II. SECTION 8. What is the Real World?
Lesson 299. Eternal Holiness Abides in Me
- My holiness is far beyond my own ability to understand or know. Yet God, my Father, Who created it, acknowledges my holiness as His. Our Will, together, understands it. And our Will, together, knows that it is so.
- Father, my holiness is not of me. It is not mine to be destroyed by sin. It is not mine to suffer from attack. Illusions can obscure it, but can not put out its radiance, nor dim its light. It stands forever perfect and untouched. In it are all things healed, for they remain as You created them. And I can know my holiness. For Holiness Itself created me, and I can know my Source because it is Your Will that You be known.[1]
A word to the wise: When we experience the eternal holiness that abides in us, recognize immediately that there is no fault at all in our inability to understand it or know much about it. It is perfectly fine to just acknowledge quietly without broadcasting it to others who must share our human journey.
It is there simply because God is there. We each have a holy spirit because God created our spirits whole and holy. It is His Will for our spirit to be holy, and it is our will for our spirits to be holy. There it is inside of us; we know that it is so. However, that does not mean that everybody else knows that this is so. It is not the nature of this world to grant that what we carry around on the inside, invisible to everybody else, is our reality. Especially since there is little to no difference in our outward appearance, manners, or prior experiences to back up our claims of godliness!
The bible is full of the most beautiful stories, myths, and parables. Last year this time, we studied the story of Joseph from the book of Genesis. While Joseph played a critical role in staving off starvation in Egypt, its neighboring countries and people, including his own family, it is important to note that he could have saved himself a lot of hardship by not showing off. His elevated opinion of himself had been going on since the boy was a little guy, I postulated. Born in Jacob’s older years, he probably played games with and showered attention upon Joseph in a way that he never had the time or the inclination to do with the older sons. Can we presume that none of the other sons sported fancy threads and swaggered about, spouting forth their dreams, and playing snitch for dad? The brothers’ dark jealousy, envy, and murderous rage more than likely stemmed from fear that Joseph would inherit all of their father’s riches, after years of putting in their own unrecognized labor. While Joseph naturally enjoyed being the apple of his father’s eyes, did he necessarily have to run and tell dad when the sons of the lesser wives and concubines got into a little mischief? Was it any wonder they plotted to kill him when the young braggart indicated that they were all going to bow down to him one day? No matter that one day Joseph would save their all their lives and livelihoods; no question that he was destined by God to be an important man that would save Israel, it may have happened in much less torturous paths for all involved if he only could have kept his inner greatness to himself!
Growing up, I was intimately acquainted with someone who could not keep their holiness where it belonged. Holiness abode in them, placed by God, but it was obscured by boasting and postulating. In ego mind – holiness was an outward posture that had to do with covering up the flesh, wearing outdated fashions and hair styles to prove to God and everyone else that one had separated themselves from the world. Holiness was about not smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol. It was about not going to dancehalls, not wearing two-piece bathing suits, and not watching television. It was about not turning to doctors and not taking medicine. It was about not wearing lipstick or nail polish. You get the picture. And woe to those who did such things – because they were unholy and would not only forfeit ever seeing God; they would burn in hell, forever. Little wonder when others took offense at attacks on their lack of holiness over such matters. Little wonder that all this outward posturing led to isolation, a sense of despair, and a cultish belief in being the one and only human left on earth who really lived to please God.
We can learn a valuable lesson from this teacher – some things are better left between you and God. If we are showing off our eternal holiness in the physical realm, quoting scripture at people, or reminding others of some great work that God has called us to do – we are going to have a tough row to hoe. If we boast about our godliness on social media or use God and His Son as a weapon to remind others of our holiness versus others’ lack, we will not lose our holiness – since it is invulnerable, but we will end up dejected, and feel as if we did.
Let it be known that holiness does not make us special. In the story of Joseph, he had an important role to play in the mortal salvation of his family. While we are perfectly required to own one’s function, there is certainly no excuse for boasting about it or lifting ourselves up in spiritual pride. Our holiness is not of our own making. We can be very thankful for this, for it cannot be destroyed or suffer attack. However, our insipid boasting, our strutting pride, our misunderstanding of and striving for holiness can certainly make it appear like anything but.
No worries! Jesus tells us today, no matter what we do in the flesh, we simply cannot put out the radiance of our holiness. In the real world, just beyond our vision here in ego world, our holiness stands forever perfect and unmarred by the mistakes we make of it and the ridiculous posturing we may go through in our dim understanding of God’s eternal gift.
In our holiness are we healed, for in our holiness do we remain as we were created. The real world can only be seen and experienced through healed perception. When we recognize our holiness as our true and holy Selves, we will know Creation as it was created by God, we will be reunited with Him, we will know Him – because it is His Will.[2]
[1] A Course In Miracles. Workbook for Students. Lesson 299. Foundation for Inner Peace, Second Edition (1992). p. 448.
[2] Excerpts and inspiration from 10-26-2019 blog post Lesson 299 – Eternal holiness abides in me. Used by permission from the friar patch at http://www.eckiefriar.com.
Audio credit: the friar patch @ www.eckiefriar.com
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