True Empathy. Ego's interpretation of empathy is to join into a "special" relationship with another through suffering. Suffered is "understood" and shared. Ego uses empathy destructively as it uses everything destructively. The proof of ego's destructive nature is that empathy is used only in certain types of problems and only for certain people. These it selects out and joins with. Ego only empathizes to weaken and attack another, and strengthen only itself.
God can use the capacity to empathize for my Awakening, provided that I let Him use it in His way. He teaches me that suffering is not understandable. When I allow Him to relate to others through me He does not relate from one ego to another. He does not join in pain. Healing pain is not accomplished by delusional attempts to "empathize." I cannot lighten the load by sharing the delusion. Merely sit quietly by and let God relate through me. With Him, I will empathize with Strength. Anything ego values in a relationship will ultimately be destructive. Do not enter into any relationship on my own; choose neither to hurt nor to heal. Step aside gently and let healing be done for me, by God.
Do not judge any person or situation. Focus my mind only on inviting God and then stepping out of His way. I need do nothing except to not interfere. Recognize and accept the fact that I do not know how to empathize, and recognize and accept the fact that God does know.
I am the student and God is the Teacher. Do not confuse these roles. I will share in His perception and His Strength working through me. No needs will be left unmet if I leave them all to Him Whose function it is to meet them. What I give through God is for the whole Sonship. Ask Him to enter my relationships and bless them for me.
The Power of Holiness. Holiness must include everyone to be Holy. Everything of God extends to His Creation. There is a tendency in the dream-world to divide the Whole into fragments and be concerned about the Truth of just a little fragment.
Miracles result from my forgiveness of the dream, my forgiveness of myself, my thoughts and my forgiveness of "others" and the world "outside" me. Miracles are reflections of Truth and changes in my perception of "reality." God uses all I have miscreated to bring me back to an Awareness of Reality. I am called to forgive "others" for what they seem to say and do. In forgiving them, I learn of my Oneness. I am called to forgive the "world." As I forgive it, I learn of its unreality. What I think of as "reality," has been a dream. Let God tell me of Truth. If I do not want Truth, no evidence will convince me of It. So I must be open to Truth. Welcome and honor God and the Witnesses He brings.
I have come too near Truth to renounce It now. I will yield to Its compelling attraction of my own accord. I can delay Truth but eventually I will accept It, for Truth is my Reality.
This is a time of Joy, in which my learning will increase and my Peace will grow. The Power of Holiness and the weakness of attack are both being brought into my Awareness. All this has been accomplished in a mind firmly attached to illusions! Is this not miracle enough?
Interpret only with God. I have many Witnesses that speak so clearly for Him, that only the blind and deaf could fail to see and hear. Listen to God's Voice. His Voice has spoken clearly, yet I have such little faith in what I heard because I am consumed with the disaster I have made. Accept the Joyful news that my disaster is not Real, and Reality is not disaster. Reality is Safe and Sure, and Wholly Kind to everyone and everything. Love asks only that I be Happy and It gives me Everything to make it so.
Every problem given to God is solved. I have never been successful in solving my own problems. Is it not time to bring these facts together and make sense of them? Today, invest in Truth and Its Peace. Have faith in Him, Who has faith in me. Trust these words I have seen and heard; recognize them. Can I be alone with Witnesses such as these?
The Reward of Teaching. Consider what I have learned since studying ACIM and how alien it is to what I thought I knew. I will be compelled to realize that my Teacher came from beyond my thought system. The result of this new Thought has brought me Peace where there was pain, and Joy where there was suffering. "By their fruits ye shall know them," Matthew 7:16, and I can add, "and they shall know themselves." I judge myself according to my beliefs and teachings.
This is a course in how to know my Self. Illusions are beliefs in what is not there. The seeming conflict between Truth and illusion can only be resolved by separating myself from illusion. I have been told that I am the Son of God; now let Knowledge teach me of this Reality. Within me is all the Knowledge of God, but I have embraced illusions.....yet this has not changed my Reality.
I seem to be two selves in conflict: an ego and the Son of God. Only one of these is True. Sooner or later, I must bridge the gap I imagine exists between my selves. I build this bridge, which carries me across the gap as soon as I am willing to exert a small effort. My efforts are powerfully supplemented by the Strength of Heaven and the United Will of the One who makes Heaven what It is. And so as I cross over, I am literally transported there, and it is my Self who stands on the other side waiting for me.
The Illusion and The Reality of Love. Do not be afraid to look on special hate relationships. My Freedom lies in looking at them. I have created special love relationships to offset special hate relationships. The special love relationship merely drives hate underground. It is the attempt to balance hate with Love making Love meaningless to me. The symbols of hate against the symbols of Love play out in a conflict which does not really exist. The illusion of Love will never satisfy, but Love's Reality (which waits for me on the other side) will give me Everything.
The special love relationship is an attempt to limit the destructive effects of hate, by finding a haven in the storm of guilt. The special love relationship is not perceived as valuable in itself, but only as a place of safety from which hatred is split off and kept apart. The special love partner is acceptable only as long as he serves this purpose. Hatred can enter, and is indeed acceptable in some aspects of the love relationship, but the relationship is only held together by the illusion of love. If the illusion goes, the relationship is broken or becomes unsatisfying on the grounds of disillusionment.
Love is not an illusion, It is a fact. Where disillusionment is possible there was no Love, only hate. Hate is an illusion, because what can change from love to hate was never Love. In the world of dreams, love is only an escape from death. There are no "triumphs of love," for only hate can concern itself with "triumph." The illusion of love can triumph over the illusion of hate, but always at a price. As long as the illusion of hatred lasts, Love will be an illusion to me. The only choice which remains possible is which illusion I prefer. There is no conflict in the choice between Truth and illusion, for only one is True. Seen in these terms, I cannot hesitate. Conflict enters the instant the choice seems to be one between illusions. Where one choice is as dangerous as the other, the decision is one of despair.
My task is not to seek for Love, but to seek and find all the barriers within myself that I have built against Love. I do not have to seek for Truth because Truth is All That Exists. But it is necessary to search for what is false. Every illusion is one of fear, whatever form it takes. The attempt to escape from one illusion into another, brings me despair. If I seek Love "outside" myself, I can be sure that I first perceived hatred within and am fearful. Peace will never come from the illusion of love, only from Its Reality.
Truth must be recognized if It is to be distinguished from illusion. The special love relationship is an attempt to bring love to fear and make it real. This is a violation of Love's condition. The special love relationship attempts to accomplish the impossible in order to show me a world "separated from" God. I will not be afraid to look at my illusions, for this is essential.
Heaven waits silently. I seek only for my Completion. The special love relationship is a shabby substitute for Heaven.
I will not look to be "special," but only to be Wholly like God. Do not seek for Peace and Perfection in a world of illusions, which was created by me to show me a world "apart from" God, where nothing is certain and everything fails to satisfy. In the name of God, be completely willing to abandon all illusions.
Every illusion I accept into my mind removes my sense of Wholeness and Completion. Every fantasy, be it love or hate, deprives me of Knowledge, for fantasies are the veil which hide Truth. The veil seems so heavy and dark; yet be unwilling to settle for illusion in place of Truth.
My world of illusion tells me that I must go through fear to get to Love. Love calls me, but hate asks me to stay. Refuse to hear the call of hate. Look for nothing valuable in illusions. See in the call of hate and in every illusion that tries to delay me, only a call for help.
The journey that seemed endless is almost complete. For what is Timeless is very near. Turn away from illusions and let nothing stand in the way of Truth. I will take the last useless journey away from Truth ~ the journey of illusions ~ then my brothers and I go together to our Father.
If special relationships of any kind hinder my Completion in God, can they have any value to me? On this side of the Bridge to Timelessness, I understand nothing. But as I step lightly across It, upheld by Timelessness, I am directed straight to the Heart of God. At Its Center ~ and only There ~ am I saved and Complete Forever.
Follow God. The way to Truth is open.
The Choice for Completion. The special relationship involves a great deal of pain. Anxiety, despair, guilt and attack all enter into it, broken into periods where I seem to have peace. Ego's special love relationship is its chief weapon for keeping me from Heaven. It does not appear to be a weapon, but if I consider how and why I value it, I will realize it must be.
The fantasies which center around the special relationship are judged to be acceptable and quite natural. I do not consider it bizarre to love and hate together. Even when I believe that hate is sinful, I merely feel guilty but do not aim to correct it.
This is the "natural" condition of the separation. The world of dreams is opposite to Heaven and everything here is directly the opposite of Truth. In Heaven, Love and Union are one and the same. Here, the illusion of love is accepted in Love's place, and love is perceived as separation and exclusion.
Even in the dream-world, Heaven is seen as Completion. There is no disagreement on this, both ego and the Heaven accept it. They are in complete disagreement on what completion is and how it is accomplished. It is essential to ego to believe that the "specialness" of the special relationship is Heaven, not hell. Yet, the special relationship is an unnatural ego device for "joining" hell and Heaven, making them indistinguishable. The attempt to find the best of both worlds has led to fantasies of both, and the inability to perceive either as it Truly is. The special relationship is a kind of "union" from which actual Union is excluded, and its foundation rests on exclusivity or exclusion. Its maxim is, "seek, but do not find."
Ego seeks to make itself complete, yet when it finds the special relationship to do this, it gives itself away, trying to trade itself for the "better" self of another. This is not Union, for there is no increase and no extension. Each partner trying to sacrifice the self he does not want for one he thinks he would prefer. And part of him feels guilty for 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?
The "better" self is always one that is more special and whoever has that special self, is "loved" for what can be taken from him. Both partners see this special self in each other and ego sees a "union made in heaven." Neither one will recognize that he has asked for hell, so he will not interfere with ego's illusion of Heaven. All illusions are based on fear, and the illusion of heaven is nothing more than an attractive form of fear, in which guilt is buried deep and rises in the form of "love."
"Littleness" lies in every special relationship, for only the deprived could value specialness. The demand for specialness and the giving of specialness seem to be an act of love, but "specialness" makes love hateful. For ego, the real purpose of the special relationship is to destroy Reality and substitute illusion, reinforcing the "separation from" God. Ego itself is an illusion and only other illusions can witness to ego's "reality."
Through the special relationship, I take from another the "specialness" I desire, to replace the part of me that I despise. I despise it because it does not offer me the "specialness" I demand of myself. Hating it, I have made it small and unworthy, and I am afraid of it. An altar is erected in between two separate people, on which each seeks to sacrifice himself and raise a "better self," taking its power from sacrifice (or death). This ritual is played over and over and over, though never completed or fulfilled because Life does not arise from death, and I cannot make Heaven out of hell.
The special relationship is a ritual of form, aimed at raising a "better" form to take the place of God. There is no meaning in form and there never will be. This world was created to experience "separation from" God. In Reality this is not possible, but I can imagine that it is. Therefore anything that keeps me cemented to the illusion of this world, keeps me "separate from" God, be it a special "love" or a special "hate."
Salvation lies in the simple fact that illusions are not True. There is a simple choice between illusion and Truth, nothing more. The decision whether or not to follow the teachings of this Course is only the choice between Truth and illusion. Fantasies make confusion in choosing possible. But given Truth, separated from illusion, there is really no confusion at all and the choice becomes simple.
Separation is merely the decision to not know myself as God's Son. This thought system is a carefully contrived learning experience designed to lead me away from Truth and into fantasy. Yet for every learning that would hurt me, God offers correction and complete escape from all its consequences.
Today, make the easiest and only decision I have ever had to make. This world, and everything in it, is an illusion. It does not exist. Bodies do not exist, and there is only One of us. I will cross the bridge into Reality simply because I recognize God is on the other side, and He is All There Is.
Bridge to the Real World. When I search for a special relationship, it is a sign that I equate myself with ego and not with God. The special relationship is valuable only to ego, who believes unless a relationship has special value, it has no meaning. In Reality, special love is unnatural and completely unlike the relationship of God and His Son.
Love is Freedom. To look for It by placing myself in the bondage of a special relationship is to actually separate myself from Love. Do not seek for Union in separation and do not look for Freedom in bondage. As I release, so I will be released.
The special relationship is totally meaningless without a body and if I value it, I am valuing the body as well. What I value, I hold onto. The special relationship limits me to a body, and limits my perception of others to theirs. I will perceive the world I value. On this side of the bridge, I see a world of separate bodies and seek to join in separate and special unions; I become "one" by losing myself in another. Across the bridge, it is so different! For a time, the body is still seen, but not exclusively as it is seen here. The little Spark of Divinity in me is also visible and this Spark can not be limited very long to littleness. Once I have crossed the bridge, the value of the body is diminished greatly, and I realize the only value left in it, is to enable me to bring my "brothers" with me, to be released there together.
The bridge is not an actual place, but a symbol of the transition in my perspective of Reality. On this side everything I see is grossly distorted and completely out of perspective; what is little and weak is magnified, and what is strong and powerful is diminished. In the transition, there is a period of confusion, in which an actual disorientation may occur. There is no need to be afraid, for it only means that I am willing to let go of the world of separation. Without the illusion of the special relationship, there is no meaning I still seek here.
Do not fear that I will be abruptly lifted up and hurled into Reality. Time is kind if I use it on behalf of Reality, and it will keep gentle pace with me in my transition. I will not be homeless without a frame of reference. The period of disorientation, which comes before the actual transition, is far shorter than the time it took to teach myself to embrace illusions.
Delay will hurt me now more than before, only because I realize that escape from pain is really possible. Find hope and comfort, rather than despair. I am no longer wholly insane. Do not look back with longing on the travesty ego made of "love."
I have come too far, and there is no need to suffer any longer. See no illusion of Truth and Beauty in the world of illusions; but also see no death, suffering, sickness or despair. Be thankful that my world of illusions does not exist and that there is a Place where Truth and Beauty wait for me. I receive Everything of God's World in exchange for the nothingness of illusions.
Whenever my thoughts wander to illusions that still attract me, enter with my Creator into the Holy Instant and There, let Him heal me. He needs only my small willingness. My willingness does not need to be strong or complete, because His is Perfect. Call upon Him, for all of Heaven is at His command.
End of Illusions. The special relationship is an attempt to re-enact and change the past. Imagined slights, remembered pain, past disappointments, perceived injustices and deprivations all enter into the special relationship. It then becomes a way in which I seek to restore my wounded self-esteem. What basis would I have for choosing a special partner without "the past?" The special relationship takes vengeance on the past. By its preoccupation in seeking to remove suffering from "the past," it overlooks its commitment to the present. No special relationship is experienced in the present; shades of the past make it what it is. It has no meaning in the present....and if it has no meaning now, does it have any Real Meaning at all? Who can give me what I think the past deprived me of? How can I change the "past" except in fantasy?
The past is nothing. It seems to have been a time of lost chances and misdeeds. But if "time" is an illusion and the "world of separation" exists only in my mind, then the "lost chances and misdeeds" happened only in my mind as well and in Reality never happened at all. Yet do not underestimate ego's intense drive for vengeance on the past. It is completely savage and completely insane. Ego is the part of me that believes it is separated from God and it does its job well. It will take every opportunity to show me evidence of everything "opposite" to God. Ego will "remember" everything I have "done." The fantasies it brings to its chosen love or hate relationships ~ in which to act out its hate ~ are fantasies of my destruction. Ego holds the past against me and if I attempt to escape the "past," ego is deprived of its need for vengeance. An alliance with ego is an alliance with "separation from" God. The present is useless to me while I pursue ego's obsession with the past.
The past is gone and never existed. Do not look to preserve it in "special" relationships. I need not return to the past to find my salvation. There is no illusion in my world that does not contain the idea of retribution for the past. Will I continue to act out the dream.....or let it go?
Special relationships do not appear to be acting out vengeance. Even when hatred and savagery briefly break through, the illusion of love is not profoundly shaken. The one thing ego never allows to reach my Awareness, is that the special relationship acts out vengeance on myself. I look to the special relationship for the Glory I believe is missing in myself. The relationship becomes my substitute for Heaven.
Because mine is a world of learning and perception, ACIM teaches through comparisons, using opposites to point to Truth. In the Holy Instant, it is understood that the past is gone and with its passing, the need for vengeance has disappeared. The Peace and Stillness of now hold me in Perfect Gentleness. Everything is gone except for Truth. I may still try to bring illusions into the Holy Instant, yet I will not attempt this for long. The illusions I bring with me will weaken my experience of Reality for a while, but the Power of God will prevail. The Holy Instant is a moment of Eternity, and illusions of "time" will not prevent Timelessness from being What It Is.
What God gives is Truly given and received. The Holy Instant is God's reminder that I am His Son. He holds nothing against me.
Always remember: I choose only between Truth and illusion. In the Holy Instant, the miracle extends to bless everyone and resolve all problems. Truth lies in my relationship to God and to no other.
No comments:
Post a Comment