1. The state of sinlessness is merely this: The whole desire to attack is gone, and so there is no reason to perceive the Son of God as other than he is. The need for guilt is gone because it has no purpose and is meaningless without the goal of sin. Attack and sin are bound as one illusion, each the calls and aim and justifier of the other. Each is meaningless, alone, but seems to draw a meaning from the other. Each depends upon the other for whatever sense it seems to have. And no one could believe in one unless the other were the truth, for each attest the other must be true.
2. Attack makes Christ your enemy, and God, along with Him. Must you not be afraid with “enemies” like these? And must you not be fearful of yourself? For you have hurt yourself and made your self your “enemy.” And now you must believe you are not you, but something alien to yourself and “something else,” a “something” to be feared instead of loved. Who would attack whatever he perceives as wholly innocent? And who, because he wishes to attack, can fail to think he must be guilty to maintain the wish, while wanting innocence? For who could see the Son of God is innocent and wish him dead? Christ stands before you each time you look upon your brother. He has not gone because your eyes are closed. But what is there to see? By searching for your Savior, seeing Him through sightless eyes?
3. It is not Christ you see by looking thus. It is the “enemy,” confused with Christ, you look upon. And hate because there is no sin in him for you to see. Nor do you hear his plaintive call, unchanged in content in whatever form the call is made, that you unite with him, and join with him in innocence and peace. And yet, beneath the ego’s senseless shrieks, such is the call that God has given him, that you might hear in him, his call to you, an answer by returning unto God what is His own.
4, The Son of God asks only this of you; that you return to him what is his due, that you may share in it with him. Alone does neither have it. So must it remain useless to both. Together, it will give to each an equal strength to save the other and save himself along with him. Forgiven by you, your Savior offers you salvation. Condemned by you, he offers death to you. In everyone you see but the reflection of what you choose to have him be to you. If you decide against his proper function, the only one he has in truth, you are depriving him of all the joy he would have found if he fulfilled the role God gave to him. But think not Heaven is lost to him alone. Nor can it be regained unless the way is shown to him through you, that you may find it, walking by his side.
5. It is no sacrifice that he be saved, for by his freedom will you gain your own. To let his function be fulfilled is but the means to let yours be. And so you walk toward Heaven, or toward hell, but not alone. How beautiful his sinlessness will be when you perceive it! And how great will be your joy, when he is free to offer you the gift of sight God gave to him for you! He has no need but this; that you allow him freedom to complete the task God gave to him. Remember, but this; That what he does you do, along with him. And as you see him, so do you define the function he will have for you, until you see him differently and let him be what God appointed that he be to you.
6. Against the hatred that the Son of God may cherish toward himself, is God believed to be without the power to save what He created from the pain of hell. But in the love, he shows himself, is God made free to let His Will be done. In your brother you see the picture of your own belief in what the Will of God must be for you. In your forgiveness, will you understand His Love for you; through your attack believe He hates you, thinking Heaven must be hell. Look once again upon your brother, not without the understanding that he is the way to Heaven or to hell, as you perceive him. But forgot not this; the role you give to him as given you, and you will walk the way you pointed out to him because it is your judgment on yourself.[1]
We come to our own state of purity, innocence, and eternal goodness by our willingness to see past the body of our brother to his purity, innocence, and eternal goodness. When we see each other in our mutuality, in our equality, in our love for and striving for God – we are naturally drawn to love another, to be Christ to one another, to be kind and merciful and understanding. We are not here to make fun, to encourage discord, to take delight in the shame and sorrow of our brothers. While we are not here to abet others in their martyrdom, in their self-pity, in their fear of God, and beliefs in sin and sacrifice, we are not here to rant and rave, point fingers of blame, and condemn them either!
We are here to love our brothers, to uphold them in tender regard, to forgive them their humanity, to see in their unruliness, their blabbermouths, their showy ways, and flagrant self-promotion only the Christ in them. This is a conscious choice, a decision that I make about you, and you make about me. I am not here to judge you nor are you here to judge me. This simply is not our job. When you see an area of possible improvement for my life, and you are led by your holiness to help me, call me to mind in the holy instant and let that which joins my mind with yours inform me of the lack you see in me.
In our Mind we know Everything, we have Everything, we are Everything for we are joined with God and all that is. When we meet there, there is no “but.” There is no, “Yes, you are good at this, but here is what you need to do to be better.” For when we meet in the holy instant that kind of thing goes away for what you see in me will be made apparent to you as what you are blind to in yourself. Correct it in yourself and the “but” you have with me goes away. It is sweet, this holiness, for there is no shame in it, there is no meanness, smugness, or jealousy in any form.
Behold each other in the flesh, and we will be in a state of blindness to our oneness. I will see you as someone I need to correct, someone I need to guard against, someone who may be ahead of me or behind me but never by my side as part of me and as one with me. My interests will be my own interests peppered with delusional attempts to make me seem more helpful, caring, and willing to sacrifice than others. I will kid myself about my superior understanding of our spiritual path and set myself up as guru or master, where I am the big cheese, and you are the little cheeseballs who have nothing to teach me! If I do not recognize you, and you fail to recognize me, as savior, brother, and friend, we may think we are walking toward Heaven, but we walk in hell together – in our own state of separateness, walking alone, but never arriving anywhere.
In our holiness we are not competing with one another for more stars in our crown. We are not asking to sit on the right hand of God. We are not asking for any special favors. Popularity means nothing to us in our holiness for how can we hope to be more popular than our brothers whom we love and share eternal mutuality and happiness? We do not play games of “I’ll like your stuff and you like mine!” This is a worldly game that distracts us from our God-given love and trust in one another that has nothing to do with followers, stats, or how many people hang on our every word. To get caught up in this is unworthy of our Sonship, for my love for you and your love for me is a given and comes from beyond the world we see.
We are called to do our work, to share our talents, to see our brothers as Christ. To return to God is to be committed only to this. It is the only thing to desire; it is the only thing worth doing in the world. I give this because it was given me; I point it out that I may follow this myself! There is no less vigilance required from me than from you, but the practice of it, makes perfect, and in perfection there is rest from all the wearying triteness in the world.
Let us return to God what is His due. You love me and I love you.
[1] A Course in Miracles. Chapter 25 The justice of God. V. The state of sinlessness. Foundation for Inner Peace, Second Edition (1992).
For daily 2021 Workbook lessons, visit www.i-choose-love.com courtesy of Linda R.
Audio credit: www.eckiefriar.com
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