 2014 19:20:07 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-18.7-Dreams and the Body.1 49. There is nothing outside me. That is what I must learn. That realization will restore the Kingdom of Heaven to me. God created only the Kingdom of Heaven, and He did not leave it nor separate Himself from it....
49. There is nothing outside me. That is what I must learn. That realization will restore the Kingdom of Heaven to me. God created only the Kingdom of Heaven, and He did not leave it nor separate Himself from it. The Son of God also dwells in the Kingdom of Heaven, along with His Father. And the Son of God has never left the Kingdom of Heaven either, where His Father and He dwell together. The awareness of perfect Oneness, and the knowledge that there is nothing else besides perfect Oneness is the Kingdom of Heaven. There is no inside or outside. There is no place and no condition that is the Kingdom of Heaven.

50. God could give only knowledge of Himself, as that was all there was to give. Believing that there was something else to give and get has deprived me of the awareness of the Kingdom of Heaven, and the loss of my Identity as the Son of God. And even stranger, I displaced the guilt I felt in the mind, onto a body. A body can do nothing of itself, so it cannot be guilty. I deceive myself when I think I hate the body, when it is the mind I hate. For guilt had entered into the mind, and the mind wished to separate, which it cannot do.

51. Separation seems to be possible by assigning properties of the body to the mind. The mind then seems to be fragmented, private and alone. Guilt in the mind is projected onto the body, which suffers and dies because it seems to be attacked. Guilt holds the separation in the mind, and the mind does not know its Identity. Mind cannot attack, but it can make fantasies, and direct the body to act out its fantasies. But this does not satisfy. The mind must believe that the body is actually acting out the mind's fantasies, or the mind will increase the projection of guilt upon the body.

52. Here, the mind is clearly delusional. The mind cannot attack, but it can deceive itself and maintain it can, and use what it does to hurt the body to prove it can attack. This is all it does when it believes it has attacked the body. The mind can project its guilt, but the guilt does not leave the mind. It misperceives the function of the body, only it cannot change the body's function from what the Holy Spirit establishes it to be. Love did not make the body, yet love does not condemn the body, and can use it lovingly, respecting what the Son of God has made, using the body to help save Him from illusions.

53. We would have the instruments of separation reinterpreted as means for salvation, and used for purposes of love. We would welcome and support release from all those fantasies. Our perception of the body can be sick, but we must not project this perception upon the body. For our wish to make the mind destructive can have no real effect at all. We can make fantasies in which our will conflicts with His, but they are nothing more than fantasies. We cannot make what God created into something that is not His Will.

54. It is insane for me to blame the body for what I wanted it to do, and then use it as a scapegoat for my guilt. It is impossible for the body to act out fantasies. My fantasies have nothing to do with what the body does. However, fantasies have made the body weak, vulnerable, and treacherous, worthy of the hate which I invest in it. Fantasies make the body into my enemy, a liability where it could be an asset. Yet, I still want fantasies, but the body doesn't dream of fantasies. I have identified with this thing I hate, proclaiming it to be the dwelling-place of the Son of God. I have made it an instrument of vengeance, and the perceived source of my guilt. I have done all this to a thing that has no meaning. All meaning lies in joining, but bodies do not join. Only minds join.

55. I have made the body as the host of God. But, neither God nor His most holy Son can enter where hate, vengeance, violence, and death abide. The...]]>439acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-18-6-the-happy-dream
41. We prepare now for the undoing of what never was. If we already understood the difference between truth and illusion, the Atonement would have no meaning. The holy instant, our holy relationship, the Holy Spirit's teaching, and all the means by which salvation is accomplished would have no purpose. For they are all but aspects of the plan to change our dreams of fear to happy dreams from which we waken easily to knowledge. We do no put ourselves in charge of this, for we cannot distinguish between advance and retreat. Some of our greatest advances we have judged as failures, and some of our deepest retreats we have evaluated as success.

42. We should never approach the holy instant after we have tried to remove all fear and hatred from our mind. That is the holy instant's function. We ask the Holy Spirit's help first, before we attempt to overlook our guilt. That is his function. We offer Him a little willingness to let Him remove all fear and hatred, and to be forgiven. On our little faith, joined with His understanding, He will build our part in the Atonement and make sure that we fulfill it easily. And with Him we will build a ladder planted in the solid rock of faith rising to Heaven. Nor will we use it to ascend to Heaven alone.

43. Through our holy relationship, reborn and blessed in every holy instant which we do not arrange, thousands will rise to Heaven with us. Can we plan for this? Or could we prepare ourselves for such a function? Yet it is possible, because God wills it. Nor will He change His Mind about it. The means and purpose both belong to Him. We have accepted the purpose, the means will be provided. A purpose such as this without the means is inconceivable. He will provide the means to anyone who shares His purpose.

44. Happy dreams come true because they are happy. And so they must be loving. Their message is "Thy will be done," and not, "I want it otherwise." The alignment of means and purpose is an undertaking impossible for us to understand. We do not even realize we have accepted the Holy Spirit's purpose as our own, and we would only bring unholy means to its accomplishment. The little faith the relationship needed to change the purpose is all that is required to receive the means and use them.

45. It is no dream to love my brother as myself. Nor is our holy relationship a dream. All that remains of dreams within it is that it is still a special relationship. Yet it is very useful to the Holy Spirit, Who Has a special function here. Our relationship will become the happy dream through which He can spread joy to thousands on thousands who believe that love is fear, not happiness. We let Him fulfill the function that He gave to our relationship by accepting the relationship for us, and nothing will be wanting that would make of it what He would have it be.

46. When we feel the holiness of our relationship is threatened by anything, we will stop instantly and offer the Holy Spirit our willingness in spite of fear, to let Him exchange this instant for the holy one which we would rather have. He will never fail in this. We must not forget that our relationship is one, and so it must be that whatever threatens the peace of one is an equal threat to the other. The power of joining and its blessing lie in the fact that it is now impossible for either of us to experience fear alone or to attempt to deal with it alone. We do not believe that this is necessary or even possible. Yet just as this is impossible, so is it equally impossible that the holy instant come to either of us without the other. And it will come to both at the request of either.

47. The one that is saner at the time when the threat is perceived should remember how deep is his indebtedness to the other, and how much gratitude is due him, and be glad that he can pay his debt by bringing happiness to both. Let him remember this, and say:

48. "I desire this holy instant for myself that I may share it with my brother, whom I love. It is not possible that I can have it without him, or he without me. Yet it is wholly possible for us to share it now. And so I choose this instant as the one to offer to the Holy Spirit, that His blessing may descend on us and keep us both in peace."]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4796783Thu, 31 Jul 2014 04:09:52 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-18.6-The Happy Dream 41. We prepare now for the undoing of what never was. If we already understood the difference between truth and illusion, the Atonement would have no meaning. The holy instant, our holy relationship, the Holy Spirit's...
41. We prepare now for the undoing of what never was. If we already understood the difference between truth and illusion, the Atonement would have no meaning. The holy instant, our holy relationship, the Holy Spirit's teaching, and all the means by which salvation is accomplished would have no purpose. For they are all but aspects of the plan to change our dreams of fear to happy dreams from which we waken easily to knowledge. We do no put ourselves in charge of this, for we cannot distinguish between advance and retreat. Some of our greatest advances we have judged as failures, and some of our deepest retreats we have evaluated as success.

42. We should never approach the holy instant after we have tried to remove all fear and hatred from our mind. That is the holy instant's function. We ask the Holy Spirit's help first, before we attempt to overlook our guilt. That is his function. We offer Him a little willingness to let Him remove all fear and hatred, and to be forgiven. On our little faith, joined with His understanding, He will build our part in the Atonement and make sure that we fulfill it easily. And with Him we will build a ladder planted in the solid rock of faith rising to Heaven. Nor will we use it to ascend to Heaven alone.

43. Through our holy relationship, reborn and blessed in every holy instant which we do not arrange, thousands will rise to Heaven with us. Can we plan for this? Or could we prepare ourselves for such a function? Yet it is possible, because God wills it. Nor will He change His Mind about it. The means and purpose both belong to Him. We have accepted the purpose, the means will be provided. A purpose such as this without the means is inconceivable. He will provide the means to anyone who shares His purpose.

44. Happy dreams come true because they are happy. And so they must be loving. Their message is "Thy will be done," and not, "I want it otherwise." The alignment of means and purpose is an undertaking impossible for us to understand. We do not even realize we have accepted the Holy Spirit's purpose as our own, and we would only bring unholy means to its accomplishment. The little faith the relationship needed to change the purpose is all that is required to receive the means and use them.

45. It is no dream to love my brother as myself. Nor is our holy relationship a dream. All that remains of dreams within it is that it is still a special relationship. Yet it is very useful to the Holy Spirit, Who Has a special function here. Our relationship will become the happy dream through which He can spread joy to thousands on thousands who believe that love is fear, not happiness. We let Him fulfill the function that He gave to our relationship by accepting the relationship for us, and nothing will be wanting that would make of it what He would have it be.

46. When we feel the holiness of our relationship is threatened by anything, we will stop instantly and offer the Holy Spirit our willingness in spite of fear, to let Him exchange this instant for the holy one which we would rather have. He will never fail in this. We must not forget that our relationship is one, and so it must be that whatever threatens the peace of one is an equal threat to the other. The power of joining and its blessing lie in the fact that it is now impossible for either of us to experience fear alone or to attempt to deal with it alone. We do not believe that this is necessary or even possible. Yet just as this is impossible, so is it equally impossible that the holy instant come to either of us without the other. And it will come to both at the request of either.

47. The one that is saner at the time when the threat is perceived should remember how deep is his indebtedness to the other, and how much gratitude is due him, and be glad that he can pay his debt by bringing...]]>426acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-18-5-the-little-willingness
32. The holy instant is the result of my determination to be holy. It is the answer. The desire and the willingness to let it come precedes its coming. We prepare our minds for it only to the extent of recognizing that I want it above all else. It is not necessary that I do more. Indeed, it is necessary that I realize that I cannot do more. I must not attempt to give the Holy Spirit what He does not ask for, or I will add the ego, and confuse the two. He asks only little. It is He who adds the greatness and the might. He joins with me to make the holy instant far greater than I can understand. It is my realization that I need do so little that enables Him to give so much.

33. I must not trust my good intentions. They are not enough. But I will trust implicitly my willingness. I will concentrate only on this, and not be disturbed that shadows come with it. If I could come without the shadows, I would not need the holy instant. There is nothing to achieve. The miracle of the holy instant lies only in my willingness to let it be what it is, and also in my willingness to accept myself as I was meant to be.

34. Humility never asks that I be content with littleness. But humility requires that I be content only with greatness that comes not of me. My difficulty with the holy instant is the fixed conviction that I am not worthy of greatness. This is the determination to be as I would make myself. God did not create me unworthy of Him. I must not interfere with His coming where He wills to be. The strength of willingness will come from God, and not from me.

35. The holy instant does not come from my little willingness alone. It is combined with the unlimited power of God's Will. It is wrong and arrogant to think that I must prepare myself for Him and establish the conditions for peace. They do not wait on my willingness for what they are. My willingness is only needed to make me teachable, so I can learn what is being offered me by God.

36. The answer is given for me if I only ask the question. I will not try to be holy, for that is God's job. Atonement can only come to those who just simply have the willingness to give it the space to come. I cannot atone for myself. Rather, I will think like this:

37. I am worthy of God. I am His host. He put His dwelling-place in me, creating it as He would have it be. It is ready for Him. There is no need to improve on its readiness. He will restore my eternal awareness of my readiness. I must not interfere or add anything to HIs plan. And, without substituting a plan of my own, I must willingly accept His plan.

38. That is all. If I add anything, I will take away the little that is asked. I made guilt. My plan for the escape from guilt is to bring Atonement to guilt, making salvation fearful. If I prepare myself for love, I will only add fear. The preparation for the holy instant belongs to the Holy Spirit. I release myself to the Holy Spirit as His function is release. I will not assume His function for Him, but give to Him only what He asks. I will see how great is His part and how little is mine.

39. The holy instant is so easy and so natural. I make it difficult because I insist that there must be more to do. It can seem personally insulting to me that my contribution is so little, and that I receive so much from the Holy Spirit. I still believe that my understanding is an important contribution to the truth, and helps make it true. But Jesus says that I don't need to understand anything. This makes salvation easy, and available right now.

40. It has been my plan to make what is natural and easy for me impossible. Whether I am aware of it or not, if God wills it, it will be. If I believe the holy instant is difficult for me, I have decided what is possible, and am unwilling to surrender to the knowing of the Holy Spirit. The belief in orders of difficulty in miracles is centered on this. Everything God wills is possible and has already happened. The past is gone, because it never happened. Only unreal thoughts need to be given away to feel freedom from the past.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4795079Wed, 30 Jul 2014 19:50:41 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-18.5-The Little Willingness 32. The holy instant is the result of my determination to be holy. It is the answer. The desire and the willingness to let it come precedes its coming. We prepare our minds for it only to the extent of...
32. The holy instant is the result of my determination to be holy. It is the answer. The desire and the willingness to let it come precedes its coming. We prepare our minds for it only to the extent of recognizing that I want it above all else. It is not necessary that I do more. Indeed, it is necessary that I realize that I cannot do more. I must not attempt to give the Holy Spirit what He does not ask for, or I will add the ego, and confuse the two. He asks only little. It is He who adds the greatness and the might. He joins with me to make the holy instant far greater than I can understand. It is my realization that I need do so little that enables Him to give so much.

33. I must not trust my good intentions. They are not enough. But I will trust implicitly my willingness. I will concentrate only on this, and not be disturbed that shadows come with it. If I could come without the shadows, I would not need the holy instant. There is nothing to achieve. The miracle of the holy instant lies only in my willingness to let it be what it is, and also in my willingness to accept myself as I was meant to be.

34. Humility never asks that I be content with littleness. But humility requires that I be content only with greatness that comes not of me. My difficulty with the holy instant is the fixed conviction that I am not worthy of greatness. This is the determination to be as I would make myself. God did not create me unworthy of Him. I must not interfere with His coming where He wills to be. The strength of willingness will come from God, and not from me.

35. The holy instant does not come from my little willingness alone. It is combined with the unlimited power of God's Will. It is wrong and arrogant to think that I must prepare myself for Him and establish the conditions for peace. They do not wait on my willingness for what they are. My willingness is only needed to make me teachable, so I can learn what is being offered me by God.

36. The answer is given for me if I only ask the question. I will not try to be holy, for that is God's job. Atonement can only come to those who just simply have the willingness to give it the space to come. I cannot atone for myself. Rather, I will think like this:

37. I am worthy of God. I am His host. He put His dwelling-place in me, creating it as He would have it be. It is ready for Him. There is no need to improve on its readiness. He will restore my eternal awareness of my readiness. I must not interfere or add anything to HIs plan. And, without substituting a plan of my own, I must willingly accept His plan.

38. That is all. If I add anything, I will take away the little that is asked. I made guilt. My plan for the escape from guilt is to bring Atonement to guilt, making salvation fearful. If I prepare myself for love, I will only add fear. The preparation for the holy instant belongs to the Holy Spirit. I release myself to the Holy Spirit as His function is release. I will not assume His function for Him, but give to Him only what He asks. I will see how great is His part and how little is mine.

39. The holy instant is so easy and so natural. I make it difficult because I insist that there must be more to do. It can seem personally insulting to me that my contribution is so little, and that I receive so much from the Holy Spirit. I still believe that my understanding is an important contribution to the truth, and helps make it true. But Jesus says that I don't need to understand anything. This makes salvation easy, and available right now.

40. It has been my plan to make what is natural and easy for me impossible. Whether I am aware of it or not, if God wills it, it will be. If I believe the holy instant is difficult for me, I have decided what is possible, and am unwilling to surrender to...]]>461acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-18-4-light-in-the-dream
24. Walking the way of dreams, we have spent our lives bringing truth to illusion, reality to fantasy. We have gone from waking to sleeping and on to yet deeper sleep. Every fantasy made the darkness deeper, as one dream led to another dream. No ray of light could enter the darkness. In our insanity we sought complete blackness, so we could hide from truth forever. We forgot that the light is in us, and cannot be put out.

25. We willingly accept the goal of knowledge. And we are advancing because our goal is truth, not fear. But as light comes nearer, we shrink and step back, retreating into the darkness of fear and terror. However, joining with Jesus in an instant of light will be enough to remind us that our goal is light, and truth rushes to meet us because we called on it.

26. We are not afraid of love, but of the illusion of love, and of love's judgement, for the journey into darkness has been long and cruel. Yet, we are advancing to love's meaning, and away from the fear with which we have surrounded love, as we travel surely away from all illusions. We know that the Holy Spirit walks beside us on this chosen way, and gives us confidence in the selves that we have despised for so long. Illusions are still fearful, but what is that to us who travel surely and very swiftly away from fear?

27. When we joined hands with each other we also joined hands with Jesus. He will not leave us in the darkness, for we agreed to leave the darkness with him. This world's light is in our relationship, and fear must disappear before us now. We will not be tempted to snatch away the gift of faith we offered each other. That would be frightening to us. The gift is given forever, for God Himself received it. We have accepted God and we cannot take back the gift of faith. The holiness of our relationship is established in Heaven. We do not understand what we accepted, but we remember that our understanding is not necessary. All that was necessary was merely the wish to understand. That wish was the desire to be holy. God's Will and our desire is granted us, for our desire for His Will is all we ever had or ever were.

28. Each instant that we spend with Jesus will teach us that this goal is possible, and will strengthen our desire to reach it. This goal's accomplishment lies in our desire, which is in complete accord with all the power of the Holy Spirit's Will. Not even a faltering footstep can separate our desire from His will and His strength. Jesus holds our hand as surely as we hold each other's hand. We will not separate, for Jesus stands and walks with us in our advance to truth. And where we go, we carry God with us.

29. In our relationship, we have joined with Jesus in bringing Heaven to the Son of God, who hid in darkness. We have been willing to bring the darkness to light, and this willingness has given strength to everyone who would remain in darkness. Those who desire to see will see. When the darkness in them is offered to the light and is removed forever, they will join with Jesus in carrying their light into the darkness. Joined with Jesus in the holy light of our relationship, his need for us is our need for salvation. He would give to us what we gave to him. For when we joined each other, we answered him.

30. The darkness in us has been brought to light, and now, as bringers of salvation, we have the function of bringing light to darkness. We carry light back to the darkness from the holy instant, to which we brought the darkness. We are made whole in our desire to make whole. Time is no worry, for all fear is really past. Time has been readjusted to help us do together what our separate pasts would hinder. We have gone past fear. When two minds can join in the desire for love, love must join with them.

31. Every light in Heaven goes with us. Each ray that shines forever in the Mind of God, shines on us. Heaven is joined with us in our advance to Heaven. We cannot remain in darkness when such great light has joined with us to give the power of God Himself to the spark of our desire. We are coming home together after a long and meaningless journey, which we undertook apart and which led nowhere. We have found each other and will light each others way. 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.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4791868Tue, 29 Jul 2014 22:59:07 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-18.4-Light in the Dream 24. Walking the way of dreams, we have spent our lives bringing truth to illusion, reality to fantasy. We have gone from waking to sleeping and on to yet deeper sleep. Every fantasy made the darkness deeper, as one...
24. Walking the way of dreams, we have spent our lives bringing truth to illusion, reality to fantasy. We have gone from waking to sleeping and on to yet deeper sleep. Every fantasy made the darkness deeper, as one dream led to another dream. No ray of light could enter the darkness. In our insanity we sought complete blackness, so we could hide from truth forever. We forgot that the light is in us, and cannot be put out.

25. We willingly accept the goal of knowledge. And we are advancing because our goal is truth, not fear. But as light comes nearer, we shrink and step back, retreating into the darkness of fear and terror. However, joining with Jesus in an instant of light will be enough to remind us that our goal is light, and truth rushes to meet us because we called on it.

26. We are not afraid of love, but of the illusion of love, and of love's judgement, for the journey into darkness has been long and cruel. Yet, we are advancing to love's meaning, and away from the fear with which we have surrounded love, as we travel surely away from all illusions. We know that the Holy Spirit walks beside us on this chosen way, and gives us confidence in the selves that we have despised for so long. Illusions are still fearful, but what is that to us who travel surely and very swiftly away from fear?

27. When we joined hands with each other we also joined hands with Jesus. He will not leave us in the darkness, for we agreed to leave the darkness with him. This world's light is in our relationship, and fear must disappear before us now. We will not be tempted to snatch away the gift of faith we offered each other. That would be frightening to us. The gift is given forever, for God Himself received it. We have accepted God and we cannot take back the gift of faith. The holiness of our relationship is established in Heaven. We do not understand what we accepted, but we remember that our understanding is not necessary. All that was necessary was merely the wish to understand. That wish was the desire to be holy. God's Will and our desire is granted us, for our desire for His Will is all we ever had or ever were.

28. Each instant that we spend with Jesus will teach us that this goal is possible, and will strengthen our desire to reach it. This goal's accomplishment lies in our desire, which is in complete accord with all the power of the Holy Spirit's Will. Not even a faltering footstep can separate our desire from His will and His strength. Jesus holds our hand as surely as we hold each other's hand. We will not separate, for Jesus stands and walks with us in our advance to truth. And where we go, we carry God with us.

29. In our relationship, we have joined with Jesus in bringing Heaven to the Son of God, who hid in darkness. We have been willing to bring the darkness to light, and this willingness has given strength to everyone who would remain in darkness. Those who desire to see will see. When the darkness in them is offered to the light and is removed forever, they will join with Jesus in carrying their light into the darkness. Joined with Jesus in the holy light of our relationship, his need for us is our need for salvation. He would give to us what we gave to him. For when we joined each other, we answered him.

30. The darkness in us has been brought to light, and now, as bringers of salvation, we have the function of bringing light to darkness. We carry light back to the darkness from the holy instant, to which we brought the darkness. We are made whole in our desire to make whole. Time is no worry, for all fear is really past. Time has been readjusted to help us do together what our separate pasts would hinder. We have gone past fear. When two minds can join in the desire for love, love must join with them.

31. Every light in Heaven goes with us....]]>507acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-18-3-basis-of-the-dream
14. Arising in my sleeping dreams is a world that seems quite real. It is not the world I saw before I slept. Planned around what I would have preferred, it is a distortion. The ego looks upon itself and me as vulnerable and always under attack. But in the dream, I am "free" to change whatever seemed to attack me into a tribute to the ego. This would be my wish, because I had identified myself with the ego,

15. My conflicting wishes govern my dreams, and dreams are chaotic for they have no concern for what is true. Perception substitutes illusions for truth. Dreams change the sleeping world to suit the ego. On waking I don't take dreams seriously, because reality is so outrageously violated. Dreams represent the ego's inability to tolerate reality, and my willingness to tolerate unreality and the ego.

16. I don't find the differences disturbing in what I see asleep and awake. It seems that what I see when I am awake is blotted out in dreams. Yet, on awakening that world is still there. In dreams I arrange everything. People are what I would have them be and do, with no limit on substitution. In the dream, it seems as if the world were given me, to make as I wish. I do not realize that I am attacking the world, trying to triumph over it and make it serve myself.

17. Dreams are temper tantrums in which I scream, "I want it this way!" and so it seems to be. The dream's origin is within me. Made of anger and fear, the illusion of satisfaction is replaced by the illusion of terror. My ability to control a world I prefer is terrifying. My attempts to blot out reality are fearful, so, I substitute the fantasy that reality is fearful, and guilt is real.

18. I have the power to make a world as I want it to be. Because I want it, I see it in dreams. And while I see it, I believe that it is real. Here is a world that seems to be outside me, yet it is only within the mind. I do not realize that the emotions that are produced in the dream come from within me, nor do I respond to this world as if I made it. It is the figures in the dream, and what the figures do that seem to make the dream. I do not realize that they are acting out for me, for if I did, I could not see them as guilty, and the illusion of satisfaction would be gone. When I awake the dream is gone, but what caused the dream is not gone.

19. The wish to make an unreal world is still with me. What I see on waking is only a different form of the world I see in dreams. The content is the same, therefore, all my time is spent in dreaming, only the form has changed. Dreams are a protest against reality, and are the fixed, insane idea that I can change reality. The special relationship has a special place in waking dreams. I am trying to make my sleeping dreams come true. Determined to keep the special relationship, I cling to unreality, preventing myself from waking up to truth. Seeing more value in sleeping than in waking, I continue with the special relationship.

20. Always practical in His wisdom, the Holy Spirit accepts dreams and uses them as a means for waking, where I would have used them to remain asleep. The first change that comes before dreams disappear, is dreams of fear are changed to happy dreams. That is what the Holy Spirit does with the special relationship. He doesn't take it away or destroy it, but uses it differently, to help make His purpose real to me. The special relationship will remain as a source of joy and freedom, and not of guilt and pain. It will not be for me alone, for its holiness becomes an offering to everyone.

21. The special relationship will become a means for undoing guilt in everyone blessed through our holy relationship. It will be a happy dream, and one which we share with all who come within our sight. Through our happy dream, the blessing which the Holy Spirit has laid on our relationship will be extended to all. He has not forgotten anyone. He uses everyone who calls on Him, as means for the salvation of everyone. And He will waken everyone, through us, who offered our relationship to Him. If I only recognized His gratitude! And Jesus' gratitude, for they are joined in one purpose, being of One Mind with God.

22. Let me not close my eyes in dreaming. It is unbelievable that I would wish to make a world that is not real. Now, the purpose of our relationship has been changed to the purpose of truth. We had been choosing between dreams, and now we see that at last, we have made the choice between truth and all illusions.

23. Heaven is sure, for we have chosen truth. It has come for we have been willing to meet Heaven's conditions in the special relationship. This is no dream. The Holy Spirit has gently laid the real world in our relationship--the world of happy dreams from which awaking is so easy and so natural. For as our sleeping and waking dreams represent the same wishes in the mind, so do the real world and the truth of Heaven join in the Will of God. The dream of waking is easily transferred to its reality. For this dream comes from our will joined with the Will of God. And what His Will would accomplish is always done.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4789838Tue, 29 Jul 2014 14:03:03 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-18.3-Basis of the Dream 14. Arising in my sleeping dreams is a world that seems quite real. It is not the world I saw before I slept. Planned around what I would have preferred, it is a distortion. The ego looks upon itself and me as...
14. Arising in my sleeping dreams is a world that seems quite real. It is not the world I saw before I slept. Planned around what I would have preferred, it is a distortion. The ego looks upon itself and me as vulnerable and always under attack. But in the dream, I am "free" to change whatever seemed to attack me into a tribute to the ego. This would be my wish, because I had identified myself with the ego,

15. My conflicting wishes govern my dreams, and dreams are chaotic for they have no concern for what is true. Perception substitutes illusions for truth. Dreams change the sleeping world to suit the ego. On waking I don't take dreams seriously, because reality is so outrageously violated. Dreams represent the ego's inability to tolerate reality, and my willingness to tolerate unreality and the ego.

16. I don't find the differences disturbing in what I see asleep and awake. It seems that what I see when I am awake is blotted out in dreams. Yet, on awakening that world is still there. In dreams I arrange everything. People are what I would have them be and do, with no limit on substitution. In the dream, it seems as if the world were given me, to make as I wish. I do not realize that I am attacking the world, trying to triumph over it and make it serve myself.

17. Dreams are temper tantrums in which I scream, "I want it this way!" and so it seems to be. The dream's origin is within me. Made of anger and fear, the illusion of satisfaction is replaced by the illusion of terror. My ability to control a world I prefer is terrifying. My attempts to blot out reality are fearful, so, I substitute the fantasy that reality is fearful, and guilt is real.

18. I have the power to make a world as I want it to be. Because I want it, I see it in dreams. And while I see it, I believe that it is real. Here is a world that seems to be outside me, yet it is only within the mind. I do not realize that the emotions that are produced in the dream come from within me, nor do I respond to this world as if I made it. It is the figures in the dream, and what the figures do that seem to make the dream. I do not realize that they are acting out for me, for if I did, I could not see them as guilty, and the illusion of satisfaction would be gone. When I awake the dream is gone, but what caused the dream is not gone.

19. The wish to make an unreal world is still with me. What I see on waking is only a different form of the world I see in dreams. The content is the same, therefore, all my time is spent in dreaming, only the form has changed. Dreams are a protest against reality, and are the fixed, insane idea that I can change reality. The special relationship has a special place in waking dreams. I am trying to make my sleeping dreams come true. Determined to keep the special relationship, I cling to unreality, preventing myself from waking up to truth. Seeing more value in sleeping than in waking, I continue with the special relationship.

20. Always practical in His wisdom, the Holy Spirit accepts dreams and uses them as a means for waking, where I would have used them to remain asleep. The first change that comes before dreams disappear, is dreams of fear are changed to happy dreams. That is what the Holy Spirit does with the special relationship. He doesn't take it away or destroy it, but uses it differently, to help make His purpose real to me. The special relationship will remain as a source of joy and freedom, and not of guilt and pain. It will not be for me alone, for its holiness becomes an offering to everyone.

21. The special relationship will become a means for undoing guilt in everyone blessed through our holy relationship. It will be a happy dream, and one which we share with all who come within our sight. Through our happy dream, the blessing which the Holy Spirit...]]>576acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-18-2-substitution-as-defense
4. I made only one substitution, by believing that God is fear. That substitution has taken many forms because it was the substitution of illusion for truth, of fragmentation for wholeness. It has become so splintered and subdivided and divided again, over and over, that it is now almost impossible to perceive it once was one substitution, and still is what it was. That one error, which brought truth to illusion, infinity to time, and life to death, was all I ever made. My whole world rests upon it. Everything I see reflects it, and every special relationship which I have ever made is part of it.

5. I felt surprised at learning how different reality is from what I see. But nothing I have seen begins to show me the enormity of that original error, which seemed to cast me out of Heaven, to shatter knowledge into meaningless bits of disunited perceptions, and to force me to further substitutions. I continue not to realize the magnitude of that one error. It was so vast and so completely incredible that from it a world of total unreality had to emerge. Nothing else could come of it. The world's fragmented aspects are extremely fearful, as I begin to look at them.

6. Substituting fear for love was the first error projected outward. The world arose to hide the error and is the screen between myself and truth. This world where everything is backwards and upside down, arose as a screen for my projected error. Truth brought to this could only remain within, in quiet, and take no part in all the mad projection by which this world was made. Calling it sin would be investing it with guilt, implying guilt's reality. I call it only madness, for such it was, and is now. And above all, I must not be afraid of the world. When I seem to see some form of the original error rising to frighten me, I say to myself, "God is not fear, but love!" and it will disappear. For truth extends inward, where the idea of loss is meaningless and only increase is conceivable.

7. Truth does not leave me, and does not go out into the mad world. The truth is within me and will save me and keep me sane. Only I believe it is the other way around, that truth is outside, and error and guilt within. My senseless little substitutions have no substance, touched with insanity and swirling lightly off on a mad course like feathers dancing in the wind. My substitutions merge and separate in shifting and meaningless patterns. None of them matters. There is no point in judging them. The differences in form between my substitutions are not real differences, so the substitutions are really all the same.

8. I let them all go, dancing in the wind, dipping and turning till they disappear from sight, far, far outside me. And I turn to the stately calm within, where the living God dwells in holy stillness. I never left Him and He never left me. The Holy Spirit takes me gently by the hand, and retraces with me the mad journey outside myself, leading me gently back to the truth and safety within. He brings to the truth within me, all my insane projections and wild substitutions which were placed outside me. This way He reverses the course of insanity and restores me to reason.

9. We should hear no substitute's call. That call is but an echo of the original error which shattered Heaven, and the peace of those who heard. We would not further break apart and weaken what is already broken and hopeless. It is not here that we would look for happiness. We would prefer to heal what has been broken, and join in making whole what has been ravaged by separation and disease. We will return with Jesus to Heaven, walking together out of this world, through another world, into the loveliness and joy the other holds within it.

10. In our relationship, where, at our request, the Holy Spirit has taken charge of everything, He has set the course inward to the truth we share. In the mad world outside us, nothing can be shared, but only substituted. In reality, sharing and substituting have nothing in common. Within ourselves we love each other with a perfect love. Here is holy ground in which no substitution can enter, and where only the truth about each other can abide. Here we are joined in God, as much together as we are with Him. The original error has not entered here, nor ever will, and the Holy Spirit has committed our relationship to this radiant truth. He brings the truth here, where we would have it be. By giving Him our little faith in each other, He will show us that no substitute we ever made can keep us from Heaven or from each other. In us there is no separation. Our reality is God's creation, and has no substitute.

11. We are so firmly joined in truth that only God is there. And He would never accept something else instead of us. He loves us both, equally and as one. And as He loves us, so we are. We are not joined together in illusions but in the Thought so holy and so perfect that illusions cannot remain to darken the holy place in which we stand together. God is with us, with Jesus our brother. We join in God in peace and gratitude, and accept His gift as our most holy and perfect reality, which we share in Him.

12. Heaven is restored to all the Sonship through our relationship, for in our relationship lies the Sonship, whole and beautiful, safe in our love. Heaven has entered quietly, for all illusions have been gently brought unto the truth in us, and love has shined upon us, blessing our relationship with truth. God and His whole creation have entered it together. How lovely and how holy is our relationship, with the truth shining upon it! Heaven beholds it and rejoices that we have let it come to us. And God Himself is glad that our relationship is as it was created. The universe within us stands with us together. And Heaven looks with love on what is joined in it along with its Creator.

13. The peace of God is given us as we join in glowing purpose. Together we have been called to the world's most holy function. It is the only function which has no limits, and reaches out to every broken fragment of the Sonship with healing and uniting comfort. This call is offered us in our holy relationship. The holy light that brought us together must extend. We accept this healing function, and we give as we have accepted.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4781461Sun, 27 Jul 2014 02:42:28 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-18.2-Substitution as Defense 4. I made only one substitution, by believing that God is fear. That substitution has taken many forms because it was the substitution of illusion for truth, of fragmentation for wholeness. It has become so...
4. I made only one substitution, by believing that God is fear. That substitution has taken many forms because it was the substitution of illusion for truth, of fragmentation for wholeness. It has become so splintered and subdivided and divided again, over and over, that it is now almost impossible to perceive it once was one substitution, and still is what it was. That one error, which brought truth to illusion, infinity to time, and life to death, was all I ever made. My whole world rests upon it. Everything I see reflects it, and every special relationship which I have ever made is part of it.

5. I felt surprised at learning how different reality is from what I see. But nothing I have seen begins to show me the enormity of that original error, which seemed to cast me out of Heaven, to shatter knowledge into meaningless bits of disunited perceptions, and to force me to further substitutions. I continue not to realize the magnitude of that one error. It was so vast and so completely incredible that from it a world of total unreality had to emerge. Nothing else could come of it. The world's fragmented aspects are extremely fearful, as I begin to look at them.

6. Substituting fear for love was the first error projected outward. The world arose to hide the error and is the screen between myself and truth. This world where everything is backwards and upside down, arose as a screen for my projected error. Truth brought to this could only remain within, in quiet, and take no part in all the mad projection by which this world was made. Calling it sin would be investing it with guilt, implying guilt's reality. I call it only madness, for such it was, and is now. And above all, I must not be afraid of the world. When I seem to see some form of the original error rising to frighten me, I say to myself, "God is not fear, but love!" and it will disappear. For truth extends inward, where the idea of loss is meaningless and only increase is conceivable.

7. Truth does not leave me, and does not go out into the mad world. The truth is within me and will save me and keep me sane. Only I believe it is the other way around, that truth is outside, and error and guilt within. My senseless little substitutions have no substance, touched with insanity and swirling lightly off on a mad course like feathers dancing in the wind. My substitutions merge and separate in shifting and meaningless patterns. None of them matters. There is no point in judging them. The differences in form between my substitutions are not real differences, so the substitutions are really all the same.

8. I let them all go, dancing in the wind, dipping and turning till they disappear from sight, far, far outside me. And I turn to the stately calm within, where the living God dwells in holy stillness. I never left Him and He never left me. The Holy Spirit takes me gently by the hand, and retraces with me the mad journey outside myself, leading me gently back to the truth and safety within. He brings to the truth within me, all my insane projections and wild substitutions which were placed outside me. This way He reverses the course of insanity and restores me to reason.

9. We should hear no substitute's call. That call is but an echo of the original error which shattered Heaven, and the peace of those who heard. We would not further break apart and weaken what is already broken and hopeless. It is not here that we would look for happiness. We would prefer to heal what has been broken, and join in making whole what has been ravaged by separation and disease. We will return with Jesus to Heaven, walking together out of this world, through another world, into the loveliness and joy the other holds within it.

10. In our relationship, where, at our request, the Holy...]]>688acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-18-1-intro-dream-and-reality
1. To substitute is to accept instead. If I considered what this entails, I would perceive how much this is at variance with the goal of the Holy Spirit and what He would accomplish for me. To substitute is to choose between, renouncing one in favor of the other. For this special purpose, one is judged more valuable and the other is replaced by him. The relationship becomes fragmented, parts of the relationship are excluded, and its purpose is split accordingly. Substitution is the strongest defense the ego has for separation.

2. The Holy Spirit never uses substitutes. Where the ego perceives one person as a replacement for another, the Holy Spirit sees them joined and indivisible. He does not judge between them, knowing they are one. Being united, they are one because they are the same. Substitution is clearly a process in which they are perceived as different. The Holy Spirit would unite, the ego would separate. Nothing can come between what God has joined and what the Holy Spirit sees as one. But everything seems to come between the fragmented relationships the ego sponsors to destroy.

3. In love, substitution is impossible. Fear involves substitution by definition, for it is love's replacement. Fear is both a fragmented and a fragmenting emotion. It seems to take many forms, and each seems to require a different form of acting out for satisfaction. While this appears to introduce quite variable behavior, a far more serious effect lies in the fragmented perception from which the behavior stems. No one is seen complete. The body is emphasized, with special emphases on certain parts, and used as the standard for comparison for either acceptance or rejection of suitability for acting out a special form of fear.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4781438Sun, 27 Jul 2014 02:30:58 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-18.1-Intro-Dream and Reality 1. To substitute is to accept instead. If I considered what this entails, I would perceive how much this is at variance with the goal of the Holy Spirit and what He would accomplish for me. To substitute is to...
1. To substitute is to accept instead. If I considered what this entails, I would perceive how much this is at variance with the goal of the Holy Spirit and what He would accomplish for me. To substitute is to choose between, renouncing one in favor of the other. For this special purpose, one is judged more valuable and the other is replaced by him. The relationship becomes fragmented, parts of the relationship are excluded, and its purpose is split accordingly. Substitution is the strongest defense the ego has for separation.

2. The Holy Spirit never uses substitutes. Where the ego perceives one person as a replacement for another, the Holy Spirit sees them joined and indivisible. He does not judge between them, knowing they are one. Being united, they are one because they are the same. Substitution is clearly a process in which they are perceived as different. The Holy Spirit would unite, the ego would separate. Nothing can come between what God has joined and what the Holy Spirit sees as one. But everything seems to come between the fragmented relationships the ego sponsors to destroy.

3. In love, substitution is impossible. Fear involves substitution by definition, for it is love's replacement. Fear is both a fragmented and a fragmenting emotion. It seems to take many forms, and each seems to require a different form of acting out for satisfaction. While this appears to introduce quite variable behavior, a far more serious effect lies in the fragmented perception from which the behavior stems. No one is seen complete. The body is emphasized, with special emphases on certain parts, and used as the standard for comparison for either acceptance or rejection of suitability for acting out a special form of fear.]]>191acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-17-9-conditions-of-forgiveness
74. The holy instant is nothing more than a special case or an extreme example of what every situation is meant to be. The meaning which the Holy Spirit's purpose has given it is also given to every situation. It calls forth just the same suspension of faithlessness, withheld and left unused, that faith might answer to the call of truth. The holy instant is the shining example, the clear and unequivocal demonstration of the meaning of every relationship and every situation, seen as a whole. Faith has accepted every aspect of the situation, and faithlessness has not forced any exclusion on it. It is a situation of perfect peace simply because we have let it be what it is.

75. This simple courtesy is all the Holy Spirit asks of us, to let truth be what it is. We will not intrude on it, attack it, nor interrupt its coming. We let truth encompass every situation and bring us peace. Not even faith is asked of us, for truth asks nothing. We let it enter, and it will call forth and secure for us the faith we need for peace. But we must not rise against it, for it cannot come against our opposition.

76. The gift of faith is freely given wherever faithlessness is laid aside unused, and makes a holy instant of every situation. Then the power of the Holy Spirit's purpose is free to use instead. This power instantly transforms all situations into one sure and continuous means for establishing His purpose and demonstrating its reality. What has been demonstrated has called for and been given faith. Now the situation becomes a fact and faith can no longer be withheld. The strain of refusing faith to truth is enormous and far greater than we realize. But to answer truth with faith entails no strain at all.

77. To us who have acknowledged the call of our Redeemer, the strain of not responding to His call seems to be greater than before. This is not so. Before, the strain was there but we attributed it to something else, believing that the "something else" produced it. This was never true. For what the "something else" produced was sorrow and depression, sickness and pain, darkness and dim imaginings of terror, cold fantasies of fear and fiery dreams of hell. And it was nothing but the intolerable strain of refusing to give faith to truth and see its evident reality.

78. Such was the crucifixion of the Son of God. His faithlessness did this to him. We must think carefully before we let ourselves use faithlessness against him. For he is risen, and we have accepted the cause of his awakening as ours. We have assumed our part in his redemption, and we are now fully responsible to him. We will not fail him now, for it has been given us to realize what our lack of faith in him must mean to us. His salvation is our only purpose. In every situation we see only this, and it will be a means for bringing only this.

79. When we accepted truth as the goal for our relationship, we became givers of peace as surely as our Father gave peace to us. For the goal of peace cannot be accepted apart from its conditions, and we had faith in it, for no one accepts what he does not believe is real. Our purpose has not changed and will not change, for we accepted what can never change. And nothing that it needs to be forever changeless can we now withhold from it. Our release is certain. We give as we have received. And we demonstrate that we have risen far beyond any situation that could hold us back and keep us separate from Him Whose call we answered.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4768484Wed, 23 Jul 2014 19:16:33 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-17.9- Conditions of Forgiveness 74. The holy instant is nothing more than a special case or an extreme example of what every situation is meant to be. The meaning which the Holy Spirit's purpose has given it is also given to every situation....
74. The holy instant is nothing more than a special case or an extreme example of what every situation is meant to be. The meaning which the Holy Spirit's purpose has given it is also given to every situation. It calls forth just the same suspension of faithlessness, withheld and left unused, that faith might answer to the call of truth. The holy instant is the shining example, the clear and unequivocal demonstration of the meaning of every relationship and every situation, seen as a whole. Faith has accepted every aspect of the situation, and faithlessness has not forced any exclusion on it. It is a situation of perfect peace simply because we have let it be what it is.

75. This simple courtesy is all the Holy Spirit asks of us, to let truth be what it is. We will not intrude on it, attack it, nor interrupt its coming. We let truth encompass every situation and bring us peace. Not even faith is asked of us, for truth asks nothing. We let it enter, and it will call forth and secure for us the faith we need for peace. But we must not rise against it, for it cannot come against our opposition.

76. The gift of faith is freely given wherever faithlessness is laid aside unused, and makes a holy instant of every situation. Then the power of the Holy Spirit's purpose is free to use instead. This power instantly transforms all situations into one sure and continuous means for establishing His purpose and demonstrating its reality. What has been demonstrated has called for and been given faith. Now the situation becomes a fact and faith can no longer be withheld. The strain of refusing faith to truth is enormous and far greater than we realize. But to answer truth with faith entails no strain at all.

77. To us who have acknowledged the call of our Redeemer, the strain of not responding to His call seems to be greater than before. This is not so. Before, the strain was there but we attributed it to something else, believing that the "something else" produced it. This was never true. For what the "something else" produced was sorrow and depression, sickness and pain, darkness and dim imaginings of terror, cold fantasies of fear and fiery dreams of hell. And it was nothing but the intolerable strain of refusing to give faith to truth and see its evident reality.

78. Such was the crucifixion of the Son of God. His faithlessness did this to him. We must think carefully before we let ourselves use faithlessness against him. For he is risen, and we have accepted the cause of his awakening as ours. We have assumed our part in his redemption, and we are now fully responsible to him. We will not fail him now, for it has been given us to realize what our lack of faith in him must mean to us. His salvation is our only purpose. In every situation we see only this, and it will be a means for bringing only this.

79. When we accepted truth as the goal for our relationship, we became givers of peace as surely as our Father gave peace to us. For the goal of peace cannot be accepted apart from its conditions, and we had faith in it, for no one accepts what he does not believe is real. Our purpose has not changed and will not change, for we accepted what can never change. And nothing that it needs to be forever changeless can we now withhold from it. Our release is certain. We give as we have received. And we demonstrate that we have risen far beyond any situation that could hold us back and keep us separate from Him Whose call we answered.]]>392acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-17-8-the-need-for-faith
65. There is no problem in any situation that faith will not solve. There is no shift in any aspect of the problem but will make solution impossible. For if I shift part of the problem elsewhere, the meaning of the problem must be lost, and the solution to the problem is inherent in its meaning. It is possible that all my problems have been solved, but I have removed myself from the solution. Yet faith must be where something has been done and I see it is done. A situation is a relationship, being the joining of thoughts. If problems are perceived, it is because the thoughts are judged to be in conflict. But if the goal is truth, this is impossible. Some idea of bodies must have entered, for minds cannot attack.

66. The thought of bodies is the sign of faithlessness, for bodies cannot solve anything. And it is their intrusion on the relationship, an error in my thoughts about the situation, which then becomes the justification for my lack of faith. I will make this error, but need not be concerned at all with that. The error does not matter. Faithlessness brought to faith will never interfere with truth. But faithlessness used against truth will always destroy faith. If I lack faith, I need to ask that it be restored where it was lost. I will not seek to have it made up to me elsewhere, as if I had been unjustly deprived of it.

*67. Only what I have not given can be lacking in any situation. But I will remember this: the goal of holiness was set for our relationship, but not by me. Holiness can only be seen through faith, and our relationship was not holy because our faith in one another was so limited and little. Our faith must grow to meet the goal that has been set. The goal's reality will call this forth, for we will see that peace and faith will not come separately. We can remain faithful to each other in a situation based on faith and holiness.

68. Every situation in which we find ourselves is but a means to meet the purpose set for our relationship. See it as something else, and we are faithless. We must not use faithlessness. We let it enter, and look upon it calmly, but we do not use it. Faithlessness is the servant of illusion and wholly faithful to its master. Use it and it will carry us straight to illusions. We must not be tempted by what it offers us. Faithlessness does not interfere with the goal, but with the value of the goal to us. We will not accept the illusion of peace it offers, but look upon its offering and recognize it is illusion.

69. The goal of illusion is as closely tied to faithlessness as faith is to truth. If we lack faith in anyone to fulfill, and perfectly, his part in any situation dedicated in advance to truth, our dedication is divided. And so we have been faithless to each other and used our faithlessness against each other. No relationship is holy unless its holiness goes with it everywhere. Holiness and faith go hand in hand. The goal's reality will call forth and accomplish every miracle needed for its fulfillment. Everything, small or enormous, weak or compelling, will be gently turned to the goal's use and purpose. The universe will serve it gladly, as it serves the universe. But we must not interfere.

70. The power set in us in whom the Holy Spirit's goal has been established is so far beyond our little conception of the infinite, that we have no idea how great the strength that goes with us. And we can use this strength in perfect safety. This strength is so great that it reaches past the stars and to the universe that lies beyond them. Yet, our little faithlessness can make this mighty strength useless, if we would use faithlessness instead of faith.

71. Jesus asks us to think on this, and learn the cause of faithlessness: I think I hold against the other what he has done to me. But what I really blame him for is what I did to him. It is not his past but mine I hold against him. And I lack faith in him because of what I was. Yet I am as innocent of what I was as he is. What never was is causeless, and is not there to interfere with truth. There is no cause for faithlessness, but there is a Cause for faith. That Cause has entered any situation which shares Its purpose. The light of truth shines from the center of the situation and touches everyone called to the situation's purpose. It calls to everyone. There is no situation which does not involve our whole relationship in every aspect and complete in every part. We can leave nothing of ourselves outside it and keep the situation holy. For the situation shares the purpose of our whole relationship and derives its meaning from it.

72. We need to enter each situation with the faith that we give to each other, or we are faithless to our own relationship. Our faith will call others to share our purpose, as this same purpose called forth the faith in us. And we will see the means we once employed to lead us to illusions transformed to means for truth. Truth calls for faith, and faith makes room for truth. When the Holy Spirit changed the purpose of our relationship by exchanging ours for His, the goal He placed there was extended to every situation in which we enter or will ever enter. And every situation was made free of the past, which would have made the situation purposeless.

73. We call for faith because of Him Who walks with us in every situation. We are no longer wholly insane, nor no longer alone. For loneliness in God must be a dream. We, whose relationship shares the Holy Spirit's goal, are set apart from loneliness because the truth has come. Truth's call for faith is strong. We must not use our faithlessness against truth, for truth calls us to salvation and to peace.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4765962Wed, 23 Jul 2014 02:37:36 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-17.8-The Need for Faith 65. There is no problem in any situation that faith will not solve. There is no shift in any aspect of the problem but will make solution impossible. For if I shift part of the problem elsewhere, the meaning of the...
65. There is no problem in any situation that faith will not solve. There is no shift in any aspect of the problem but will make solution impossible. For if I shift part of the problem elsewhere, the meaning of the problem must be lost, and the solution to the problem is inherent in its meaning. It is possible that all my problems have been solved, but I have removed myself from the solution. Yet faith must be where something has been done and I see it is done. A situation is a relationship, being the joining of thoughts. If problems are perceived, it is because the thoughts are judged to be in conflict. But if the goal is truth, this is impossible. Some idea of bodies must have entered, for minds cannot attack.

66. The thought of bodies is the sign of faithlessness, for bodies cannot solve anything. And it is their intrusion on the relationship, an error in my thoughts about the situation, which then becomes the justification for my lack of faith. I will make this error, but need not be concerned at all with that. The error does not matter. Faithlessness brought to faith will never interfere with truth. But faithlessness used against truth will always destroy faith. If I lack faith, I need to ask that it be restored where it was lost. I will not seek to have it made up to me elsewhere, as if I had been unjustly deprived of it.

*67. Only what I have not given can be lacking in any situation. But I will remember this: the goal of holiness was set for our relationship, but not by me. Holiness can only be seen through faith, and our relationship was not holy because our faith in one another was so limited and little. Our faith must grow to meet the goal that has been set. The goal's reality will call this forth, for we will see that peace and faith will not come separately. We can remain faithful to each other in a situation based on faith and holiness.

68. Every situation in which we find ourselves is but a means to meet the purpose set for our relationship. See it as something else, and we are faithless. We must not use faithlessness. We let it enter, and look upon it calmly, but we do not use it. Faithlessness is the servant of illusion and wholly faithful to its master. Use it and it will carry us straight to illusions. We must not be tempted by what it offers us. Faithlessness does not interfere with the goal, but with the value of the goal to us. We will not accept the illusion of peace it offers, but look upon its offering and recognize it is illusion.

69. The goal of illusion is as closely tied to faithlessness as faith is to truth. If we lack faith in anyone to fulfill, and perfectly, his part in any situation dedicated in advance to truth, our dedication is divided. And so we have been faithless to each other and used our faithlessness against each other. No relationship is holy unless its holiness goes with it everywhere. Holiness and faith go hand in hand. The goal's reality will call forth and accomplish every miracle needed for its fulfillment. Everything, small or enormous, weak or compelling, will be gently turned to the goal's use and purpose. The universe will serve it gladly, as it serves the universe. But we must not interfere.

70. The power set in us in whom the Holy Spirit's goal has been established is so far beyond our little conception of the infinite, that we have no idea how great the strength that goes with us. And we can use this strength in perfect safety. This strength is so great that it reaches past the stars and to the universe that lies beyond them. Yet, our little faithlessness can make this mighty strength useless, if we would use faithlessness instead of faith.

71. Jesus asks us to think on this, and learn the cause of faithlessness: I think I hold against the other what he has done to me. But what I really blame him for is...]]>672acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-17-7-practical-forgiveness
57. The practical application of the Holy Spirit's purpose is simple, and unequivocal. For the application to be simple, it must be unequivocal, leaving no doubt. The simple is very clear and easily understood. The Holy Spirit's goal is set in a general context. He will work with me now to make it specific, for application is specific. There are very specific guidelines He provides for any situation, but I do not realize yet their universal application. Therefore, it is essential at this point to use them in each situation separately, until I can look beyond each situation, with an understanding far broader than I have now.

58. Very simply, for any situation in which I am uncertain, the first thing to consider is, "What is it for? What outcome do I want?" The clarification of the goal belongs at the beginning, for it is the goal that will determine the outcome. This is reversed in the ego's procedure. The situation becomes the determiner of the outcome, which can be anything. The reason for this disorganized approach is that the ego does not know what outcome it wants. It is aware only of what it does not want, and only that. It has no positive goal at all.

59. With no clear, positive goal at the outset, the situation just seems to happen, and makes no sense until it has already happened. Then, looking back at the situation, I try to piece together what it meant. And I will be wrong. I have no idea what should have happened, as my judgment is of the past. No goal was set that would bring the means into line. And now the only judgment is whether or not the ego likes it. Is it acceptable to the ego, or does it call for vengeance? Without a goal for the outcome set in advance, understanding is doubtful and evaluation is impossible.

60. The value of deciding in advance what I want to happen, is that I will perceive the situation as a means to make it happen. Therefore, I will make every effort to overlook what interferes with the accomplishment of my objective, and concentrate on everything that helps me meet it. It is noticeable that this approach has brought me closer to the Holy Spirit's sorting out of truth and falsity. The true is what can be used to meet the goal, and the false is useless to meet the goal. The situation now has meaning, because the goal has made it meaningful.

61. The goal of truth has further practical advantages. If the situation is used for truth and sanity, its outcome must be peace. And this is quite apart from what the outcome is. If peace is the condition of truth and sanity, and cannot be without them, where peace is they must be. Truth comes of itself. If I experience peace, it is because the truth has come to me, and I will see the outcome truly, for deception cannot prevail against me. And I will recognize the outcome because I am at peace. Here again, I see the opposite of the ego's way of looking, for the ego believes the situation brings the experience. The Holy Spirit knows that the situation is as the goal determines it and is experienced according to the goal.

62. The goal of truth requires faith. Faith is implicit in the acceptance of the Holy Spirit's purpose, and this faith is all inclusive. Where the goal of truth is set, there must be faith. The Holy Spirit sees hesitation as a whole. The goal establishes the fact that everyone involved will play his part in its accomplishment. This is inevitable. No one will fail in anything. This seems to ask for faith beyond me, and beyond what I can give. Yet this is so only from the viewpoint of the ego, for the ego believes in "solving" conflict through fragmentation and does not perceive the situation as a whole. Therefore, it seeks to split off segments of the situation and deal with them separately, for it has faith in separation and not in wholeness.

63. Confronted with any aspect of the situation which seems to be difficult, the ego will attempt to take this aspect elsewhere and resolve it there. And it will seem to be successful, except that this attempt conflicts with unity and must obscure the goal of truth. And peace will not be experienced except in fantasy. Truth has not come, because faith has been denied, being withheld from where it rightfully belonged. Thus do I lose the understanding of the situation the goal of truth would bring. For fantasy solutions bring but the illusion of experience, and the illusion of peace is not the condition in which the truth can enter.

64. The substitutes for aspects of the situation are the witnesses to my lack of faith. They demonstrate that I did not believe that the situation and the problem were in the same place. The problem was the lack of faith, and it is this I demonstrate when I remove it from its source and place it elsewhere. As a result, I do not see the problem. If I had faith the problem could be solved, the problem would be gone. And the situation would have been meaningful to me, because the interference in the way of understanding would have been removed. To remove the problem elsewhere is to keep it. For I remove myself from it and it becomes unsolvable.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4765933Wed, 23 Jul 2014 02:26:46 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-17.7-Practical Forgiveness 57. The practical application of the Holy Spirit's purpose is simple, and unequivocal. For the application to be simple, it must be unequivocal, leaving no doubt. The simple is very clear and easily understood....
57. The practical application of the Holy Spirit's purpose is simple, and unequivocal. For the application to be simple, it must be unequivocal, leaving no doubt. The simple is very clear and easily understood. The Holy Spirit's goal is set in a general context. He will work with me now to make it specific, for application is specific. There are very specific guidelines He provides for any situation, but I do not realize yet their universal application. Therefore, it is essential at this point to use them in each situation separately, until I can look beyond each situation, with an understanding far broader than I have now.

58. Very simply, for any situation in which I am uncertain, the first thing to consider is, "What is it for? What outcome do I want?" The clarification of the goal belongs at the beginning, for it is the goal that will determine the outcome. This is reversed in the ego's procedure. The situation becomes the determiner of the outcome, which can be anything. The reason for this disorganized approach is that the ego does not know what outcome it wants. It is aware only of what it does not want, and only that. It has no positive goal at all.

59. With no clear, positive goal at the outset, the situation just seems to happen, and makes no sense until it has already happened. Then, looking back at the situation, I try to piece together what it meant. And I will be wrong. I have no idea what should have happened, as my judgment is of the past. No goal was set that would bring the means into line. And now the only judgment is whether or not the ego likes it. Is it acceptable to the ego, or does it call for vengeance? Without a goal for the outcome set in advance, understanding is doubtful and evaluation is impossible.

60. The value of deciding in advance what I want to happen, is that I will perceive the situation as a means to make it happen. Therefore, I will make every effort to overlook what interferes with the accomplishment of my objective, and concentrate on everything that helps me meet it. It is noticeable that this approach has brought me closer to the Holy Spirit's sorting out of truth and falsity. The true is what can be used to meet the goal, and the false is useless to meet the goal. The situation now has meaning, because the goal has made it meaningful.

61. The goal of truth has further practical advantages. If the situation is used for truth and sanity, its outcome must be peace. And this is quite apart from what the outcome is. If peace is the condition of truth and sanity, and cannot be without them, where peace is they must be. Truth comes of itself. If I experience peace, it is because the truth has come to me, and I will see the outcome truly, for deception cannot prevail against me. And I will recognize the outcome because I am at peace. Here again, I see the opposite of the ego's way of looking, for the ego believes the situation brings the experience. The Holy Spirit knows that the situation is as the goal determines it and is experienced according to the goal.

62. The goal of truth requires faith. Faith is implicit in the acceptance of the Holy Spirit's purpose, and this faith is all inclusive. Where the goal of truth is set, there must be faith. The Holy Spirit sees hesitation as a whole. The goal establishes the fact that everyone involved will play his part in its accomplishment. This is inevitable. No one will fail in anything. This seems to ask for faith beyond me, and beyond what I can give. Yet this is so only from the viewpoint of the ego, for the ego believes in "solving" conflict through fragmentation and does not perceive the situation as a whole. Therefore, it seeks to split off segments of the situation and deal with them separately, for it has faith in separation and not in wholeness.

63. Confronted with any...]]>526acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-17-6-the-healed-relationship-2
50. I accept with gladness what I do not understand, and let it be explained to me, as I perceive its purpose work in it to make the relationship holy. We will find many opportunities to blame each other for the "failure" of our relationship, for it will seem at times to have no purpose. A sense of aimlessness will come to haunt me and to remind me of all the ways I once sought for satisfaction and thought I found it. I must not forget the misery I really found, and will not breathe life into our failing egos now. For our relationship has not been disrupted. It has been saved.

51. I am very new in the ways of salvation and think I have lost my way. My way was lost, but I will not think this is loss. In our newness, I will remember that we have started again together. And we will take each other's had to walk together along a road far more familiar than we now believe. It is certain that we will remember a goal unchanged throughout eternity. For the goal of God is our chosen true intent which was never absent.

52. The song of freedom is heard throughout the Sonship in joyous echo of our choice. We join with many in the holy instant, and they join with us. Our choice gives us comfort, for God Himself blesses our holy relationship. We join in His blessing, and give our blessing. All the relationship needs now is our blessing that we may see that in it rests salvation. Salvation has come, and we welcome it together, for it has come to join us together in a relationship in which all the Sonship is blessed together.

53. We undertook together to invite the Holy Spirit into our relationship. He could not have entered otherwise. Although we may have made many mistakes since then, we have also made enormous efforts to help Him do His work. And He has not been lacking in appreciation for all we have done for Him. Nor does He see the mistakes at all. Have we been similarly grateful to each other? Have we consistently appreciated the good efforts and overlooked mistakes? Or has our appreciation flickered and grown dim in what seemed to be the light of the mistakes? We are now entering upon a campaign to blame each other for the discomfort of the situation in which we find ourselves. And by this lack of thanks and gratitude, we make ourselves unable to express the holy instant, and thus we lose sight of it.

54. The experience of an instant, however compelling it may be, is easily forgotten if we allow time to close over it. It must be kept shining and gracious in our awareness of time but not concealed within it. The instant remains. But where are we? To give thinks to each other is to appreciate the holy instant and thus enable its results to be accepted and shared. To attack each other is not to lose the instant, but to make it powerless in it effects. We have received the holy instant, but we have established a condition in which we cannot use it. As a result, we do not realize that it is still with us. And by cutting ourselves off from its expression, we have denied ourselves its benefit. We reinforce this every time we attack each other, for the attack must blind us to ourselves. And it is impossible to deny ourselves and recognize what has been given and received by us.

55. We stand together in the holy presence of truth itself. Here is the goal, together with us. The goal itself will gladly arrange the means for its accomplishment. It is just this same discrepancy between the purpose that has been accepted and the means as they now stand, which seem to make us suffer, but which makes Heaven glad. If Heaven were outside us, we could not share in its gladness. Yet because it is within, the gladness, too, is ours. We are joined in purpose, but still remain separate and divided on the means.

56. Yet the goal is fixed, firm, and unalterable, and the means will surely fall in place because the goal is sure. And we will share the gladness of the Sonship that it is so. As we begin to recognize and accept the gifts we have so freely given to each other, we will also accept the effects of the holy instant and use them to correct all our mistakes and free us from their results. And learning this, we will have also learned how to release all the Sonship and offer it in gladness and thanksgiving to Him Who gave us our release, and Who would extend it through us.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4761001Mon, 21 Jul 2014 23:08:23 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-17.6-The Healed Relationship.2 50. I accept with gladness what I do not understand, and let it be explained to me, as I perceive its purpose work in it to make the relationship holy. We will find many opportunities to blame each other for...
50. I accept with gladness what I do not understand, and let it be explained to me, as I perceive its purpose work in it to make the relationship holy. We will find many opportunities to blame each other for the "failure" of our relationship, for it will seem at times to have no purpose. A sense of aimlessness will come to haunt me and to remind me of all the ways I once sought for satisfaction and thought I found it. I must not forget the misery I really found, and will not breathe life into our failing egos now. For our relationship has not been disrupted. It has been saved.

51. I am very new in the ways of salvation and think I have lost my way. My way was lost, but I will not think this is loss. In our newness, I will remember that we have started again together. And we will take each other's had to walk together along a road far more familiar than we now believe. It is certain that we will remember a goal unchanged throughout eternity. For the goal of God is our chosen true intent which was never absent.

52. The song of freedom is heard throughout the Sonship in joyous echo of our choice. We join with many in the holy instant, and they join with us. Our choice gives us comfort, for God Himself blesses our holy relationship. We join in His blessing, and give our blessing. All the relationship needs now is our blessing that we may see that in it rests salvation. Salvation has come, and we welcome it together, for it has come to join us together in a relationship in which all the Sonship is blessed together.

53. We undertook together to invite the Holy Spirit into our relationship. He could not have entered otherwise. Although we may have made many mistakes since then, we have also made enormous efforts to help Him do His work. And He has not been lacking in appreciation for all we have done for Him. Nor does He see the mistakes at all. Have we been similarly grateful to each other? Have we consistently appreciated the good efforts and overlooked mistakes? Or has our appreciation flickered and grown dim in what seemed to be the light of the mistakes? We are now entering upon a campaign to blame each other for the discomfort of the situation in which we find ourselves. And by this lack of thanks and gratitude, we make ourselves unable to express the holy instant, and thus we lose sight of it.

54. The experience of an instant, however compelling it may be, is easily forgotten if we allow time to close over it. It must be kept shining and gracious in our awareness of time but not concealed within it. The instant remains. But where are we? To give thinks to each other is to appreciate the holy instant and thus enable its results to be accepted and shared. To attack each other is not to lose the instant, but to make it powerless in it effects. We have received the holy instant, but we have established a condition in which we cannot use it. As a result, we do not realize that it is still with us. And by cutting ourselves off from its expression, we have denied ourselves its benefit. We reinforce this every time we attack each other, for the attack must blind us to ourselves. And it is impossible to deny ourselves and recognize what has been given and received by us.

55. We stand together in the holy presence of truth itself. Here is the goal, together with us. The goal itself will gladly arrange the means for its accomplishment. It is just this same discrepancy between the purpose that has been accepted and the means as they now stand, which seem to make us suffer, but which makes Heaven glad. If Heaven were outside us, we could not share in its gladness. Yet because it is within, the gladness, too, is ours. We are joined in purpose, but still remain separate and divided on the means.

56. Yet the goal is fixed, firm, and unalterable, and the means will...]]>464acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-17-6-the-healed-relationship-1
43. The holy relationship is the expression of the holy instant in living in this world. Like everything about salvation, the holy instant is a practical device, witnessed to by its results. The holy instant never fails. The experience of it is always felt. Yet without expression, it is not remembered. The holy relationship is a constant reminder of the experience in which the relationship became what it is. And as the unholy relationship is a continuing hymn of hate in praise of its maker, so is the holy relationship a happy song of praise to the Redeemer of relationships.

44. The holy relationship is learned, and is a major step toward the perception of the real world. It is the old unholy relationship transformed and seen anew. The holy relationship is a phenomenal teaching accomplishment. In all its aspects, as it begins, develops and becomes accomplished, it represents the reversal of the unholy relationship. Jesus comforts me, that the only difficult phase is the beginning. For in the beginning, the goal of the relationship is abruptly shifted to the exact opposite of what it was. This is the first result of offering the relationship to the Holy Spirit to use for His purposes.

45. This invitation is accepted immediately, and the Holy Spirit wastes no time in introducing the practical results of asking Him to enter. His goal replaces mine at once. This is accomplished very rapidly, but it makes the relationship seem disturbed, disjunctive, and even quite distressing. The reason is clear. For the relationship is out of line with its own goal, and is not suited to the new purpose. In its unholy condition, my goal was all that seemed to give it meaning. Many relationships have been broken off at this point, and the pursuit of the old goal reestablished in another relationship. Once the unholy relationship has accepted the goal of holiness, it can never again be what it was.

46. The temptation of the ego becomes extremely intense with the shift of goals. For the relationship has not yet been changed sufficiently to make its former goal completely without attraction, and its structure is "threatened" by the recognition of its inappropriateness for meeting its new purpose. The conflict between the goal and the structure of the relationship is so apparent that they cannot coexist. Yet now the goal will not be changed. Set firmly in the unholy relationship, there is no course except to change the relationship to fit the goal. Until this happy solution is seen and accepted as the only way out of the conflict, the relationship seems to be severely strained.

47. It would not be kinder to shift the goal more slowly, for the contrast would be obscured and the ego given time to reinterpret each slow step according to its liking. Only a radical shift in purpose could induce a complete change of mind about what the whole relationship is for. As this change develops and is finally accomplished, it grows increasingly beneficent and joyous. But at the beginning, the situation is experienced as very precarious. A relationship undertaken by two individuals for their unholy purposes suddenly has holiness for its goal. As these two contemplate their relationship from the point of view of this new purpose, they are inevitably appalled. Their perception of the relationship may even become quite disorganized. And yet, the former organization of this perception no longer serves the purpose they have agreed to meet.

48. This is the time for faith. I let this goal be set for me. That was an act of faith. I must not abandon faith, now that the rewards of faith are being introduced. If I believed the Holy Spirit was there to accept the relationship, why would I now not still believe that He is there to purify what He has taken under His guidance? I must have faith in the other in what only seems to be a trying time. The goal is set. And the relationship has sanity as its purpose. For now I find myself in an insane relationship, recognized as such in the light of its goal.

49. Now the ego counsels thus--substitute this for another relationship to which your former goal was quite appropriate. I can escape from my distress only by getting rid of the other. We need not part entirely if I choose not to do so. But we must exclude major areas of fantasy from each other to save our sanity. I must not hear this now! I will have faith in Him Who answered me. He heard. He has been very explicit in His answer. I am not wholly insane now. I cannot deny that He has given me a most explicit statement. Now, He asks for faith a little longer, even in bewilderment. For bewilderment will go, and I will see the justification for my faith emerge to bring me shining conviction. We must not abandon Him now, nor each other. This relationship has been reborn as holy.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4760979Mon, 21 Jul 2014 23:03:06 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-17.6-The Healed Relationship.1 43. The holy relationship is the expression of the holy instant in living in this world. Like everything about salvation, the holy instant is a practical device, witnessed to by its results. The holy instant...
43. The holy relationship is the expression of the holy instant in living in this world. Like everything about salvation, the holy instant is a practical device, witnessed to by its results. The holy instant never fails. The experience of it is always felt. Yet without expression, it is not remembered. The holy relationship is a constant reminder of the experience in which the relationship became what it is. And as the unholy relationship is a continuing hymn of hate in praise of its maker, so is the holy relationship a happy song of praise to the Redeemer of relationships.

44. The holy relationship is learned, and is a major step toward the perception of the real world. It is the old unholy relationship transformed and seen anew. The holy relationship is a phenomenal teaching accomplishment. In all its aspects, as it begins, develops and becomes accomplished, it represents the reversal of the unholy relationship. Jesus comforts me, that the only difficult phase is the beginning. For in the beginning, the goal of the relationship is abruptly shifted to the exact opposite of what it was. This is the first result of offering the relationship to the Holy Spirit to use for His purposes.

45. This invitation is accepted immediately, and the Holy Spirit wastes no time in introducing the practical results of asking Him to enter. His goal replaces mine at once. This is accomplished very rapidly, but it makes the relationship seem disturbed, disjunctive, and even quite distressing. The reason is clear. For the relationship is out of line with its own goal, and is not suited to the new purpose. In its unholy condition, my goal was all that seemed to give it meaning. Many relationships have been broken off at this point, and the pursuit of the old goal reestablished in another relationship. Once the unholy relationship has accepted the goal of holiness, it can never again be what it was.

46. The temptation of the ego becomes extremely intense with the shift of goals. For the relationship has not yet been changed sufficiently to make its former goal completely without attraction, and its structure is "threatened" by the recognition of its inappropriateness for meeting its new purpose. The conflict between the goal and the structure of the relationship is so apparent that they cannot coexist. Yet now the goal will not be changed. Set firmly in the unholy relationship, there is no course except to change the relationship to fit the goal. Until this happy solution is seen and accepted as the only way out of the conflict, the relationship seems to be severely strained.

47. It would not be kinder to shift the goal more slowly, for the contrast would be obscured and the ego given time to reinterpret each slow step according to its liking. Only a radical shift in purpose could induce a complete change of mind about what the whole relationship is for. As this change develops and is finally accomplished, it grows increasingly beneficent and joyous. But at the beginning, the situation is experienced as very precarious. A relationship undertaken by two individuals for their unholy purposes suddenly has holiness for its goal. As these two contemplate their relationship from the point of view of this new purpose, they are inevitably appalled. Their perception of the relationship may even become quite disorganized. And yet, the former organization of this perception no longer serves the purpose they have agreed to meet.

48. This is the time for faith. I let this goal be set for me. That was an act of faith. I must not abandon faith, now that the rewards of faith are being introduced. If I believed the Holy Spirit was there to accept the relationship, why would I now not still believe that He is there to purify what He has taken under His guidance? I must have faith in the other in what only seems to...]]>646acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-17-5-perception-two-worlds-2
35. I will look at the picture and not let the frame distract me. Without the picture I cannot have the frame. What I value is the frame, for there I see no conflict. Yet the frame is only the wrapping, and conflict is the gift. This gift is given me for my damnation, and if I take it, I will believe that I am damned. Death lies in this glittering gift. Let me not gaze on the hypnotic gleaming of the frame. I will look instead at the picture, and realize that death is offered me. The most superficial aspect of this thought system is deceiving, for it encloses the whole, complete in every aspect.

36. That is why the holy instant is so important in the defense of truth. The truth itself needs no defense, but I need defense against my acceptance of the gift of death. When I accept an idea so dangerous to truth, I threaten truth, and my self, with destruction. And my defense must now be undertaken to keep truth whole. The power of Heaven, the love of God, the tears of Christ, and the joy of His eternal Spirit are marshaled to defend me from my own attack. For I attack Them, being part of Them and They must save me, for They love Themselves.

37. The holy instant, sent to me from Heaven, is a miniature of Heaven. It is a picture, too, set in a frame. Yet, if I accept this gift, I will not see the frame at all, because the gift can be accepted only by my willingness to focus all my attention on the picture. It is a picture of timelessness, set in a frame of time. The holy instant is a miniature of eternity. As I focus on the picture, I will realize that it was only the frame that made me think it was a picture. Without the frame, the picture is seen as the reality of what it represents. For as the whole thought system of the ego lies in its gifts, so the whole of Heaven lies in this instant, borrowed from eternity and set in time for me.

38. Two gifts are offered me. Each is complete and cannot be partially accepted. Each is a picture of all that I can have, seen very differently. I cannot compare their value by comparing a picture to a frame. It must be only the pictures that I compare, or the comparison is wholly without meaning. I remember that it is the picture that is the gift. And only on this basis am I really free to choose. I look at the pictures. Both of them. One is a tiny picture, hard to see at all beneath the heavy shadows of its enormous and disproportionate enclosure. The other is lightly framed and hung in light, lovely to look upon for what it is.

39. I have tried so hard, and am still trying to fit the better picture into the wrong frame, and so combine what cannot be combined. I will accept this and be glad. These pictures are each perfectly framed for what they represent. One is framed to be out of focus and not seen. The other is framed for perfect clarity. The picture of darkness and of death grows less convincing as I search it out amid its wrappings. Each stone that seems to shine, becomes dull and lifeless as it is exposed to light, and the frame no longer distracts me from the picture. At last I look on the picture itself, and see it has no meaning.

40. The other picture is lightly framed, for time cannot contain eternity. There is no distraction here. The picture of Heaven and eternity grows more convincing as I look at it. And with a real comparison, transformation of both pictures now can occur. When both are seen in relation to each other, each is given its rightful place. The fact that the dark picture with the heavy frame is just a picture is brought home at last. Seen in light, it is not perceived as fearful, but only a picture of what I thought was real and nothing more. For beyond this picture, there is nothing to see.

41. The picture of light, in clear cut and unmistakable contrast, is transformed into what lies beyond the picture. As I look on this, I realize that it is not a picture, but a reality. This is no figured representation of a thought system, but the Thought Itself. What it represents is there. The frame fades gently, and God rises to my remembrance, offering me the whole of creation, in exchange for my little picture that is wholly without value and entirely deprived of meaning.

42. As God ascends into His rightful place in my mind, and me to mine, I will experience the meaning of relationship and know it is true. Together with Jesus, I ascend in peace to the Father, by giving God ascendance in my mind. Giving Him the power and the glory, we gain everything, keeping no illusions of where the power and glory are, for they are in us through His ascendance. What He has given is His. It shines in every part of Him as in the whole. The whole reality of my relationship with Him lies in our relationship to one another. The holy instant shines alike on all relationships, for in it they are one. For here is healing, already complete and perfect. And God is here, and where He is, only the perfect and complete can be.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4756069Sun, 20 Jul 2014 18:44:32 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-17.5-Perception & Two Worlds.2 35. I will look at the picture and not let the frame distract me. Without the picture I cannot have the frame. What I value is the frame, for there I see no conflict. Yet the frame is only the wrapping, and...
35. I will look at the picture and not let the frame distract me. Without the picture I cannot have the frame. What I value is the frame, for there I see no conflict. Yet the frame is only the wrapping, and conflict is the gift. This gift is given me for my damnation, and if I take it, I will believe that I am damned. Death lies in this glittering gift. Let me not gaze on the hypnotic gleaming of the frame. I will look instead at the picture, and realize that death is offered me. The most superficial aspect of this thought system is deceiving, for it encloses the whole, complete in every aspect.

36. That is why the holy instant is so important in the defense of truth. The truth itself needs no defense, but I need defense against my acceptance of the gift of death. When I accept an idea so dangerous to truth, I threaten truth, and my self, with destruction. And my defense must now be undertaken to keep truth whole. The power of Heaven, the love of God, the tears of Christ, and the joy of His eternal Spirit are marshaled to defend me from my own attack. For I attack Them, being part of Them and They must save me, for They love Themselves.

37. The holy instant, sent to me from Heaven, is a miniature of Heaven. It is a picture, too, set in a frame. Yet, if I accept this gift, I will not see the frame at all, because the gift can be accepted only by my willingness to focus all my attention on the picture. It is a picture of timelessness, set in a frame of time. The holy instant is a miniature of eternity. As I focus on the picture, I will realize that it was only the frame that made me think it was a picture. Without the frame, the picture is seen as the reality of what it represents. For as the whole thought system of the ego lies in its gifts, so the whole of Heaven lies in this instant, borrowed from eternity and set in time for me.

38. Two gifts are offered me. Each is complete and cannot be partially accepted. Each is a picture of all that I can have, seen very differently. I cannot compare their value by comparing a picture to a frame. It must be only the pictures that I compare, or the comparison is wholly without meaning. I remember that it is the picture that is the gift. And only on this basis am I really free to choose. I look at the pictures. Both of them. One is a tiny picture, hard to see at all beneath the heavy shadows of its enormous and disproportionate enclosure. The other is lightly framed and hung in light, lovely to look upon for what it is.

39. I have tried so hard, and am still trying to fit the better picture into the wrong frame, and so combine what cannot be combined. I will accept this and be glad. These pictures are each perfectly framed for what they represent. One is framed to be out of focus and not seen. The other is framed for perfect clarity. The picture of darkness and of death grows less convincing as I search it out amid its wrappings. Each stone that seems to shine, becomes dull and lifeless as it is exposed to light, and the frame no longer distracts me from the picture. At last I look on the picture itself, and see it has no meaning.

40. The other picture is lightly framed, for time cannot contain eternity. There is no distraction here. The picture of Heaven and eternity grows more convincing as I look at it. And with a real comparison, transformation of both pictures now can occur. When both are seen in relation to each other, each is given its rightful place. The fact that the dark picture with the heavy frame is just a picture is brought home at last. Seen in light, it is not perceived as fearful, but only a picture of what I thought was real and nothing more. For beyond this picture, there is nothing to see.

41. The picture of light, in clear cut and unmistakable contrast, is transformed into what lies beyond the...]]>522acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-17-5-perception-two-worlds-1
27. God established His relationship with me to make me happy, and everything I do which shares His purpose is real. The only function of anything is the purpose God gives to it. Therefore, the function of relationships forever became "to make happy," and nothing else. I relate to my creations as God does to His, fulfilling this function. For everything God created is part of happiness, and would extend happiness as its Creator did. Only what fulfills this function can be real.

28. In this world it is impossible to create, yet it is possible to make happy. It is said repeatedly that the Holy Spirit would not deprive me of my special relationships, but would transform them. That means He will restore them to the function given them by God. The function I have given them is clearly not to make happy. But the holy relationship shares God's purpose of happiness and makes no substitution. Every special relationship that I have made is a substitute for God's Will, and glorifies my will instead of His, because of the delusion that our wills are different.

29. Even in this world I have made very real relationships which I do not recognize, because I have raised their substitutes to such predominance that when truth calls to me, as it does constantly, I answer with a substitute. Every special relationship that I have ever undertaken has the aim of occupying my mind so completely that I will not hear the call of truth. The special relationship was the ego's answer to the creation of the Holy Spirit, Who was God's answer to the separation. Although the ego did not understand the Holy Spirit, it was aware of a threat to its thought system.

30. The whole defense system that the ego evolved to protect the separation was in response to the gift of the Holy Spirit, with which God blessed the separation, and by His blessing enabled the separation to be healed. This blessing holds within itself the truth about everything. And the truth is that the Holy Spirit is in close relationship with me, because in Him my relationship with God has never been broken. The Holy Spirit has not been separate from anyone since the separation. And through Him all my holy relationships have been carefully preserved to serve God's purpose for me.

31. The part of my mind that accepted the ego into it, is hyper alert to threat, and is very anxious to preserve its reason as the ego sees it. My mind does not recognize that the ego is totally insane. If I would be restored to sanity, I must realize just what this means. The insane protect their thought systems, but they do so insanely. And all their defenses are as insane as what they are made to protect. Every part, "reason," and attribute of the separation is insane. And its "protection" is part of it, and as insane as the whole. The special relationship, which is the separation's chief defense, must therefore be insane.

32. I now realize that the thought system which the special relationship protects is a system of delusions. I recognize that the ego is insane. Yet, the special relationship still seems to be "different" to me. With Jesus, I have looked at it much closer than other aspects of the ego's thought system, which I have been more willing to let go. However, while this one remains, I will not let the others go. For this one is not different. Retain this one, and I have retained the whole.

33. It is essential to realize that all defenses do what they would defend. The underlying basis for their effectiveness is that they offer what they would defend. What they defend is placed in them for safekeeping, and as they operate, what they defend is brought to me. Every defense operates by giving gifts, and the gift is always a miniature of the thought system the defense protects, set in a golden frame. The frame is very elaborate, all set with jewels and deeply carved and polished. Its purpose is to be of value in itself and to divert my attention from what it encloses. But I cannot have the frame without the picture. Defenses operate to make me think I can.

34. The special relationship has the most imposing and deceptive frame of all the defenses the ego uses. Its thought system is offered here, surrounded by a frame so heavy and so elaborate that the picture is almost obliterated by its imposing structure. Into the frame are woven all sorts of fanciful and fragmented illusions of love, set with dreams of sacrifice and self-aggrandizement and interlaced with golden threads of self-destruction. The glitter of blood shines like rubies, and the tears are faceted like diamonds and gleam in the dim light in which the offering is made.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4749805Fri, 18 Jul 2014 23:09:17 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-17.5-Perception & Two Worlds.1 27. God established His relationship with me to make me happy, and everything I do which shares His purpose is real. The only function of anything is the purpose God gives to it. Therefore, the function of...
27. God established His relationship with me to make me happy, and everything I do which shares His purpose is real. The only function of anything is the purpose God gives to it. Therefore, the function of relationships forever became "to make happy," and nothing else. I relate to my creations as God does to His, fulfilling this function. For everything God created is part of happiness, and would extend happiness as its Creator did. Only what fulfills this function can be real.

28. In this world it is impossible to create, yet it is possible to make happy. It is said repeatedly that the Holy Spirit would not deprive me of my special relationships, but would transform them. That means He will restore them to the function given them by God. The function I have given them is clearly not to make happy. But the holy relationship shares God's purpose of happiness and makes no substitution. Every special relationship that I have made is a substitute for God's Will, and glorifies my will instead of His, because of the delusion that our wills are different.

29. Even in this world I have made very real relationships which I do not recognize, because I have raised their substitutes to such predominance that when truth calls to me, as it does constantly, I answer with a substitute. Every special relationship that I have ever undertaken has the aim of occupying my mind so completely that I will not hear the call of truth. The special relationship was the ego's answer to the creation of the Holy Spirit, Who was God's answer to the separation. Although the ego did not understand the Holy Spirit, it was aware of a threat to its thought system.

30. The whole defense system that the ego evolved to protect the separation was in response to the gift of the Holy Spirit, with which God blessed the separation, and by His blessing enabled the separation to be healed. This blessing holds within itself the truth about everything. And the truth is that the Holy Spirit is in close relationship with me, because in Him my relationship with God has never been broken. The Holy Spirit has not been separate from anyone since the separation. And through Him all my holy relationships have been carefully preserved to serve God's purpose for me.

31. The part of my mind that accepted the ego into it, is hyper alert to threat, and is very anxious to preserve its reason as the ego sees it. My mind does not recognize that the ego is totally insane. If I would be restored to sanity, I must realize just what this means. The insane protect their thought systems, but they do so insanely. And all their defenses are as insane as what they are made to protect. Every part, "reason," and attribute of the separation is insane. And its "protection" is part of it, and as insane as the whole. The special relationship, which is the separation's chief defense, must therefore be insane.

32. I now realize that the thought system which the special relationship protects is a system of delusions. I recognize that the ego is insane. Yet, the special relationship still seems to be "different" to me. With Jesus, I have looked at it much closer than other aspects of the ego's thought system, which I have been more willing to let go. However, while this one remains, I will not let the others go. For this one is not different. Retain this one, and I have retained the whole.

33. It is essential to realize that all defenses do what they would defend. The underlying basis for their effectiveness is that they offer what they would defend. What they defend is placed in them for safekeeping, and as they operate, what they defend is brought to me. Every defense operates by giving gifts, and the gift is always a miniature of the thought system the defense protects, set in a golden frame. The frame is very elaborate, all set with jewels...]]>492cleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-17-4-shadows-of-the-past-2_1
20. What remains is eternal if all unloving thoughts have been forgotten, and the transformed past does not conflict with the present. This harmony extends the present, increasing its reality and value in my perception. The spark of beauty comes alive with loving thoughts, as the relationship is given to Him who gives it life and beauty. No longer is the spark hidden in the ugliness of the unholy relationship in which the hatred is remembered. And separation must be corrected where it was made. That is why Atonement centers on the past, the source of separation, and where it must be undone. But the ego does not seek to "resolve" its problems at their source, and so it guarantees there will be no solution.

21. The Holy Spirit wills His resolutions to be complete and perfect, so He finds the source of problems and undoes it. With each step in His undoing, the separation is more undone and union brought closer. He is not confused by any "reasons" for separation. He perceives only that separation must be undone. I will let Him uncover and show me the hidden spark of beauty in my relationships. As its loveliness attracts me, I will not lose sight of it again. I will seek for and establish conditions so this beauty can be seen.

22. As I let Him hold the spark before me to light and make clear my way, I will do all this gladly. God's Son is one. The ego cannot break apart what God has joined as one. However hidden it may be, the spark of holiness must be safe in every relationship. For the Creator of the one relationship has left no part of it without Himself.

23. The Holy Spirit sees only this part of the relationship because only this is true. By not seeing it as it is, I have made the relationship unreal and unholy. I am willing to give the past to Him Who can change my mind about it for me. But, first I must realize fully what I have made the past to represent and why.

24. The past is now my justification for entering into a continuing unholy alliance with the ego against the present. For the present is forgiveness. Therefore, the relationships which this unholy alliance dictates are not perceived nor felt as the present. The frame of reference for the present, is those aspects of the past illusion, that fit the purpose of the ego alliance. These illusory aspects are retained, and the rest let go. All the witnesses the past could offer for the reality of truth, are let go. What is kept witnesses only to the reality of dreams.

25. I will choose to join with either truth or illusion. But, to choose one is to let the other go. I can only choose between God and the ego. The one I choose, I will endow with beauty and reality, because I value it more. Thought systems are either true or false, and all their attributes come from what they are. Truth or illusion, the spark of beauty or the veil of ugliness, freedom or slavery, the real world or the world of guilt and fear, --it is all the same. Only the Thoughts of God are true, and all that comes from them is as true as their Holy Source.

26. Jesus is my holy brother. He would enter into all my relationships, stepping between me and my fantasies. His relationship is real to me, and he will bring reality to my perception of my brothers. They were not created to enable me to hurt myself through them. They were created to create with me. This is the truth that Jesus would interpose between me and my goal of madness. I will not be separate from Jesus, and I will not let the holy purpose of Atonement be lost to me in dreams of vengeance. Relationships in which such dreams are cherished have excluded Jesus. I will let Jesus enter in the Name of God and bring me peace, that I may offer peace to him.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4746100Fri, 18 Jul 2014 00:40:04 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-17.4-Shadows of the Past.2 20. What remains is eternal if all unloving thoughts have been forgotten, and the transformed past does not conflict with the present. This harmony extends the present, increasing its reality and value in my...
20. What remains is eternal if all unloving thoughts have been forgotten, and the transformed past does not conflict with the present. This harmony extends the present, increasing its reality and value in my perception. The spark of beauty comes alive with loving thoughts, as the relationship is given to Him who gives it life and beauty. No longer is the spark hidden in the ugliness of the unholy relationship in which the hatred is remembered. And separation must be corrected where it was made. That is why Atonement centers on the past, the source of separation, and where it must be undone. But the ego does not seek to "resolve" its problems at their source, and so it guarantees there will be no solution.

21. The Holy Spirit wills His resolutions to be complete and perfect, so He finds the source of problems and undoes it. With each step in His undoing, the separation is more undone and union brought closer. He is not confused by any "reasons" for separation. He perceives only that separation must be undone. I will let Him uncover and show me the hidden spark of beauty in my relationships. As its loveliness attracts me, I will not lose sight of it again. I will seek for and establish conditions so this beauty can be seen.

22. As I let Him hold the spark before me to light and make clear my way, I will do all this gladly. God's Son is one. The ego cannot break apart what God has joined as one. However hidden it may be, the spark of holiness must be safe in every relationship. For the Creator of the one relationship has left no part of it without Himself.

23. The Holy Spirit sees only this part of the relationship because only this is true. By not seeing it as it is, I have made the relationship unreal and unholy. I am willing to give the past to Him Who can change my mind about it for me. But, first I must realize fully what I have made the past to represent and why.

24. The past is now my justification for entering into a continuing unholy alliance with the ego against the present. For the present is forgiveness. Therefore, the relationships which this unholy alliance dictates are not perceived nor felt as the present. The frame of reference for the present, is those aspects of the past illusion, that fit the purpose of the ego alliance. These illusory aspects are retained, and the rest let go. All the witnesses the past could offer for the reality of truth, are let go. What is kept witnesses only to the reality of dreams.

25. I will choose to join with either truth or illusion. But, to choose one is to let the other go. I can only choose between God and the ego. The one I choose, I will endow with beauty and reality, because I value it more. Thought systems are either true or false, and all their attributes come from what they are. Truth or illusion, the spark of beauty or the veil of ugliness, freedom or slavery, the real world or the world of guilt and fear, --it is all the same. Only the Thoughts of God are true, and all that comes from them is as true as their Holy Source.

26. Jesus is my holy brother. He would enter into all my relationships, stepping between me and my fantasies. His relationship is real to me, and he will bring reality to my perception of my brothers. They were not created to enable me to hurt myself through them. They were created to create with me. This is the truth that Jesus would interpose between me and my goal of madness. I will not be separate from Jesus, and I will not let the holy purpose of Atonement be lost to me in dreams of vengeance. Relationships in which such dreams are cherished have excluded Jesus. I will let Jesus enter in the Name of God and bring me peace, that I may offer peace to him.]]>398acim-audio/textyesfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-17-4-shadows-of-the-past-1
14. To forgive is merely to remember only the loving thoughts I gave in the past and those that were given me. All the rest must be forgotten. Forgiveness is a selective remembering, not based on my selection. For the shadow figures I would make immortal are "enemies" of reality. The shadow figures are the witnesses I bring with me to demonstrate that my brother did what he did not do. I am willing to forgive the Son of God for what he did not do. Yet, I will hear the shadow figures, because I brought them with me, and kept them by my own selection. And, I do not understand how they came into my mind, and what their purpose is.

15. The shadow figures represent the evil that I think was done to me. I bring them with me only that I may return evil for evil, hoping that their witness will enable me to think guiltily of another, and not harm myself. They speak so clearly for the separation, that only one obsessed with keeping the separation could hear them. They offer me the "reasons" why I should enter into unholy alliances which support the ego's goals, and make my relationships the witness to the ego's power. It is these shadow figures which would make the ego holy in my sight, and teach me that what I do to keep the ego safe is really love.

16. The shadow figures always speak for vengeance, and all relationships they enter into are totally insane. These relationships, without exception, have as their purpose, the exclusion of the truth about the other, and about myself. This is why I see in both of us what is not there, and make both of us the slaves of vengeance. And also, why anything that reminds me of my past grievances, no matter how distorted the association, will attract me, and seem to me to be love. And finally, why all such relationships become the attempt at union through the body, for only bodies can be seen as means for vengeance. That bodies are central to all unholy relationships is evident. My own experience has taught me this. However, what I do not realize are all the reasons that are involved to make the relationship unholy. For unholiness seeks to reinforce itself by attracting what it perceives as like itself, as holiness does.

17. In the unholy relationship, it is not the body of the other with which union is attempted, but the bodies of those that are not there. The body of the other, already a severely limited perception of him, is not the central focus entirely as it is. Separated off are aspects of the other that can be most readily associated with the shadow figures on whom vengeance is really sought, to be used for fantasies of vengeance. These are the only parts of value. The shadow figures enter more and more, decreasing the importance of the real partner in whom they seem to be. Every step taken in making, maintaining, and breaking off the unholy relationship, is a step toward further fragmentation and unreality.

18. Time is indeed unkind to the unholy relationship. For time is cruel in the ego's hands, as it is kind when used for gentleness. The attraction of the unholy relationship begins to fade and to be questioned almost at once. Once it is formed, doubt must enter, because its purpose is impossible. The only such relationships which retain the fantasies that center on them, are those which have been dreamed of, but have not been made. Where no reality has entered, there is nothing to intrude upon the dream of happiness. Yet, consider what this means--the more reality that enters into the unholy relationship, the less satisfying it becomes. And the more the fantasies can include, the greater the satisfaction seems to be.

19. The "ideal" of the unholy relationship thus becomes one in which the reality of the other does not enter at all to "spoil" the dream. And the less the other really brings to it, the "better" it becomes. Thus, the attempt at union becomes a way of excluding even the one with whom the union was sought. For it was formed to get him out of it, and join with fantasies in uninterrupted "bliss". How can the Holy Spirit
bring His interpretation of the body as a means of communication into relationships whose only purpose is separation from reality? What forgiveness "is" enables Him to do so.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4737964Wed, 16 Jul 2014 00:43:03 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-17.4-Shadows of the Past.1 14. To forgive is merely to remember only the loving thoughts I gave in the past and those that were given me. All the rest must be forgotten. Forgiveness is a selective remembering, not based on my selection....
14. To forgive is merely to remember only the loving thoughts I gave in the past and those that were given me. All the rest must be forgotten. Forgiveness is a selective remembering, not based on my selection. For the shadow figures I would make immortal are "enemies" of reality. The shadow figures are the witnesses I bring with me to demonstrate that my brother did what he did not do. I am willing to forgive the Son of God for what he did not do. Yet, I will hear the shadow figures, because I brought them with me, and kept them by my own selection. And, I do not understand how they came into my mind, and what their purpose is.

15. The shadow figures represent the evil that I think was done to me. I bring them with me only that I may return evil for evil, hoping that their witness will enable me to think guiltily of another, and not harm myself. They speak so clearly for the separation, that only one obsessed with keeping the separation could hear them. They offer me the "reasons" why I should enter into unholy alliances which support the ego's goals, and make my relationships the witness to the ego's power. It is these shadow figures which would make the ego holy in my sight, and teach me that what I do to keep the ego safe is really love.

16. The shadow figures always speak for vengeance, and all relationships they enter into are totally insane. These relationships, without exception, have as their purpose, the exclusion of the truth about the other, and about myself. This is why I see in both of us what is not there, and make both of us the slaves of vengeance. And also, why anything that reminds me of my past grievances, no matter how distorted the association, will attract me, and seem to me to be love. And finally, why all such relationships become the attempt at union through the body, for only bodies can be seen as means for vengeance. That bodies are central to all unholy relationships is evident. My own experience has taught me this. However, what I do not realize are all the reasons that are involved to make the relationship unholy. For unholiness seeks to reinforce itself by attracting what it perceives as like itself, as holiness does.

17. In the unholy relationship, it is not the body of the other with which union is attempted, but the bodies of those that are not there. The body of the other, already a severely limited perception of him, is not the central focus entirely as it is. Separated off are aspects of the other that can be most readily associated with the shadow figures on whom vengeance is really sought, to be used for fantasies of vengeance. These are the only parts of value. The shadow figures enter more and more, decreasing the importance of the real partner in whom they seem to be. Every step taken in making, maintaining, and breaking off the unholy relationship, is a step toward further fragmentation and unreality.

18. Time is indeed unkind to the unholy relationship. For time is cruel in the ego's hands, as it is kind when used for gentleness. The attraction of the unholy relationship begins to fade and to be questioned almost at once. Once it is formed, doubt must enter, because its purpose is impossible. The only such relationships which retain the fantasies that center on them, are those which have been dreamed of, but have not been made. Where no reality has entered, there is nothing to intrude upon the dream of happiness. Yet, consider what this means--the more reality that enters into the unholy relationship, the less satisfying it becomes. And the more the fantasies can include, the greater the satisfaction seems to be.

19. The "ideal" of the unholy relationship thus becomes one in which the reality of the other does not enter at all to "spoil" the dream. And the less the other really brings to it, the "better" it becomes. Thus, the attempt at...]]>435acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-17-3-the-forgiven-world-take-2
7. Can I imagine how beautiful those I forgive will look to me? In no fantasy have I ever seen anything so lovely. Nothing I see here, sleeping or waking, comes near to such loveliness. And nothing will I value like unto this nor hold so dear. Nothing that I remember that made my heart seem to sing with joy has ever brought me even a little part of the happiness this sight will bring me. For I will see the Son of God. I will behold the beauty which the Holy spirit loves to look upon and which he thanks the Father for. He was created to see this for me until I learn to see it for myself. And all of His teaching leads to seeing it and giving thanks with Him.

8. This loveliness is not a fantasy. it is the real world, bright and clean and new with everything sparkling under the open sun. Nothing is hidden here, for everything has been forgiven, and there are no fantasies to whited the truth. The bridge between that world and this is so little and so easy to cross that I could not believe it is the meeting place of worlds so different. Yet this little bridge is the strongest thing that touches on this world at all. This little step, so small it has escaped my notice, is a stride through time into eternity and beyond all ugliness into beauty that will enchant me and will never cease to cause me wonderment at its perfection.

9. This step, the smallest ever taken by anything, is still the greatest accomplishment of all in God's plan of Atonement. All else is learned, but this is given, complete and wholly perfect. No one but Him Who planned salvation could complete it thus. The real world, in its loveliness, I learn to reach. Fantasies are all undone, and no one and nothing remains still bound by them, and by my own forgiveness, I am free to see. Yet what I see is only what I have made, with the blessing of my forgiveness on it. And with this final blessing of God's Son upon HIMSELF, the real perception, born of the new perspective he has learned, has served its purpose.

10. The stars will disappear in light, and the sun which opened up the world to beauty will vanish. Perception will be meaningless when it has been perfected, for everything that has been used for learning will have no function. Nothing will ever change, no shifts nor shadings, no differences, no variations which made perception possible will occur. The perception of the real world will be so short that I will barely have time to thank God for it. For God will take the last step swiftly when I have reached the real world and have been made ready for Him.

11. The real world is attained simply by the complete forgiveness of the old the world I see without forgiveness. The Great Transformer of perception will undertake with me the careful searching of the mind that made this world and uncover to me the seeming reasons for my making it. In the light of the real reason which He brings, as I follow Him, He will show me that there is no reason here at all. Each spot His reason touches grows alive with beauty, and what seemed ugly in the darkness of my lack of reason is suddenly released to loveliness. Not even what the Son of God made in insanity cold be without a hidden spark of beauty which gentleness could release.

12. All this beauty will rise to bless my sight as I look upon the with forgiving eyes. For forgiveness literally transforms vision and lets me see the real world reaching quietly and gently across chaos and removing all illusions which had twisted my 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 into his home. And there he knows that he has always rested there in peace. Even salvation will beam a dream and vanish froths mind. For salvation is the end of dreams and with the closing of the dream will have no meaning. Who, awake in Heaven, could dream that there could ever be need of salvation?

13. How much do I want salvation? It will give me the real world, trembling with readiness to be given me. The eagerness of the Holy Spirit to give me this is so intense He would not wait, although He waits in patience. I will meet His patience with my impatience at delay in meeting Him. I will go out in gladness to meet with my Redeemer, and walk with Him in trust, out of this world and into the real world of beauty and forgiveness.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4734022Tue, 15 Jul 2014 01:07:52 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-17.3-The Forgiven World take 2 7. Can I imagine how beautiful those I forgive will look to me? In no fantasy have I ever seen anything so lovely. Nothing I see here, sleeping or waking, comes near to such loveliness. And nothing will I...
7. Can I imagine how beautiful those I forgive will look to me? In no fantasy have I ever seen anything so lovely. Nothing I see here, sleeping or waking, comes near to such loveliness. And nothing will I value like unto this nor hold so dear. Nothing that I remember that made my heart seem to sing with joy has ever brought me even a little part of the happiness this sight will bring me. For I will see the Son of God. I will behold the beauty which the Holy spirit loves to look upon and which he thanks the Father for. He was created to see this for me until I learn to see it for myself. And all of His teaching leads to seeing it and giving thanks with Him.

8. This loveliness is not a fantasy. it is the real world, bright and clean and new with everything sparkling under the open sun. Nothing is hidden here, for everything has been forgiven, and there are no fantasies to whited the truth. The bridge between that world and this is so little and so easy to cross that I could not believe it is the meeting place of worlds so different. Yet this little bridge is the strongest thing that touches on this world at all. This little step, so small it has escaped my notice, is a stride through time into eternity and beyond all ugliness into beauty that will enchant me and will never cease to cause me wonderment at its perfection.

9. This step, the smallest ever taken by anything, is still the greatest accomplishment of all in God's plan of Atonement. All else is learned, but this is given, complete and wholly perfect. No one but Him Who planned salvation could complete it thus. The real world, in its loveliness, I learn to reach. Fantasies are all undone, and no one and nothing remains still bound by them, and by my own forgiveness, I am free to see. Yet what I see is only what I have made, with the blessing of my forgiveness on it. And with this final blessing of God's Son upon HIMSELF, the real perception, born of the new perspective he has learned, has served its purpose.

10. The stars will disappear in light, and the sun which opened up the world to beauty will vanish. Perception will be meaningless when it has been perfected, for everything that has been used for learning will have no function. Nothing will ever change, no shifts nor shadings, no differences, no variations which made perception possible will occur. The perception of the real world will be so short that I will barely have time to thank God for it. For God will take the last step swiftly when I have reached the real world and have been made ready for Him.

11. The real world is attained simply by the complete forgiveness of the old the world I see without forgiveness. The Great Transformer of perception will undertake with me the careful searching of the mind that made this world and uncover to me the seeming reasons for my making it. In the light of the real reason which He brings, as I follow Him, He will show me that there is no reason here at all. Each spot His reason touches grows alive with beauty, and what seemed ugly in the darkness of my lack of reason is suddenly released to loveliness. Not even what the Son of God made in insanity cold be without a hidden spark of beauty which gentleness could release.

12. All this beauty will rise to bless my sight as I look upon the with forgiving eyes. For forgiveness literally transforms vision and lets me see the real world reaching quietly and gently across chaos and removing all illusions which had twisted my 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 into his home. And there he knows that he has always rested there in peace. Even salvation will beam a dream and vanish froths mind. For salvation is the end of dreams and with the...]]>402acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-17-3-the-forgiven-world
7. Those I forgive will look more beautiful to me than I can ever imagine! In no fantasy have I ever seen anything so lovely! Nothing I see here, sleeping or waking, comes near to such loveliness. And I will hold dear, and value this above all else. For I will see the Son of God, and will see the beauty that the Holy Spirit looks upon and thanks God for. This sight will make my heart sing with joy and happiness as nothing else has ever done before. The Holy Spirit sees this for me until I learn to see it for myself. All His teaching leads to this.

8. This loveliness is not a fantasy. It is the real world, bright and clean and new, with everything sparkling in the sun. Nothing is hidden here. There are no fantasies to hide the truth, for everything has been forgiven. The bridge is the meeting place of the different worlds. The bridge is so little and easy to cross, a step so small I did not notice! Yet, this little bridge is the strongest thing that touches this world at all. A step through time into eternity, beyond all ugliness, into wonderful, perfect enchanting beauty.

9. This step, the smallest ever taken, is the greatest accomplishment in God's plan of Atonement. This is given, not learned, complete, whole and perfect. No one but Him Who planned salvation could complete it like this. Yet, I learn to reach the real world in all its loveliness. Fantasies are all undone, and nothing and no one remains bound by them. I am free to see, by my own forgiveness. Yet, what I see is what I have made, with the blessing of my forgiveness on it. And with this final blessing of God's Son upon himself, the real perception, born of the new perspective he has learned, has served its purpose.

10. The sun and the stars will disappear in light. Everything that has been used for learning will have no function, and perception will be meaningless when it has been perfected. Nothing will ever change. No shifts, shadings, differences, or variations which made perception possible will occur. The perception of the real world will be so short that I will barely have time to thank God for it. For God will take the last step swiftly when I have reached the real world and am made ready for Him.

11. Simply, the real world is attained by the complete forgiveness of the the same world that I see without forgiveness. The Great Transformer of perception will undertake with me the careful searching of the mind that made this world, and uncover to me the seeming reasons for my making it. Following Him in the light of real reason, He will show me that there is no reason here at all. Each spot His reason touches grows alive with beauty, and what seemed ugly, in the darkness of my 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 which gentleness could release.
12. All this beauty will rise to bless my sight, as I look upon the world with forgiveness. For forgiveness literally transforms vision and lets me see the real world, removing all illusions which had twisted my 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. The son of God is lifted easily into his home from a forgiven world. And he knows that he has always rested there in peace. Even salvation has no meaning and vanishes from his mind. For who, awake in Heaven, could need salvation?

13. I want salvation more than anything. The real world, trembling with readiness, will be given me. The eagerness of the Holy Spirit to give it to me, is so intense He would not wait, although he waits in patience. I will meet His patience with my impatience at delay. I go out in gladness to meet with my Redeemer, and walk in trust with Him, out of this world and into the real world of beauty and forgiveness.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4732787Mon, 14 Jul 2014 19:35:21 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-17.3-The Forgiven World 7. Those I forgive will look more beautiful to me than I can ever imagine! In no fantasy have I ever seen anything so lovely! Nothing I see here, sleeping or waking, comes near to such loveliness. And I will hold...
7. Those I forgive will look more beautiful to me than I can ever imagine! In no fantasy have I ever seen anything so lovely! Nothing I see here, sleeping or waking, comes near to such loveliness. And I will hold dear, and value this above all else. For I will see the Son of God, and will see the beauty that the Holy Spirit looks upon and thanks God for. This sight will make my heart sing with joy and happiness as nothing else has ever done before. The Holy Spirit sees this for me until I learn to see it for myself. All His teaching leads to this.

8. This loveliness is not a fantasy. It is the real world, bright and clean and new, with everything sparkling in the sun. Nothing is hidden here. There are no fantasies to hide the truth, for everything has been forgiven. The bridge is the meeting place of the different worlds. The bridge is so little and easy to cross, a step so small I did not notice! Yet, this little bridge is the strongest thing that touches this world at all. A step through time into eternity, beyond all ugliness, into wonderful, perfect enchanting beauty.

9. This step, the smallest ever taken, is the greatest accomplishment in God's plan of Atonement. This is given, not learned, complete, whole and perfect. No one but Him Who planned salvation could complete it like this. Yet, I learn to reach the real world in all its loveliness. Fantasies are all undone, and nothing and no one remains bound by them. I am free to see, by my own forgiveness. Yet, what I see is what I have made, with the blessing of my forgiveness on it. And with this final blessing of God's Son upon himself, the real perception, born of the new perspective he has learned, has served its purpose.

10. The sun and the stars will disappear in light. Everything that has been used for learning will have no function, and perception will be meaningless when it has been perfected. Nothing will ever change. No shifts, shadings, differences, or variations which made perception possible will occur. The perception of the real world will be so short that I will barely have time to thank God for it. For God will take the last step swiftly when I have reached the real world and am made ready for Him.

11. Simply, the real world is attained by the complete forgiveness of the the same world that I see without forgiveness. The Great Transformer of perception will undertake with me the careful searching of the mind that made this world, and uncover to me the seeming reasons for my making it. Following Him in the light of real reason, He will show me that there is no reason here at all. Each spot His reason touches grows alive with beauty, and what seemed ugly, in the darkness of my 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 which gentleness could release.
12. All this beauty will rise to bless my sight, as I look upon the world with forgiveness. For forgiveness literally transforms vision and lets me see the real world, removing all illusions which had twisted my 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. The son of God is lifted easily into his home from a forgiven world. And he knows that he has always rested there in peace. Even salvation has no meaning and vanishes from his mind. For who, awake in Heaven, could need salvation?

13. I want salvation more than anything. The real world, trembling with readiness, will be given me. The eagerness of the Holy Spirit to give it to me, is so intense He would not wait, although he waits in patience. I will meet His patience with my impatience at delay. I go out in gladness to meet with my Redeemer, and walk in trust with Him, out of this world and into the real world of beauty...]]>435acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-17-2-fantasy-distorted-perceptionhttps://api.spreaker.com/episode/4728704Sun, 13 Jul 2014 17:02:59 +0000Frances Allan275cleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-17-1-intro-forgiveness-healing
1. In his own imagining the Son of God "sins" and is betrayed. But this is not his reality, which is forever sinless. In his dreams he has betrayed himself, his brothers, and his God. He does not need to be forgiven, but awakened, for dreaming is not reality. Dreams seem real because they are an illusion of reality, making it impossible to convince the dreamer that they are not real. The full release from dreams is only in waking, for only then is it seen that dreams have no effect on reality, not changing it at all. The purpose of fantasies is to change reality, which they cannot do. But fantasies can change reality in the mind that would have reality be different.

2. It is my wish to change reality that is fearful. I think that because of my wish, I have accomplished what I wished. This strange position in a sense does acknowledge my power. Yet by distorting my power and devoting it to "evil," it is also made unreal. I cannot be faithful to two masters who ask conflicting things of me. What I use in fantasy I deny to truth. Yet, what I give to truth to use for me is safe from fantasy.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4728680Sun, 13 Jul 2014 16:58:42 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-17.1-Intro-Forgiveness and Healing 1. In his own imagining the Son of God "sins" and is betrayed. But this is not his reality, which is forever sinless. In his dreams he has betrayed himself, his brothers, and his God. He does not need to...
1. In his own imagining the Son of God "sins" and is betrayed. But this is not his reality, which is forever sinless. In his dreams he has betrayed himself, his brothers, and his God. He does not need to be forgiven, but awakened, for dreaming is not reality. Dreams seem real because they are an illusion of reality, making it impossible to convince the dreamer that they are not real. The full release from dreams is only in waking, for only then is it seen that dreams have no effect on reality, not changing it at all. The purpose of fantasies is to change reality, which they cannot do. But fantasies can change reality in the mind that would have reality be different.

2. It is my wish to change reality that is fearful. I think that because of my wish, I have accomplished what I wished. This strange position in a sense does acknowledge my power. Yet by distorting my power and devoting it to "evil," it is also made unreal. I cannot be faithful to two masters who ask conflicting things of me. What I use in fantasy I deny to truth. Yet, what I give to truth to use for me is safe from fantasy.]]>145acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-16-8-the-end-of-illusions
70. It is impossible to let the past go without relinquishing the special relationship. For the special relationship is an attempt to reenact the past and change it. Imagined slights, remembered pain, past disappointments, perceived injustices, and deprivations all enter into the special relationship, which becomes a way in which I seek to restore my self-esteem. What basis would I have for choosing a special partner without the past? Every such choice is made because of something "evil" in the past that I cling to, and which must be atoned for by someone else.

71. The special relationship takes vengeance on the past. By seeking to remove suffering in the past, it overlooks the present in its preoccupation with the past and its total commitment to it. No special relationship is experienced in the present. Shades of the past envelop it and make it what it is. It has no meaning in the present, and if it means nothing now, it cannot have any real meaning at all. How can I change the past except in fantasy? And who can give me what I think the past deprived me of? The past is nothing. I will not seek to lay the blame for deprivation on it, for the past is gone. I cannot really not let go what has already gone. Therefore, it must be that I am keeping the illusion that the past has not gone. It serves some purpose that I want fulfilled that could not be fulfilled in the present, only in the past.

72. I must not underestimate the intensity of the ego's drive for vengeance on the past. It is savage and completely insane. For the ego remembers everything that I have done which offended it and seeks retribution from me. The fantasies it brings to the special relationships it chooses in which to act out its hate, are fantasies of my destruction. For the ego holds the past against me, and in my escape from the past, it sees itself deprived of the vengeance it believes that I so justly deserve. Yet, without my alliance in my own destruction, the ego could not hold me to the past.

73. The past is gone. I will not try to preserve the past in the special relationship which binds me to the past. The special relationship teaches me that salvation is past, and that I must return to the past to find salvation. There is no fantasy which does not contain the dream of retribution for the past. In the special relationship, I am allowing my destruction to be. This is obviously insane. What is less obvious is that the present is useless to me while I am the ego's ally. I would not act out the dream, but let it go.

74. In the special relationship it does not seem that I am seeking vengeance. Even when hatred and savagery briefly break through into awareness, the illusion of love is not profoundly shaken. Yet, I am never allowed to be aware of acting out of vengeance on myself. But what else could it be? I do not look for glory in myself, for I have denied that it is there. The relationship becomes my substitute for glory. Vengeance becomes my substitute for Atonement, and escape from vengeance becomes my loss.

75. Beside the ego's insane notion of salvation, the Holy Spirit gently lays the holy instant. The Holy Spirit must teach through comparisons and uses opposites to point to truth. The holy instant is the opposite of the ego's belief in vengeance for the past. The holy instant accepts that the past is gone. The desire for vengeance is uprooted and disappears. The stillness and peace of now is mine, and truth is here.

76. I may attempt to bring illusions into the holy instant and delay my full awareness of the complete difference between my experience of truth and illusion. But not for long! The power of the Holy Spirit will prevail, because I joined Him. The illusions I bring with me will weaken the experience of Him for a while, and drive His experience from my mind. Yet the holy instant is eternal, and my illusions of time will not prevent the timeless from being what it is nor me from experiencing it as it is.

77. What God has given me is truly given and will be truly received. For God's gifts have no reality apart from my receiving them. My receiving completes His giving. I will receive because it is His Will to give. He gave the holy instant to be given me, and it is impossible that I not receive it, because He gave it. When He willed that His Son be free, His Son was free. In the holy instant is His reminder that His Son will always be exactly as he was created. And everything the Holy Spirit teaches me is to remind me that I have received what God has given me.

78. Only the illusions I have held against my brothers must be forgiven. There is nothing I can hold against reality. Their reality has no past, and only illusions can be forgiven. God holds nothing against anyone, for He is incapable of illusions of any kind. I release my brothers from the slavery of their illusions, by forgiving them for the illusions that I perceive in them. This is the way I will learn that I have been forgiven, because it is I who offered illusions to my brothers. In the holy instant, this is done for me in time to bring to me the true condition of Heaven.

79. I remember that I always choose between truth and illusion--between the real Atonement which heals, and the ego's "atonement" that destroys. As I seek only my place in the plan of Atonement arising from God's Love, the power of God and all His Love, without limit, will support me. In seeking how Atonement can come to me, I will be an ally of God, and not the ego. I place all my investment in salvation in my relationship with God. His help is sufficient, for His Messenger understands how to restore the Kingdom to me.

80. I seek and find His message in the holy instant, where all illusions are forgiven. From there the miracle extends to bless everyone and to resolve all problems, be they perceived as great or small, possible or impossible. There is nothing that will not give place to Him and to His majesty. To join in close relationship with Him is to accept relationships as real, and to forgive all illusions for the reality of my relationship with God. Praise be to my relationship with Him and to no other. The truth lies here and nowhere else. I choose this or nothing.

81. Forgive me my illusions, Father and help me accept my true relationship with You, in which there are no illusions, and where none can ever enter. My holiness is Yours. There is nothing in me that needs forgiveness, as Yours is perfect. The sleep of forgetfulness is only the unwillingness to remember Your forgiveness and Your Love. Let me not wander into temptation, for the temptation of the Son of God is not Your Will. And let me receive only what You have given, and accept only this into the mind which You created and which You love. Amen.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4726874Sun, 13 Jul 2014 02:42:01 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-16.8-The End of Illusions 70. It is impossible to let the past go without relinquishing the special relationship. For the special relationship is an attempt to reenact the past and change it. Imagined slights, remembered pain, past...
70. It is impossible to let the past go without relinquishing the special relationship. For the special relationship is an attempt to reenact the past and change it. Imagined slights, remembered pain, past disappointments, perceived injustices, and deprivations all enter into the special relationship, which becomes a way in which I seek to restore my self-esteem. What basis would I have for choosing a special partner without the past? Every such choice is made because of something "evil" in the past that I cling to, and which must be atoned for by someone else.

71. The special relationship takes vengeance on the past. By seeking to remove suffering in the past, it overlooks the present in its preoccupation with the past and its total commitment to it. No special relationship is experienced in the present. Shades of the past envelop it and make it what it is. It has no meaning in the present, and if it means nothing now, it cannot have any real meaning at all. How can I change the past except in fantasy? And who can give me what I think the past deprived me of? The past is nothing. I will not seek to lay the blame for deprivation on it, for the past is gone. I cannot really not let go what has already gone. Therefore, it must be that I am keeping the illusion that the past has not gone. It serves some purpose that I want fulfilled that could not be fulfilled in the present, only in the past.

72. I must not underestimate the intensity of the ego's drive for vengeance on the past. It is savage and completely insane. For the ego remembers everything that I have done which offended it and seeks retribution from me. The fantasies it brings to the special relationships it chooses in which to act out its hate, are fantasies of my destruction. For the ego holds the past against me, and in my escape from the past, it sees itself deprived of the vengeance it believes that I so justly deserve. Yet, without my alliance in my own destruction, the ego could not hold me to the past.

73. The past is gone. I will not try to preserve the past in the special relationship which binds me to the past. The special relationship teaches me that salvation is past, and that I must return to the past to find salvation. There is no fantasy which does not contain the dream of retribution for the past. In the special relationship, I am allowing my destruction to be. This is obviously insane. What is less obvious is that the present is useless to me while I am the ego's ally. I would not act out the dream, but let it go.

74. In the special relationship it does not seem that I am seeking vengeance. Even when hatred and savagery briefly break through into awareness, the illusion of love is not profoundly shaken. Yet, I am never allowed to be aware of acting out of vengeance on myself. But what else could it be? I do not look for glory in myself, for I have denied that it is there. The relationship becomes my substitute for glory. Vengeance becomes my substitute for Atonement, and escape from vengeance becomes my loss.

75. Beside the ego's insane notion of salvation, the Holy Spirit gently lays the holy instant. The Holy Spirit must teach through comparisons and uses opposites to point to truth. The holy instant is the opposite of the ego's belief in vengeance for the past. The holy instant accepts that the past is gone. The desire for vengeance is uprooted and disappears. The stillness and peace of now is mine, and truth is here.

76. I may attempt to bring illusions into the holy instant and delay my full awareness of the complete difference between my experience of truth and illusion. But not for long! The power of the Holy Spirit will prevail, because I joined Him. The illusions I bring with me will weaken the experience of Him for a while, and drive His experience from my mind. Yet the holy...]]>770acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-16-7-bridge-to-the-real-world
59. The search for the special relationship is the sign that I equate myself with the ego and not with God. For the special relationship has value only to the ego. Unless a relationship has special value, it has no meaning to the ego. The ego perceives ALL love as special. This is not like the relationship of God and His Son, and cannot be natural. All relationships that are not like this one must be unnatural. For God created love as He would have it, and gave it as it is. Love has no meaning except as its Creator defined it by His Will. It is impossible to define love otherwise and understand it.

60. Love is freedom. To look for love by placing myself in bondage is to separate myself from love. For the love of God, I will seek no longer for union in separation nor for freedom in bondage! As I release, so will I be released. I will not forget this, or love will be unable to find me and comfort me. There is a way the Holy Spirit asks for my help if I would have His help. The holy instant is His most helpful tool in protecting me from the attraction of guilt, the real lure in the special relationship. I do not recognize that guilt is the real appeal of the special relationship, for the ego has taught me that freedom lies in the specialness.

61. The special relationship is totally meaningless without a body. I must value the body to value the special relationship. And I will keep what I value. The special relationship is a device for limiting my self to a body, and for limiting my perception of others to bodies. If the Great Rays were seen, they would prove the total lack of value of the special relationship. By seeing the Great Rays, the value of the body would be gone. My investment in seeing the body would disappear, and I would see a world I value.

62. On this side of the bridge, I see the world of separate bodies seeking to join each other in separate unions, and to become one by losing. When two individuals seek to become one, they are trying to decrease their magnitude. Each would deny his power, for the separate union excludes the universe. Far more is left outside than would be taken in. For God is left without, and nothing taken in. If one such union were made in perfect faith, the universe would enter into it. Yet the special relationship which the ego seeks, does not include even one whole individual. For the ego wants only part of him, and sees only this part and nothing else.

63. Across the bridge, it is so different! For a time the body is still seen, but not exclusively, as it is seen here. For the little spark which holds the Great Rays within it, is also visible. And this spark cannot long be limited to littleness. Once I have crossed the bridge, the value of the body is so diminished in my sight, that I will see no need at all to magnify it. I will realize that the only value the body has is to enable me to bring my brothers to the bridge with me, and to be released there together.

64. The new perspective I will gain from crossing over will be to understand where Heaven is. From here it seems to be outside and across the bridge. Yet, as I cross to join it, it will join me, and become one with me. And I will think in glad astonishment that for all this, I gave up nothing! The joy of Heaven, which has no limit, is increased with each light that returns to take its rightful place within it. I wait no longer, for the love of God and myself. And the holy instant speeds me on the way, as I let it come to me!

65. I do not fear that I will be abruptly lifted up and hurled into reality. Time is kind, and if I use it for reality, it will keep gentle pace with me in my transition. The only urgency is in dislodging my mind from its fixed position here. I will still have a home and frame of reference. The period of disorientation which precedes the actual transition is far shorter than the time it took to fix my mind so firmly on illusions. Delay will cause pain now more than before, only because I realize it is delay, and that escape from pain is really possible. I could not find even the illusion of love in any special relationship now. I am no longer wholly insane, and I would recognize the guilt of self-betrayal for what it is. I find hope and comfort in this.

66. Nothing I seek to strengthen in the special relationship is really part of me. And I cannot keep part of the thought system which taught me IT was real, and understand the Thought that really knows what I am. I have allowed the Thought of my reality to enter my mind, and because I invited it, it will abide with me. My love for it will not allow me to betray myself, and I could not enter into a relationship where the Thought of my reality could not go with me. For I would not be apart from it.

67. I am glad I have escaped from the mockery of salvation which the ego offered me. I will not look back with longing on the travesty the ego made of my relationships. No one need suffer, for I have come too far to yield to the illusion of the beauty and holiness of guilt. Only the wholly insane could look on death, suffering, sickness and despair and see guilt that way. What guilt has made is ugly, fearful, and very dangerous. There is no illusion of truth and beauty there. I am thankful that there is a place where truth and beauty wait for me. I go to meet them gladly, and learn how much awaits me for the simple willingness to give up nothing because it is nothing.

68. The Holy Spirit asks only this little help of me. Whenever my thoughts wander to a special relationship which still attracts me, I enter with Him into a holy instant and there let Him release me. He needs only my willingness to share His perspective, to give it to me completely. And my willingness need not be complete, because His is perfect. It is His task to atone for my unwillingness by His perfect faith, and it is His faith I share with Him there. With the recognition of my unwillingness for my release, His perfect willingness is given me. I call upon Him, for Heaven is at His call. I let Him call on Heaven for me.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4726803Sun, 13 Jul 2014 02:18:17 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-16.7-Bridge to the Real World 59. The search for the special relationship is the sign that I equate myself with the ego and not with God. For the special relationship has value only to the ego. Unless a relationship has special value, it...
59. The search for the special relationship is the sign that I equate myself with the ego and not with God. For the special relationship has value only to the ego. Unless a relationship has special value, it has no meaning to the ego. The ego perceives ALL love as special. This is not like the relationship of God and His Son, and cannot be natural. All relationships that are not like this one must be unnatural. For God created love as He would have it, and gave it as it is. Love has no meaning except as its Creator defined it by His Will. It is impossible to define love otherwise and understand it.

60. Love is freedom. To look for love by placing myself in bondage is to separate myself from love. For the love of God, I will seek no longer for union in separation nor for freedom in bondage! As I release, so will I be released. I will not forget this, or love will be unable to find me and comfort me. There is a way the Holy Spirit asks for my help if I would have His help. The holy instant is His most helpful tool in protecting me from the attraction of guilt, the real lure in the special relationship. I do not recognize that guilt is the real appeal of the special relationship, for the ego has taught me that freedom lies in the specialness.

61. The special relationship is totally meaningless without a body. I must value the body to value the special relationship. And I will keep what I value. The special relationship is a device for limiting my self to a body, and for limiting my perception of others to bodies. If the Great Rays were seen, they would prove the total lack of value of the special relationship. By seeing the Great Rays, the value of the body would be gone. My investment in seeing the body would disappear, and I would see a world I value.

62. On this side of the bridge, I see the world of separate bodies seeking to join each other in separate unions, and to become one by losing. When two individuals seek to become one, they are trying to decrease their magnitude. Each would deny his power, for the separate union excludes the universe. Far more is left outside than would be taken in. For God is left without, and nothing taken in. If one such union were made in perfect faith, the universe would enter into it. Yet the special relationship which the ego seeks, does not include even one whole individual. For the ego wants only part of him, and sees only this part and nothing else.

63. Across the bridge, it is so different! For a time the body is still seen, but not exclusively, as it is seen here. For the little spark which holds the Great Rays within it, is also visible. And this spark cannot long be limited to littleness. Once I have crossed the bridge, the value of the body is so diminished in my sight, that I will see no need at all to magnify it. I will realize that the only value the body has is to enable me to bring my brothers to the bridge with me, and to be released there together.

64. The new perspective I will gain from crossing over will be to understand where Heaven is. From here it seems to be outside and across the bridge. Yet, as I cross to join it, it will join me, and become one with me. And I will think in glad astonishment that for all this, I gave up nothing! The joy of Heaven, which has no limit, is increased with each light that returns to take its rightful place within it. I wait no longer, for the love of God and myself. And the holy instant speeds me on the way, as I let it come to me!

65. I do not fear that I will be abruptly lifted up and hurled into reality. Time is kind, and if I use it for reality, it will keep gentle pace with me in my transition. The only urgency is in dislodging my mind from its fixed position here. I will still have a home and frame of reference. The period of disorientation which precedes the...]]>663acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-16-6-specialness-and-guilt-2
50. This "better" self that the ego seeks is always one that is more special. Whoever seems to possess a special self is "loved" for what can be taken from him. Where both partners see this special self in the other, the ego sees "a union made in Heaven." Both will not recognize that they have asked for hell, and they will not interfere with the ego's illusion of Heaven. Yet, all illusions are fearful, and the illusion of Heaven is an "attractive" form of fear, in which the guilt is buried deep and rises as an illusion of "love".

51. The appeal of hell is faith in littleness, and the attraction of guilt. The belief in littleness lies in every special relationship, for only the deprived could value specialness. The demand to give and receive specialness as an act of love, would make love hateful. The ego's goal is to destroy reality and substitute illusion. For the ego itself is an illusion, and only other illusions could witness to its "reality".

52. How could I want a special relationship if I perceived it as an attempt to triumph over God? Its fearful nature, the guilt it must entail, the sadness and loneliness, are only attributes of the religion of separation, and attributes of the total context in which this strange religion is believed to occur. This litany to sacrifice is: God must die so I can live. And it is this theme of sacrifice which is acted out in the special relationship. By the death of my self, I attack another, taking the self from the other to replace the self that I despise. And, I despise my self because it does not offer me the specialness which I demand. Being afraid of and hating my self, I have made my self little and unworthy.

53. How could I grant unlimited power to what I think I have attacked? The truth has become so fearful to me that I would not dare to look upon it, unless I believed that the truth is weak, little, and valueless. I made the little self with power I took from truth, triumphing over the truth. This ritual is enacted EXACTLY in the special relationship. An altar is erected between two separate people, on which each seeks to kill his self, and on his body raise another self which takes its power from his death. Over and over and over this ritual is enacted. And it is never completed nor ever will be completed. For the ritual of completion cannot complete, and life arises not from death, nor Heaven from hell.

54. Whenever any form of special relationship tempts me to seek for love in ritual, I will remember love is CONTENT and not form of any kind. The special relationship is a ritual of form, aimed at the raising of the form to take the place of God, at the expense of content. There is no meaning in the form, and there will never be meaning in form. I will recognize the special relationship for what it is--a senseless ritual in which strength is extracted from the death of God and invested in His killer as the sign that form has triumphed over content, and love has lost its meaning. Would I want this to be possible, even apart from its evident impossibility? For if it were possible, I would have made myself helpless. God is not angry. He just could not let this happen. I cannot change the Mind of God.

55. No rituals in which the dance of death delights me can bring death to the eternal. The special relationship is a meaningless attempt to worship others gods, obscuring their tininess and God's greatness. What I AM is replaced by every idol that I raise. The idol stands before me in place of what I AM. This is not what I want for my completion. The wholeness of God cannot be influenced at all by my substitution for His wholeness.

56. Salvation lies in the simple fact that illusions are not fearful because they are not true. To the extent that I want illusions to be true, I will fail to recognize them for what they are, and perceive them as fearful. And to the same extent that I am denying truth, I am making myself unable to choose between truth and illusion, God and fantasy. If I remember this, I will have no difficulty seeing the decision as nothing more than what it is.

57. The center of the separation delusion is the fantasy around specialness and the destruction of love's meaning. I cannot know myself unless love's meaning is restored to me, because I share love's meaning. The decision not to know myself IS separation. The separation's thought system is a well organized learning experience with the goal of leading me away from truth into fantasy. The decision whether or not to listen to the thought system of this course and follow it, is the decision between truth and illusion. Yet, God offers correction, and complete escape from all the consequences of every learning experience that would hurt me. There is no confusion here, as truth and illusion are clearly separated.

58. This choice becomes simple when the choice is seen as what it is. For only fantasies make confusion in choosing possible, and fantasies are not real. I will cross the bridge into reality because I will recognize that God is there, and He is not in fantasies. This year it is possible to make the natural decision as this is realized.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4712631Wed, 09 Jul 2014 20:08:38 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-16.6-Specialness and Guilt-2 50. This "better" self that the ego seeks is always one that is more special. Whoever seems to possess a special self is "loved" for what can be taken from him. Where both partners see this special self in the...
50. This "better" self that the ego seeks is always one that is more special. Whoever seems to possess a special self is "loved" for what can be taken from him. Where both partners see this special self in the other, the ego sees "a union made in Heaven." Both will not recognize that they have asked for hell, and they will not interfere with the ego's illusion of Heaven. Yet, all illusions are fearful, and the illusion of Heaven is an "attractive" form of fear, in which the guilt is buried deep and rises as an illusion of "love".

51. The appeal of hell is faith in littleness, and the attraction of guilt. The belief in littleness lies in every special relationship, for only the deprived could value specialness. The demand to give and receive specialness as an act of love, would make love hateful. The ego's goal is to destroy reality and substitute illusion. For the ego itself is an illusion, and only other illusions could witness to its "reality".

52. How could I want a special relationship if I perceived it as an attempt to triumph over God? Its fearful nature, the guilt it must entail, the sadness and loneliness, are only attributes of the religion of separation, and attributes of the total context in which this strange religion is believed to occur. This litany to sacrifice is: God must die so I can live. And it is this theme of sacrifice which is acted out in the special relationship. By the death of my self, I attack another, taking the self from the other to replace the self that I despise. And, I despise my self because it does not offer me the specialness which I demand. Being afraid of and hating my self, I have made my self little and unworthy.

53. How could I grant unlimited power to what I think I have attacked? The truth has become so fearful to me that I would not dare to look upon it, unless I believed that the truth is weak, little, and valueless. I made the little self with power I took from truth, triumphing over the truth. This ritual is enacted EXACTLY in the special relationship. An altar is erected between two separate people, on which each seeks to kill his self, and on his body raise another self which takes its power from his death. Over and over and over this ritual is enacted. And it is never completed nor ever will be completed. For the ritual of completion cannot complete, and life arises not from death, nor Heaven from hell.

54. Whenever any form of special relationship tempts me to seek for love in ritual, I will remember love is CONTENT and not form of any kind. The special relationship is a ritual of form, aimed at the raising of the form to take the place of God, at the expense of content. There is no meaning in the form, and there will never be meaning in form. I will recognize the special relationship for what it is--a senseless ritual in which strength is extracted from the death of God and invested in His killer as the sign that form has triumphed over content, and love has lost its meaning. Would I want this to be possible, even apart from its evident impossibility? For if it were possible, I would have made myself helpless. God is not angry. He just could not let this happen. I cannot change the Mind of God.

55. No rituals in which the dance of death delights me can bring death to the eternal. The special relationship is a meaningless attempt to worship others gods, obscuring their tininess and God's greatness. What I AM is replaced by every idol that I raise. The idol stands before me in place of what I AM. This is not what I want for my completion. The wholeness of God cannot be influenced at all by my substitution for His wholeness.

56. Salvation lies in the simple fact that illusions are not fearful because they are not true. To the extent that I want illusions to be true, I will fail to recognize them for what they...]]>570acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/ored-t-16-6-specialness-and-guilt-1
43. In looking at the special relationship, it is necessary to realize that it involves a great amount of pain. Anxiety, despair, guilt, and attack, all enter into the special relationship, interrupted by periods in which they SEEM to be gone. All this pain must be understood for what it is. Whatever form it takes, it is always an attack on the self, to make the OTHER guilty. This has been spoken of before, but some of what is being attempted has not been touched on.

44. The attempt to make guilty is ALWAYS directed against God. The ego would have me see God alone as guilty, leaving the Sonship unprotected. The special love relationship is the ego's chief weapon for keeping me from Heaven. Special relationship does not SEEM to be a weapon, but if I consider how I value it and why, I will realize what it must be. Special love relationship is the ego's most boasted gift, and one which has the most appeal to those unwilling to relinquish guilt. The "dynamics" of the ego are clearest here. The fantasies which center around it are often quite open, and judged to be acceptable and even natural. And it is not considered bizarre to love and hate at the same time. Even those who believe that hate is sin, merely feel guilty.

45. This is the "natural" condition of the separation, and those who learn that it is not natural at all seem to be the "unnatural" ones. For this world IS the opposite of Heaven, being made to be its opposite. Everything here takes a direction exactly opposite of what is true. In Heaven, where the meaning of love is know, love is the same as UNION. In the ego's world, where the illusion of love is accepted in love's place, love is perceived as separation and EXCLUSION.

46. It is in the special relationship, born of the hidden wish for special love from God, that the ego's hatred triumphs. For the special relationship is the RENUNCIATION of the love of God, and the attempt to secure for the self the specialness which He denied. It is essential to the preservation of the ego that I believe this specialness is not hell, but Heaven. For the ego would never have me see that separation can ONLY be loss, being the one condition in which Heaven CANNOT be.

47. To everyone Heaven is completion. Both the ego and the Holy Spirit agree on this. However, they are in complete disagreement on what completion is, and how it is accomplished. The Holy Spirit knows that completion lies in union, and in the extension of union. The ego believes completion lies in triumph, and the extension of the triumph to be over God. In this it sees the ultimate freedom of the self, for nothing would remain to interfere with the ego. This is the ego's idea of Heaven. It follows then that union, which is a condition in which the ego cannot interfere, must be hell.

48. The special relationship is a strange and unnatural ego device for joining hell and Heaven without telling them apart. The attempt to find the imagined "best of both worlds", has led to fantasies of both, and to the inability to perceive either one as it is. The special relationship is the triumph of this confusion. It is a kind of union from which union is excluded, and the basis for the attempt at union rests on exclusion. This is a perfect example of the ego's maxim, "Seek but do not find."

49. The "self" seeks the relationship to make itself complete. Yet, when it finds this special relationship, it gives itself away, and tries to "trade" itself for the self of the other. This is not union, for there is no increase and no extension. Each partner tries to sacrifice the "self" he does not want for one he thinks he would prefer. Then he feels guilty for the "sin" of taking, and giving nothing of value in return. How much value can he place upon a "self" that he would give away to get a better one?]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4712588Wed, 09 Jul 2014 19:58:51 +0000Frances AllanOrEd-T-16.6-Specialness and Guilt-1 43. In looking at the special relationship, it is necessary to realize that it involves a great amount of pain. Anxiety, despair, guilt, and attack, all enter into the special relationship, interrupted...
43. In looking at the special relationship, it is necessary to realize that it involves a great amount of pain. Anxiety, despair, guilt, and attack, all enter into the special relationship, interrupted by periods in which they SEEM to be gone. All this pain must be understood for what it is. Whatever form it takes, it is always an attack on the self, to make the OTHER guilty. This has been spoken of before, but some of what is being attempted has not been touched on.

44. The attempt to make guilty is ALWAYS directed against God. The ego would have me see God alone as guilty, leaving the Sonship unprotected. The special love relationship is the ego's chief weapon for keeping me from Heaven. Special relationship does not SEEM to be a weapon, but if I consider how I value it and why, I will realize what it must be. Special love relationship is the ego's most boasted gift, and one which has the most appeal to those unwilling to relinquish guilt. The "dynamics" of the ego are clearest here. The fantasies which center around it are often quite open, and judged to be acceptable and even natural. And it is not considered bizarre to love and hate at the same time. Even those who believe that hate is sin, merely feel guilty.

45. This is the "natural" condition of the separation, and those who learn that it is not natural at all seem to be the "unnatural" ones. For this world IS the opposite of Heaven, being made to be its opposite. Everything here takes a direction exactly opposite of what is true. In Heaven, where the meaning of love is know, love is the same as UNION. In the ego's world, where the illusion of love is accepted in love's place, love is perceived as separation and EXCLUSION.

46. It is in the special relationship, born of the hidden wish for special love from God, that the ego's hatred triumphs. For the special relationship is the RENUNCIATION of the love of God, and the attempt to secure for the self the specialness which He denied. It is essential to the preservation of the ego that I believe this specialness is not hell, but Heaven. For the ego would never have me see that separation can ONLY be loss, being the one condition in which Heaven CANNOT be.

47. To everyone Heaven is completion. Both the ego and the Holy Spirit agree on this. However, they are in complete disagreement on what completion is, and how it is accomplished. The Holy Spirit knows that completion lies in union, and in the extension of union. The ego believes completion lies in triumph, and the extension of the triumph to be over God. In this it sees the ultimate freedom of the self, for nothing would remain to interfere with the ego. This is the ego's idea of Heaven. It follows then that union, which is a condition in which the ego cannot interfere, must be hell.

48. The special relationship is a strange and unnatural ego device for joining hell and Heaven without telling them apart. The attempt to find the imagined "best of both worlds", has led to fantasies of both, and to the inability to perceive either one as it is. The special relationship is the triumph of this confusion. It is a kind of union from which union is excluded, and the basis for the attempt at union rests on exclusion. This is a perfect example of the ego's maxim, "Seek but do not find."

49. The "self" seeks the relationship to make itself complete. Yet, when it finds this special relationship, it gives itself away, and tries to "trade" itself for the self of the other. This is not union, for there is no increase and no extension. Each partner tries to sacrifice the "self" he does not want for one he thinks he would prefer. Then he feels guilty for the "sin" of taking, and giving nothing of value in return. How much value can he place upon a "self" that he would give away to get a better one?]]>444acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/t-7-8-the-unbelievable-belief
1. Jesus said, without projection there can be no anger. It is also true, without extension there can be no love. This reflects a fundamental law of mind, and it always operates. It is the law by which I was created, and I create. This law unifies the Kingdom and keeps the Kingdom in the Mind of God. To the ego, it is perceived as a means of getting rid of something it does not want. To the Holy Spirit, it is the fundament law of sharing, by which in order to keep what I value in my mind, I must give what I value. To the Holy Spirit it is the law of extension. To the ego it is the law of deprivation. Therefore, this law produces abundance or scarcity, depending on how I choose to apply it, which is up to me. It is not up to me to decide whether or not I will use the law. Every mind must project or extend. Every mind is life, and that is how mind lives.

2. Before the association between projection and anger can be undone, the ego's use of projection must be understood. The ego always tries to preserve conflict. Yet, it does not want me to find conflict so intolerable that I will insist on giving up conflict, and giving up the ego. As a result, the ego is very ingenious in devising ways that seem to diminish conflict. So I won't give up the ego and free myself, the ego tries to persuade me that it can free me of conflict. The ego utilizes the power of the mind only to defeat the mind's real purpose, using the ego's own warped version of the laws of God. The ego projects conflict from my mind to other minds, in an attempt to persuade me that I have gotten rid of the problem.

3. There are two major errors involved in this attempt. First, strictly speaking, conflict cannot be projected, because it cannot be shared. Any attempt to keep part of conflict and get rid of another part does not really mean anything. Remember that a conflicted teacher is a poor teacher and a poor learner. His lessons are confused, and their transfer value is limited by his confusion. The second error is the idea that I can get rid of something I do not want by giving it away. Giving it is how I keep it. The belief that by seeing conflict outside myself, I have excluded conflict from within, is a complete distortion of the power of extension. That is why those who project are vigilant for their own safety. They are afraid that their projections will return and hurt them. Believing they have blotted their projections from their own minds, they also believe their projections are trying to creep back in. Since the projections have not left their minds, they are forced to engage in constant activity in order not to recognize this.

4. I cannot perpetuate an illusion about another without perpetuating the illusion about myself. There is no way out of this, because it is impossible to fragment the mind. To fragment is to break into pieces, and mind cannot attack or be attacked. The belief that mind can attack is an error the ego always makes, and underlies the ego's whole use of projection. The ego does not understand what mind is, and therefore does not understand what I am. Yet, the ego's existence is dependent on my mind, because the ego is my belief. The ego is a confusion in identification. Never having had a consistent model, the ego never developed consistently. The ego is the product of the misapplication of the laws of God by distorted minds that are misusing their power.

5. I will not be afraid of the ego. The ego depends on my mind. As I made the ego by believing in it, so I can dispel the ego by withdrawing belief from it. I will not project the responsibility for my belief in the ego onto anyone else, or I will preserve the belief. When I am willing to accept sole responsibility for the ego's existence, I will have laid aside all anger and all attack, because, all anger and attack come from an attempt to project responsibility for my own errors. But, having accepted the errors as mine, I will not keep them. I will give them over quickly to the Holy Spirit to be undone completely, so that all their effects will vanish from my mind, and from the Sonship as a whole.

6. The Holy Spirit will teach me to perceive beyond my belief, because truth is beyond belief, and the Holy Spirit's perception is true. The ego can be completely forgotten at any time, because the ego is a totally incredible belief, and no one can keep a belief he has judged to be unbelievable. The more I learn about the ego, the more I realize that the ego cannot be believed. The incredible cannot be understood because it is unbelievable. The meaninglessness of perception based on the unbelievable is apparent, but it may not be recognized, because the unbelievable is made by belief.

7. The whole purpose of this course is to teach me that the ego is unbelievable, and will forever be unbelievable. I, who made the ego by believing the unbelievable, cannot make this judgment alone. By accepting the Atonement for myself, I am deciding against the belief that I can be alone, thus dispelling the idea of separation, and affirming my true identification with the whole Kingdom as literally part of myself. This identification is as beyond doubt as it is beyond belief. My wholeness has no limits because being is infinity.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4712260Wed, 09 Jul 2014 18:45:21 +0000Frances AllanT-7.8-The Unbelievable Belief 1. Jesus said, without projection there can be no anger. It is also true, without extension there can be no love. This reflects a fundamental law of mind, and it always operates. It is the law by which I was created,...
1. Jesus said, without projection there can be no anger. It is also true, without extension there can be no love. This reflects a fundamental law of mind, and it always operates. It is the law by which I was created, and I create. This law unifies the Kingdom and keeps the Kingdom in the Mind of God. To the ego, it is perceived as a means of getting rid of something it does not want. To the Holy Spirit, it is the fundament law of sharing, by which in order to keep what I value in my mind, I must give what I value. To the Holy Spirit it is the law of extension. To the ego it is the law of deprivation. Therefore, this law produces abundance or scarcity, depending on how I choose to apply it, which is up to me. It is not up to me to decide whether or not I will use the law. Every mind must project or extend. Every mind is life, and that is how mind lives.

2. Before the association between projection and anger can be undone, the ego's use of projection must be understood. The ego always tries to preserve conflict. Yet, it does not want me to find conflict so intolerable that I will insist on giving up conflict, and giving up the ego. As a result, the ego is very ingenious in devising ways that seem to diminish conflict. So I won't give up the ego and free myself, the ego tries to persuade me that it can free me of conflict. The ego utilizes the power of the mind only to defeat the mind's real purpose, using the ego's own warped version of the laws of God. The ego projects conflict from my mind to other minds, in an attempt to persuade me that I have gotten rid of the problem.

3. There are two major errors involved in this attempt. First, strictly speaking, conflict cannot be projected, because it cannot be shared. Any attempt to keep part of conflict and get rid of another part does not really mean anything. Remember that a conflicted teacher is a poor teacher and a poor learner. His lessons are confused, and their transfer value is limited by his confusion. The second error is the idea that I can get rid of something I do not want by giving it away. Giving it is how I keep it. The belief that by seeing conflict outside myself, I have excluded conflict from within, is a complete distortion of the power of extension. That is why those who project are vigilant for their own safety. They are afraid that their projections will return and hurt them. Believing they have blotted their projections from their own minds, they also believe their projections are trying to creep back in. Since the projections have not left their minds, they are forced to engage in constant activity in order not to recognize this.

4. I cannot perpetuate an illusion about another without perpetuating the illusion about myself. There is no way out of this, because it is impossible to fragment the mind. To fragment is to break into pieces, and mind cannot attack or be attacked. The belief that mind can attack is an error the ego always makes, and underlies the ego's whole use of projection. The ego does not understand what mind is, and therefore does not understand what I am. Yet, the ego's existence is dependent on my mind, because the ego is my belief. The ego is a confusion in identification. Never having had a consistent model, the ego never developed consistently. The ego is the product of the misapplication of the laws of God by distorted minds that are misusing their power.

5. I will not be afraid of the ego. The ego depends on my mind. As I made the ego by believing in it, so I can dispel the ego by withdrawing belief from it. I will not project the responsibility for my belief in the ego onto anyone else, or I will preserve the belief. When I am willing to accept sole responsibility for the ego's existence, I will have laid aside all anger and all attack, because, all anger and attack come from an attempt to project...]]>561acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/t-7-7-the-totality-of-the-kingdom
1. Whenever I deny a blessing to a brother, I will feel deprived, because denial is as total as love. It is as impossible to deny part of the Sonship as it is to love part of the Sonship. Nor is it possible to love the Sonship totally, at times. I cannot be totally committed sometimes. Denial has no power in itself, but I can give it the power of my mind, whose power is without limit. If I use my mind to deny reality, reality is gone for me. Reality cannot be partly appreciated. That is why denying any part of reality means I have lost the awareness of all of it. Yet, denial is a defense, and so it is as capable of being used positively as well as negatively. Used negatively denial will be destructive, because it will be used for attack. But in the service of the Holy Spirit, denial can help me to recognize part of reality, and thus appreciate all of reality. Mind is too powerful to be subject to exclusion. I will never be able to exclude myself from my thoughts.

2. When a brother acts insanely, he is offering me an opportunity to bless him. His need is mine. I need the blessing I can offer him. There is no way for me to have the blessing except by giving the blessing. This is the law of God, and this law has no exceptions. What I deny, I lack. Not because it is lacking, but, because I have denied it in another, I am therefore not aware of it in myself. Every response I make is determined by what I think I am. What I want to be is what I think I am. What I want to be, then, must determine every response I make.

3. I do not need God's blessing because that I have forever, but I do need my blessing. The ego's picture of me is deprived, unloving and vulnerable. I cannot love this. Yet, I can very easily escape from this image by leaving this image behind. I am not there, and this image is not me. I will not see this picture in anyone, or I have accepted this picture as me. All illusions about the Sonship are dispelled together, as they were made together. I will teach no one that he is what I would not want to be. My brother is the mirror in which I see the image of myself as long as perception lasts. And perception will last until the Sonship knows itself as whole. I made perception, and perception must last as long as I want it to last.

4. Illusions are investments. Illusions will last as long as I value them. Values are relative, but they are powerful, because they are mental judgments. The only way to dispel illusions is to withdraw all investment from them. They will have no life for me, because I will have put them out of my mind. While I include them in my mind, I am giving life to Illusions. Except, there is nothing there to receive my gift of life.

5. The gift of life is mine to give, because life was given me. I am unaware of my gift because I do not give it. I cannot make nothing live, since nothing cannot be enlivened. I am not extending the gift I both have and am, so therefore I do not know my being. All confusion comes from not extending life, because that is not the Will of my Creator. I can do nothing apart from Him, and I do do nothing apart from Him. I will keep His way to remember myself, and teach His way lest I forget myself. I will give only honor to the Sons of the living God, and I will count myself among them gladly.

6. Only honor is a fitting gift for those whom God Himself created worthy of honor, and whom He honors. I will give them the appreciation God accords them always, because they are His beloved Sons in whom He is well pleased. I cannot be apart from them because I am not apart from God. I rest in His Love, and protect my rest by loving. But I love everything God created, of which I am a part, or I cannot learn of His peace and accept His gift for myself and as myself. I cannot know my own perfection until I have honored all those who were created like me.

7. One child of God is the only teacher sufficiently worthy to teach another. One Teacher is in all minds and He teaches the same lesson to all. He always teaches me the inestimable worth of every Son of God, teaching his worth with infinite patience born of the infinite Love for which He speaks. Every attack is a call for His patience, since His patience can translate attack into blessing. Those who attack do not know they are blessed. They attack because they believe they are deprived. Therefore, I will give of my abundance, and teach my bothers of their abundance. I will not share my brother's illusions of scarcity, or I will perceive myself as lacking.

8. Attack could never promote attack, unless I perceived attack as a means of depriving me of something I want. Yet, I cannot lose anything, unless I do not value it, and therefore do not want it. This makes me feel deprived of it, and by projecting my own rejection, I then believe that others are taking it from me. I must be fearful, if I believe that my brother is attacking me to tear the Kingdom of Heaven from me. This is the ultimate basis for all the ego's projection.

9. Being the part of my mind that does not believe it is responsible for itself, and being without allegiance to God, the ego is incapable of trust. Projecting the ego's insane belief that I have been treacherous to my Creator, the ego believes that my brothers, who are as incapable of treachery as I am, are out to take God from me. Whenever a brother attacks another, that is what he believes. Projection always sees my wishes in others. If I choose to separate myself from God, that is what I will think others are doing to me.

10. I am the Will of God. I will not accept anything else as my will, or I am denying what I am. Deny that I am the Will of God, and I will attack, believing I have been attacked. But, if I see the Love of God in me, I will see the Love of God everywhere, because the Love of God is everywhere. I see His abundance in everyone, and I will know that I am in Him with them. My brothers are part of me, as I am part of God. I am as lonely without understanding this, as God Himself is lonely when His Sons do not know Him. The peace of God is understanding this. There is only one way out of the world's thinking, just as there was only one way into the world's thinking. Understand totally by understanding totality.

11. If I perceive any part of the ego's thought system as wholly insane, wholly delusional, and wholly undesirable, I have correctly evaluated all of the ego's thought system. This correction enables me to perceive any part of creation as wholly real, wholly perfect and wholly desirable. Wanting only this perception, I will have only this perception, and giving only this, I will be only this. The gifts I offer to the ego are always experienced as sacrifices, but the gifts I offer to the Kingdom are gifts to myself. These gifts will always be treasured by God, because they belong to His beloved Sons, who belong to Him. All power and glory are mine because the Kingdom is God's.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4424156Sun, 04 May 2014 22:45:20 +0000Frances AllanT-7.7-The Totality of the Kingdom 1. Whenever I deny a blessing to a brother, I will feel deprived, because denial is as total as love. It is as impossible to deny part of the Sonship as it is to love part of the Sonship. Nor is it possible to...
1. Whenever I deny a blessing to a brother, I will feel deprived, because denial is as total as love. It is as impossible to deny part of the Sonship as it is to love part of the Sonship. Nor is it possible to love the Sonship totally, at times. I cannot be totally committed sometimes. Denial has no power in itself, but I can give it the power of my mind, whose power is without limit. If I use my mind to deny reality, reality is gone for me. Reality cannot be partly appreciated. That is why denying any part of reality means I have lost the awareness of all of it. Yet, denial is a defense, and so it is as capable of being used positively as well as negatively. Used negatively denial will be destructive, because it will be used for attack. But in the service of the Holy Spirit, denial can help me to recognize part of reality, and thus appreciate all of reality. Mind is too powerful to be subject to exclusion. I will never be able to exclude myself from my thoughts.

2. When a brother acts insanely, he is offering me an opportunity to bless him. His need is mine. I need the blessing I can offer him. There is no way for me to have the blessing except by giving the blessing. This is the law of God, and this law has no exceptions. What I deny, I lack. Not because it is lacking, but, because I have denied it in another, I am therefore not aware of it in myself. Every response I make is determined by what I think I am. What I want to be is what I think I am. What I want to be, then, must determine every response I make.

3. I do not need God's blessing because that I have forever, but I do need my blessing. The ego's picture of me is deprived, unloving and vulnerable. I cannot love this. Yet, I can very easily escape from this image by leaving this image behind. I am not there, and this image is not me. I will not see this picture in anyone, or I have accepted this picture as me. All illusions about the Sonship are dispelled together, as they were made together. I will teach no one that he is what I would not want to be. My brother is the mirror in which I see the image of myself as long as perception lasts. And perception will last until the Sonship knows itself as whole. I made perception, and perception must last as long as I want it to last.

4. Illusions are investments. Illusions will last as long as I value them. Values are relative, but they are powerful, because they are mental judgments. The only way to dispel illusions is to withdraw all investment from them. They will have no life for me, because I will have put them out of my mind. While I include them in my mind, I am giving life to Illusions. Except, there is nothing there to receive my gift of life.

5. The gift of life is mine to give, because life was given me. I am unaware of my gift because I do not give it. I cannot make nothing live, since nothing cannot be enlivened. I am not extending the gift I both have and am, so therefore I do not know my being. All confusion comes from not extending life, because that is not the Will of my Creator. I can do nothing apart from Him, and I do do nothing apart from Him. I will keep His way to remember myself, and teach His way lest I forget myself. I will give only honor to the Sons of the living God, and I will count myself among them gladly.

6. Only honor is a fitting gift for those whom God Himself created worthy of honor, and whom He honors. I will give them the appreciation God accords them always, because they are His beloved Sons in whom He is well pleased. I cannot be apart from them because I am not apart from God. I rest in His Love, and protect my rest by loving. But I love everything God created, of which I am a part, or I cannot learn of His peace and accept His gift for myself and as myself. I cannot know my own perfection until I have honored all those...]]>757acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/t-7-6-from-vigilance-to-peace-2
8. Jesus has emphasized that the ego does believe it can attack God, and tries to persuade me that I have attacked God. If the mind cannot attack, the ego proceeds perfectly logically to the belief that I must be a body. By not seeing me as I am, the ego can see itself as it wants to be. Aware of its weakness, the ego wants my allegiance, but not as I really am. Therefore, the ego wants to engage my mind in the ego's own delusional system, because otherwise the light of my understanding would dispel the ego. The ego wants no part of truth, because the ego itself is not true. If truth is total, the untrue cannot exist. Commitment to either must be total. Truth and the ego cannot coexist in my mind without splitting (dissociating) my mind. If the ego and truth cannot coexist in peace, and if I want peace, I must give up the idea of conflict entirely, and for all time. This requires vigilance only as long as I do not recognize what is true. While I believe that two totally contradictory thought systems share truth, my need for vigilance is apparent.

9. My mind is dividing its allegiance between two kingdoms, and I am totally committed to neither of them. My identification with God's Kingdom is totally beyond question, except by me when I am thinking insanely. What I am is not established by my perception, and is not influenced by my perception at all. Perceived problems in identification, at any level, are not problems of fact. Perceived problems are problems of understanding, since the presence of perceived problems implies a belief that what I am is up to me to decide. The ego believes this totally, being fully committed to it. It is not true. The ego therefore, is totally committed to untruth, perceiving in total contradiction to the Holy Spirit, and to the knowledge of God.

10. I can be perceived with meaning only by the Holy Spirit, because my being is the knowledge of God. Any belief I accept apart from this, will obscure God's Voice in me, and will therefore obscure God to me. Unless I perceive God's creation truly, I cannot know the Creator, since God and His creation are not separate. The Oneness of the Creator and the creation is my wholeness, my sanity, and my limitless power. This limitless power is God's gift to me, because it is what I am. If I dissociate my mind from this limitless power, I am perceiving the most powerful force in the universe as if it were weak, because I do not believe I am part of it.

11. Perceived without my part in it, God's creation is seen as weak, and those who see themselves as weakened do attack. The attack must be blind, however, because there is nothing to attack. Therefore, the weakened ones make up images, perceive the images as unworthy, and attack the images for their unworthiness. That is all the world of the ego is. Nothing. The ego's world has no meaning. The ego's world does not exist. I will not try to understand the ego's world, because, if I do, I am believing that it can be understood, and is therefore capable of being appreciated, and loved. That would justify the world's existence, which cannot be justified. I cannot make the meaningless meaningful. This can only be an insane attempt.

12. Allowing insanity to enter my mind means that I have not judged sanity as wholly desirable. If I want something else, I will make something else, but because it is something else, it will attack my thought system, and divide my allegiance. I cannot create in this divided state. I must be vigilant against this divided state, because only peace can be extended. My divided mind is blocking the extension of the Kingdom, and the extension of the Kingdom is my joy. If I do not extend the Kingdom, I am not thinking with my Creator, and creating as He created.

13. In this depressing state the Holy Spirit reminds me gently that I am sad because I am not fulfilling my function as co-creator with God, and am therefore depriving myself of joy. This is not God's choice but mine. If my mind could be out of accord with God's, I would be willing without meaning. Yet, because God's will is unchangeable, no conflict of will is possible. This is the Holy Spirit's perfectly consistent teaching. Creation, not separation, is my will because it is God's will, and nothing that opposes God's will means anything at all. Being a perfect accomplishment, the Sonship can only accomplish perfectly, extending the joy in which the Sonship was created, and identifying itself with both its Creator and its creations, knowing They are one.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4418293Sat, 03 May 2014 14:33:13 +0000Frances AllanT-7.6-From Vigilance to Peace-2 8. Jesus has emphasized that the ego does believe it can attack God, and tries to persuade me that I have attacked God. If the mind cannot attack, the ego proceeds perfectly logically to the belief that I must be a...
8. Jesus has emphasized that the ego does believe it can attack God, and tries to persuade me that I have attacked God. If the mind cannot attack, the ego proceeds perfectly logically to the belief that I must be a body. By not seeing me as I am, the ego can see itself as it wants to be. Aware of its weakness, the ego wants my allegiance, but not as I really am. Therefore, the ego wants to engage my mind in the ego's own delusional system, because otherwise the light of my understanding would dispel the ego. The ego wants no part of truth, because the ego itself is not true. If truth is total, the untrue cannot exist. Commitment to either must be total. Truth and the ego cannot coexist in my mind without splitting (dissociating) my mind. If the ego and truth cannot coexist in peace, and if I want peace, I must give up the idea of conflict entirely, and for all time. This requires vigilance only as long as I do not recognize what is true. While I believe that two totally contradictory thought systems share truth, my need for vigilance is apparent.

9. My mind is dividing its allegiance between two kingdoms, and I am totally committed to neither of them. My identification with God's Kingdom is totally beyond question, except by me when I am thinking insanely. What I am is not established by my perception, and is not influenced by my perception at all. Perceived problems in identification, at any level, are not problems of fact. Perceived problems are problems of understanding, since the presence of perceived problems implies a belief that what I am is up to me to decide. The ego believes this totally, being fully committed to it. It is not true. The ego therefore, is totally committed to untruth, perceiving in total contradiction to the Holy Spirit, and to the knowledge of God.

10. I can be perceived with meaning only by the Holy Spirit, because my being is the knowledge of God. Any belief I accept apart from this, will obscure God's Voice in me, and will therefore obscure God to me. Unless I perceive God's creation truly, I cannot know the Creator, since God and His creation are not separate. The Oneness of the Creator and the creation is my wholeness, my sanity, and my limitless power. This limitless power is God's gift to me, because it is what I am. If I dissociate my mind from this limitless power, I am perceiving the most powerful force in the universe as if it were weak, because I do not believe I am part of it.

11. Perceived without my part in it, God's creation is seen as weak, and those who see themselves as weakened do attack. The attack must be blind, however, because there is nothing to attack. Therefore, the weakened ones make up images, perceive the images as unworthy, and attack the images for their unworthiness. That is all the world of the ego is. Nothing. The ego's world has no meaning. The ego's world does not exist. I will not try to understand the ego's world, because, if I do, I am believing that it can be understood, and is therefore capable of being appreciated, and loved. That would justify the world's existence, which cannot be justified. I cannot make the meaningless meaningful. This can only be an insane attempt.

12. Allowing insanity to enter my mind means that I have not judged sanity as wholly desirable. If I want something else, I will make something else, but because it is something else, it will attack my thought system, and divide my allegiance. I cannot create in this divided state. I must be vigilant against this divided state, because only peace can be extended. My divided mind is blocking the extension of the Kingdom, and the extension of the Kingdom is my joy. If I do not extend the Kingdom, I am not thinking with my Creator, and creating as He created.

13. In this depressing state the Holy Spirit reminds me gently that I am sad because...]]>433acim-audio/textcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/fada/t-7-6-from-vigilance-to-peace-1
1. Although I can love the Sonship only as one, I can perceive the Sonship as fragmented. It is impossible, however, to see something in part of the Sonship that I will not attribute to all of the Sonship. That is why attack is never discrete, and why attack must be relinquished entirely. If attack is not relinquished entirely, it is not relinquished at all. Fear or love make or create, depending on whether the ego or the Holy Spirit begets or inspires them. But fear or love will return to the mind of the thinker, and will affect the thinker's total perception. That includes the thinker's concept of God, of God's creations, and of the thinker's own creations. The thinker will not appreciate any of Them, if he regards Them fearfully. He will appreciate all of Them if he regards Them with love.

2. The mind that accepts attack cannot love. That is because, the mind that accepts attack, believes it can destroy love, and therefore does not understand what love is. If the mind does not understand what love is, that mind cannot perceive itself as loving. This loses the awareness of being, induces feelings of unreality and results in utter confusion. My thinking has done this, because of the mind's power, but my thinking can also save me from this, because the mind's power is not of my making. My ability to direct my thinking as I choose, is part of the mind's power. If I do not believe I can do this, I have denied the power of my thought, and thus rendered my thought powerless in my belief.

3. The ingeniousness of the ego to preserve itself is enormous, but this ingeniousness stems from the very mind power the ego denies. This means that the ego attacks what is preserving it, resulting in its extreme anxiety. This is why the ego never recognizes what it is doing. It is perfectly logical, but clearly insane. It draws upon the one source that is totally inimical to its existence, for its existence. The ego is forced to depreciate the power of this source, being fearful to perceive the power. This threatens its own existence, a state intolerable to the ego. It resolves this insane dilemma in a logical, but still insane way. By projecting the threat onto me, and perceiving my being as nonexistent, the ego does not see its existence as threatened. If I side with it, the ego's continuance is ensured, by guaranteeing I will not know my own safety.

4. The ego cannot afford to know anything. Knowledge is total, and the ego does not believe in totality. This unbelief is the ego's origin. While the ego does not love me, it is faithful to its own antecedents, begetting as it was begotten. Mind always reproduces as it was produced. Produced by fear, the ego reproduces fear. Fear is the ego's allegiance, and this allegiance makes the ego treacherous to love, love being what I am. The ego must deny that love is my power. The ego must also deny everything this power gives, as this power gives me everything. No one who has everything wants the ego. If the mind that made the ego knew itself, rejection is the only decision the ego could possibly encounter. And the mind would know itself if it recognized any part of the Sonship. Then, the ego's own maker would not want it.

5. The ego opposes all appreciation and recognition, all sane perception, and all knowledge. The ego perceives their threat as total, because it senses that all commitments the mind makes are total. Forced to detach itself from me, the ego is willing to attach itself to anything else. But there is nothing else. However, the mind can make up illusions, and if it does will believe in the illusions, because it made the illusions by believing in them.

6. Because the Holy Spirit cannot perceive illusions at all, He undoes illusions without attacking them. Therefore, illusions do not exist for the Holy Spirit. He resolves the apparent conflict illusions engender by perceiving conflict as meaningless. The Holy Spirit perceives the conflict exactly as it is, and it is meaningless. The Holy Spirit does not want me to understand conflict. He wants me to realize that, because it is meaningless, conflict is not understandable. As Jesus said, understanding brings appreciation, and appreciation brings love. Only love can be understood, only love is real, and only love has meaning.

7. If I keep in mind what the Holy Spirit offers me, I can be vigilant only for God and His Kingdom. The reason I may find this hard to accept, is because I still think there is something else. Belief does not require vigilance unless it is conflicted. If belief is conflicted, there are conflicting components within the belief that have led to a state of war. Vigilance has therefore become essential. Vigilance has no place in peace. Vigilance is necessary against beliefs that are not true, and vigilance would never have been called upon by the Holy Spirit if I had not believed the untrue. When I believe something, I have made it true for me. When I believe what God does not know, my thought seems to contradict God's thought, and this makes it appear as if I am attacking God.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/4414025Fri, 02 May 2014 14:40:07 +0000Frances AllanT-7.6-From Vigilance to Peace-1 1. Although I can love the Sonship only as one, I can perceive the Sonship as fragmented. It is impossible, however, to see something in part of the Sonship that I will not attribute to all of the Sonship. That is...
1. Although I can love the Sonship only as one, I can perceive the Sonship as fragmented. It is impossible, however, to see something in part of the Sonship that I will not attribute to all of the Sonship. That is why attack is never discrete, and why attack must be relinquished entirely. If attack is not relinquished entirely, it is not relinquished at all. Fear or love make or create, depending on whether the ego or the Holy Spirit begets or inspires them. But fear or love will return to the mind of the thinker, and will affect the thinker's total perception. That includes the thinker's concept of God, of God's creations, and of the thinker's own creations. The thinker will not appreciate any of Them, if he regards Them fearfully. He will appreciate all of Them if he regards Them with love.

2. The mind that accepts attack cannot love. That is because, the mind that accepts attack, believes it can destroy love, and therefore does not understand what love is. If the mind does not understand what love is, that mind cannot perceive itself as loving. This loses the awareness of being, induces feelings of unreality and results in utter confusion. My thinking has done this, because of the mind's power, but my thinking can also save me from this, because the mind's power is not of my making. My ability to direct my thinking as I choose, is part of the mind's power. If I do not believe I can do this, I have denied the power of my thought, and thus rendered my thought powerless in my belief.

3. The ingeniousness of the ego to preserve itself is enormous, but this ingeniousness stems from the very mind power the ego denies. This means that the ego attacks what is preserving it, resulting in its extreme anxiety. This is why the ego never recognizes what it is doing. It is perfectly logical, but clearly insane. It draws upon the one source that is totally inimical to its existence, for its existence. The ego is forced to depreciate the power of this source, being fearful to perceive the power. This threatens its own existence, a state intolerable to the ego. It resolves this insane dilemma in a logical, but still insane way. By projecting the threat onto me, and perceiving my being as nonexistent, the ego does not see its existence as threatened. If I side with it, the ego's continuance is ensured, by guaranteeing I will not know my own safety.

4. The ego cannot afford to know anything. Knowledge is total, and the ego does not believe in totality. This unbelief is the ego's origin. While the ego does not love me, it is faithful to its own antecedents, begetting as it was begotten. Mind always reproduces as it was produced. Produced by fear, the ego reproduces fear. Fear is the ego's allegiance, and this allegiance makes the ego treacherous to love, love being what I am. The ego must deny that love is my power. The ego must also deny everything this power gives, as this power gives me everything. No one who has everything wants the ego. If the mind that made the ego knew itself, rejection is the only decision the ego could possibly encounter. And the mind would know itself if it recognized any part of the Sonship. Then, the ego's own maker would not want it.

5. The ego opposes all appreciation and recognition, all sane perception, and all knowledge. The ego perceives their threat as total, because it senses that all commitments the mind makes are total. Forced to detach itself from me, the ego is willing to attach itself to anything else. But there is nothing else. However, the mind can make up illusions, and if it does will believe in the illusions, because it made the illusions by believing in them.

6. Because the Holy Spirit cannot perceive illusions at all, He undoes illusions without attacking them. Therefore, illusions do not exist for the Holy Spirit. He resolves...]]>558acim-audio/textcleanfull