Closing the Gap. There is no time, no place, no state of being where God is absent. I have nothing to fear. My brother is not my enemy. There is no way that "separation" is possible in the Wholeness that is God. The smallest gap would represent a compromise in His Eternal Love. This is quite impossible. Could His Love contain a hint of hate? His Gentleness turn into attack? His Eternal Patience fail? Who could ever trust a god who is unstable and unfair? It is this unstable and unfair god I believe in when I perceive a gap between my brother and myself or a separation between God and myself.
The fear of God is plainly seen in the apparent separation. To those who fear, Love is treacherous. Those who hate are afraid of Love and therefore must be afraid of God; I fear to Love and love to hate and so I think Love is fearful and hate is Love. This is the consequence of the separation. This is the result of the belief in a little gap between brothers.
The fear of God is the greatest obstacle Peace must flow across. This one fear remains to block my path and make the way to Light seem dark, fearful, perilous and bleak. I have decided that my brother is my enemy. Sometimes he is a friend perhaps, provided that our separate interests make our friendship possible. But always with a gap between us in case he turns again into an enemy. A cautious friendship, limited in scope and carefully restricted in amount. This is the arrangement I made with my brother, in which a plan of "separation" was a point on which we both agreed and violating this was not allowed.
The gap between us is not one of space between two bodies. It is only the seeming separation of our minds. The symbol of a promise to join together when we prefer, and separate until we both decide to meet again. But it is always possible to go our separate ways on the condition that we can meet from time to time, yet remain apart by intervals of "space" protecting us from the "sacrifice" of Love. We are given "time" in which to maintain our separate selves which we believe diminish every time we meet.
It is impossible that a "body" separates our minds unless I choose/want/desire it. My mind gives my body a power that, in and of itself, does not have. It seems the body determines when we meet and limits my ability to communicate with other minds. I think it tells me where to go and how to get there; what is reasonable to do and not do. It seems the body dictates what it can tolerate and what will make it tired or sick.
The body will only do whatever the mind tells it to. It will allow limited indulgences in "love," with intervals of hatred in between. It will be sick, because in a world of separation I do not know what Wholeness means. I misuse each circumstance and everyone I meet and see in them only a purpose for further separation.
Love never asks for sacrifice. Fear asks for sacrifice. Fear demands the sacrifice of Love, for in Love's Presence, fear and separation do not exist. For hatred and separation to be maintained, Love must be feared. Therefore, Love is seen as treacherous and it seems to come and go uncertainly, offering no stability. I am unable to see how limited and weak is my loyalty to Love and how frequently I have demanded that It go away and leave me quietly alone in "peace."
The body in and of itself is nothing. It only does what the mind tells it to. Would I recognize that "nothing" stands between my brother and I? Will I accept that there is no gap in which I can hide?
There is a wariness in learning that the body is not Real. There are overtones of fear around the happy message, "God is Love." There is a shock that comes to those who learn that their enemy-brother is really their savior.
Without the fear of God, what could persuade me to abandon Him? What toys or trinkets in the world of illusion could hold me back an instant from His Love? Can I fear losing my "self" in finding God? Can my "self" really be lost by being found? What happens when the gap is gone, is Peace Eternal. Nothing more, nothing less.
The Coming of the Guest. Why does an easy path, so clearly marked that it is impossible to lose my way, seem thorny, rough and far too difficult for me to follow? The path to God requires no sacrifice and no loss. Until I realize that I give up nothing and understand there is no loss, I will have some doubts about the path to Heaven. I do not see the many gains my choice has given me, yet they are there. I have accepted healing, so it must be that I am healed. Being healed, the Power to heal must also now be mine.
It is hopeless to find the hope of Peace on a battleground. It is futile to demand escape from sin and pain of what was made to serve the function of holding onto sin and pain. Pain, sin, hate, fear, attack, guilt are but one illusion. When their cause (desire for separation) is gone their effects are gone and Love rushes in to fill the empty space.
Why are am I not rejoicing? I am are Free of pain, sickness, misery, loss, hatred and attack. Welcome the effects of Love!
My Guest has come! I invited Him and He came. I did not hear Him enter because I only half-heartedly welcomed Him. Yet He brought Gifts and laid them at my feet. He asks that I look on His Gifts and take them for my own. He needs my help in giving them to all who believe they are separate and alone. All will be healed when I accept the Gifts for myself.
Because of everything I have received, I have much to give. I cannot see my Guest, but I can perceive the Gifts He brought. And in seeing the Gifts, I will know His Presence. For what I can do now, could not be done without the Love and Grace His Presence holds.
The body and the world I have seemingly given "life" are not alive. They only symbolize my desire to be separate, or "alive" in death. Confusion follows confusion, for on confusion has the dream-world been founded. There is no other foundation it rests on. It does not change, though it seems to be in constant change. Stability to those who are confused is meaningless. Shift and change are what make up my "life." The body and the world represent the state of separation, with its apparent shifting and changing. To "change" is to attain a state unlike the one in which I found myself before. The body can appear to change with time, sickness, health, and other events that seem to alter it. Yet this only indicates that the mind remains unchanged in its belief of what the body is for: a witness to the separation from God. There is no change in Immortality.
Sickness demands that the body be something it is not. The body does not exist; it is nothing. Its nothingness guarantees that it cannot be sick. I demand that the body witness to the separation, yet I make my demands of dust. It is the mind that is sick. The mind asks that the Son be limited and weak; that God be less than all He Really Is. Only in dreams of separation and sickness can the Son and the Father be limited and weak.
I am only dreaming.
God's Witnesses. The instant I desired to experience separation from my Father and my Self as Son, and divided my Self into many "brother's," God Lovingly gave remedy to my madness. He placed my salvation in my brother and my brother's salvation in me. Every brother I encounter offers me opportunity for salvation. Do not condemn any brother because he thinks he is a body. The Son of God in him holds my salvation, no matter what he seems to do to the contrary. Look beyond my brother's dream to his Reality. His Happiness depends on saving me. Through me does he remember he is a savior and through him do I remember that I am. I accept salvation from God, but I must give it to Truly know it is mine. If I had a billion dollars and I kept it under my mattress would I feel like a billionaire? No. I have to go out and spend it and purchase beautiful and desired things, give to charity, help out my relatives and then I realize that yes, I have a lot of money. Even in this world I can understand this. First I accept the gift, then I must give to understand that I have it.
Within the dream of bodies and death, is a Spark of Truth where God still Shines. I cannot Wake myself, but I can let myself be Awakened. I begin by overlooking my brother's dreams. So Perfectly can I forgive him his illusions that he becomes my savior from my dreams. I will see that where stood a brother's body, is God Himself. Before God's Light, does his body disappear. Heavy shadows must give way to Light. Whom I forgive is given Power to forgive me. My gifts given to "others" are given back to me. In Eternity, giving and receiving are a continuum.
Make way for Love, which I did not create but which I can give. On earth this means forgive my brother that darkness may be lifted from my mind. How Holy am I, that God's Son (the part of my brother and I healed and Whole) is my savior in the midst of the dreams of desolation and disaster. The Light in me is as Bright as the Light in my brother. This is the Spark of Heaven that still Shines within the dream. This is the part of me that can help my brother Awaken and allows his Waking eyes to rest on me. In his glad salvation, I myself am saved!
Dream Roles. Truth cannot exist in a world of dreams. Illusions are dreams because they are not true. My understanding that dreams are dreams, becomes the basis for the miracle. I cannot keep some dreams and Awaken from others. The choice is not between which dreams to keep and which to Awaken from. I am either sleeping or Awake.
I think there are dreams I would like to keep and that some are more compelling than others. Some seem to be happy dreams, but happiness in dreams is only temporary. All dreams in the world of separation end in misery or death. There are no happy endings in the world of illusion. The dreams I think I would like to keep hold me back as much as those which are fearful. Every dream is a dream of fear, no matter what form it seems to take. It can be disguised in a pleasant form, but never is fear absent from the dream.
Depression or assault must be the theme of every dream, for all dreams are fearful. A thin disguise of pleasure and joy are wrapped only slightly, hiding the heavy lump of fear that is their core.
When I am angry, is it not because someone has failed to the fill the function I gave them? Does this not become the reason my attack (mental or physical) is justified? The dreams I think I like are those in which the functions I have given have been filled and my needs seem to be met.
Dreams are not wanted more or less. They are wholly desired or not at all. Each dream represents some function that I have assigned; some goal which an event, body, or thing should represent and achieve for me. If it succeeds, I think I like the dream. If it fails, I think the dream is sad. Whether it "succeeds" or "fails" is not its core, but only the flimsy covering.
My dreams would be happy if I were not the one who gave the "proper" role to every figure in the dream. My mind is sick and the function I assign to all the figures has been only to witness to the separation. What is my brother for? I do not truly know because I believe that I myself am something I am not. I assign roles to others based on what I imagine would bring me happiness. I attack (mentally or physically) my brother when he fails to play his part.
Only with Heaven can a "shadow" figure who attacks become a brother giving me a chance to help. Only with Heaven are dreams of sadness turned to Joy. My brother asks for help in every encounter and I have help to give him if I walk with Heaven, Which can use all dreams for salvation. Because God Loves the dreamer ~ not the dream ~ each dream becomes an offering of Love; for now at its core is God's Love for me, which Lights whatever form It takes.
The Changeless Dwelling Place. There is a Place within me where the world of separation has been forgotten. Where no memory of sin or illusion lingers. There is a Place within me, apart from time, where Echoes of Eternity are heard. There is a Resting Place where Father and Son are remembered. The Changelessness of Heaven is in me. The Quiet Infinity of Endless Peace surrounds me Gently in its Soft Embrace.....so Strong and Tranquil in the Might of Its Creator, nothing can intrude upon the Sacred Son of God within.
I am my Father's Son. Nothing is asked of me but to accept my Holy function. God placed my salvation in my brother and his in me. Every thought of Love I offer a brother brings me nearer my Awakening to Eternal Peace and Endless Joy.
The Sacred Son of God in me is a mirror of my Father's Love for me. The Son of God in me is also in my brother, perceived only through forgiveness. In my brother does my own Completion lie.
The Father asks that I see in all Creation only the Shining Glory of His Gift to me. I am His Son in whom the Father shines Forever and to whom is Everything given.
If I only knew the Glory that lies beyond forgiveness, I would not hold any thought of evil/hatred/judgment/envy/pity/sadness. If God holds my brother worthy, why would I attack him? Who would lay a bloody hand on Heaven Itself and hope to find Its Peace? My brother thinks he holds the hand of death. Do not believe him. Learn instead how blessed I am who can release him, just by offering my own release.
God gives me a new dream in which my brother is not my enemy but my savior. A dream is given me in which I have forgiven my brother for all his dreams of death. I share a new dream of Hope, instead of dreaming separate dreams of hate.
Unless God gives the dream its function, it will only be a dream of hate and will continue in death's services. Each form the dream takes in some way, always calls for death. Those who serve death worship in a separated world, each with his tiny spear and rusted sword, vowing to keep his ancient promise to die. This is the cost of fear in every dream used to witness to the separation. Yet nothing in the world of dreams remains without the hope of change and betterment. Be glad this is so. Do not look for the Eternal in the world of separation. God gives me forgiving dreams as the means to step aside from dreaming of a world outside myself, leading beyond all dreams unto the Peace of Everlasting Life.
Forgiveness and the End of Time. How willing am I to forgive my brother? How much do I want Peace instead of endless strife, misery and pain? These questions are the same, but in different forms. I will find lasting Peace only in the forgiveness of my brother. In forgiveness lies the end of separation, of danger and destruction, of sin and death, of madness and murder, of grief and loss. This is the "sacrifice" salvation asks, yet it is no sacrifice at all to let go of dreams.
What seems Eternal will have an end ~ the stars will disappear; night and day will be no more; the tides, the seasons, the lives of men; all things that change with time, that bloom and fade will not return. The Eternal knows nothing of time. Yet for now, time waits upon forgiveness so that the things of time may disappear. Forgiveness does not change me, it only allows me to brush away the dust and see mine and my brother's Reality.
Nothing in the dream-world survives its purpose. If its purpose is to die, then it will die, unless it does not take this purpose as its own. Change in the world of illusion can be a blessing when accomplished with my Creator because it allows me to change my purpose. In Reality I am in Heaven with my Father and I can do nothing opposed to God's purpose for me. In dreams I can give myself a purpose that I do not have, but I cannot remove the Power to change my mind and see another purpose. I was not born to die. The Son of God cannot change because his function was fixed by God. There is no death. Life's function cannot be to die. Life's function is Extension, that it be as One Forever and Ever, Without End.
Forgiveness is not aimed at keeping time, but ending time. With time's purpose (to show me a world separated from God) ended, time is ended. As God's Holy Son, I cannot die. Choosing death, I make a bargain that I cannot keep. The Son of Life cannot be killed. He is as Immortal as
his Father. What the Son is, cannot be changed.
The world of illusions will bind my feet and tie my hands and kill
my body......only if I allow it to have that purpose. I do not need to accept this purpose. I can change my mind
about the world's purpose. How lovely is a world whose purpose is forgiveness! How filled with Blessing and Happiness! What a Joyous thing it is to dwell a little while in such a Happy place. It is only a little while now until Timelessness comes Quietly to take the place of time.
Seek Not Outside Myself. Do not look outside myself for Joy and Happiness. It will fail. Heaven cannot be found where It does not exist, and there can be no Peace except in Heaven. Each illusion I worship in a world of dreams can never give me what only God can give.
All pain comes from a futile search for Heaven insisting that it can be found in a world of dreams. It is not there. I insist that Happiness be found among the baubles and glitter of the world. Do I prefer that I am right, or do I prefer to be Happy? Be Joyful that I have been told where to find Happiness. Seek nowhere else for it will fail. The Truth has been handed to me on a silver platter. The only thing asked of me is a small willingness. Everything else is done for me.
All asleep in the world of dreams still have hope, a lingering illusion, or some desire that there is the possibility that the world could still bring Happiness and Peace. Yet I have been told that Everything is in me and that I am One with Happiness. If this is so, then Happiness could not be outside me. Therefore by choosing a world of illusion, I am denying the Truth about myself. What could I possibly want that could give me more than Everything? I wander aimlessly among illusions and in separate bodies, searching for something I will never find in the world of dreams.
Any lingering desire for illusion will compel me to seek out a thousand idols, and to seek beyond them for a thousand more. All will fail me. Whenever I attempt to reach a goal in which the body's comfort is cast as priority, I am asking for death. For by seeking, I indicate that I lack, and "lack" is death. Do not look outside myself. The very search implies I am not Whole within.
Idols must always fail because they have no Life. What is Lifeless is a sign of death. I choose the dream-world to be alone and separate from God and from my Self. I came to die, so what would I expect to see except the death I look for?
The purpose I gave the world of illusion was separation and death. That was the past. Forget this purpose, otherwise the future will be like the past ~ a series of depressing dreams with death and disappointment everywhere. To change all this, let Heaven give the world a new purpose for me. Let It give "time" and the "body" a new purpose.
Salvation seeks to prove that there is no death and only Life exists. Do not drown out God's Voice in moans of deep despair to idols of death.
My Holy mind is an Altar to God. God dwells within me. My completion lies in Him. Do not seek outside myself.
The Anti-Christ. Idols are never seen for what they really are. Their purpose is obscure be it a body, a thing, a place, a situation or circumstance, an object owned or desired, a right demanded or achieved. Do not let form deceive me. Idols are only substitutes for my Reality with God. In the world of separation, I believe they will complete my little self; I believe they will give me safety in a world perceived as dangerous. Idols seem to have the power to supply my lack and add a value that I think I do not have. Enslaving myself to littleness and loss, I therefore seek beyond my little self for strength to withstand all the misery.
Idols are the anti-Christ. My brothers and I healed and Unified are the Christ. So a world of "form" made to separate myself from God and my Self, is the anti-Christ. An idol is a desire, made tangible and given form, then perceived as real and seen "outside" the mind. Yet it is still a thought and thoughts never leave their source.
All forms of anti-Christ oppose the Christ (the healing and Union of the Son). All forms of anti-Christ create a dark veil that seem to keep me alone and in darkness. Yet the Light is in me. A cloud does not extinguish the sun. Nor can a veil hide the Son from himself.
The world of idols is a veil across the face of Christ because its purpose is to separate my brother from myself. But what is an idol? Nothing! Where is an idol? Nowhere! Christ's enemy is nowhere and can take no form in which it will ever be Real.
The miracle does not restore Truth, it merely lifts the veil and lets Truth shine unencumbered.
An idol of any kind is the anti-Christ ~ the strange idea that there is a power stronger than Omnipotence, a place beyond Infinity, or a time transcending Eternal. Here the world of idols is set by the idea that this power, place, and time are given form and the impossible has happened. Here the Deathless come to die, the Whole to suffer loss, and the Timeless made slaves to time. Here does the Changeless change, the Peace of God give way to chaos, and the Son of God ~ Perfect, Innocent and as Loving as his Father ~ comes a little while to hate, suffer pain and finally die.
I can never have more than Everything and God gives me Everything. God has One Son, not many. Every Living thing is a part of me as It is a part of God. I am the Son of God. I will never be content with anything less. Do not wander the world in discontent. Give Heaven my small willingness.
The Forgiving Dream. A dream of judgment came into the mind that God Created Perfect just like Himself. In that dream was Heaven changed to hell and God made an enemy to His Son. How can I Awaken from such a dream? It is a dream of judgment, so to Awaken I must not judge. In judgment I make myself a part of evil dreams where idols become my identity and comfort: the comfortless comforters.
All figures in the dream are idols made to keep the dream alive and terrible. He who judges will not escape the penalty he laid on another. In the dream of judgment, I am attacked and condemned. There can be no salvation in dreams as I am dreaming them. But the Light is there. Be Joyful I am only dreaming. Idols are the toys I play with. Who has need of toys except children? In their games they pretend to rule the world; they give their toys the power to move about, to talk, think and feel. Yet everything their toys appear to do is in the mind of those who play with them. They are willing to forget that they made up the dream in order to play.
Nightmares are childish dreams. In nightmares, the toys have turned against the child, but can a dream attack? Can a toy grow large, dangerous, fierce and wild? The child believes it can. He fears his own thoughts and gives them to the toys instead, and their reality becomes his own because they seem to save him from his thoughts. Yet they only keep his thoughts alive but seemingly outside himself, where they can turn against him. He thinks he needs his toys to escape his thoughts, because he thinks the thoughts are real.
It is time for childhood to be over. Do not keep the toys of childhood. Put them away, I no longer need them. The dream of judgment is a child's game, in which the child plays the all-powerful creator only with the wisdom of a little child. If something hurts him, he desires its destruction. If something helps him, it is blessed. Yet does a child know the difference between what will hurt him and what is good for him?
The Real World (the world of illusion forgiven; the last step before God takes the final step) is still a dream. Even forgiving dreams have little need to last, yet in forgiving dreams a Melody is heard that I remember, though I have not heard it since before time began. Forgiveness, once complete, brings Timelessness so close, the Song of Heaven can be heard ~ not with the ears (which hear nothing) but with the Holiness that abides forever deep within God's Son. When I hear this Song again, I will know that there was never a time when I was unable to hear It. Where is time when dreams of judgment have been put away?
Unless I feel Deep Contentment, it is fear that I feel and I can be sure I am investing in idols. Forgiving dreams remind me that I live in Safety. Let my childish errors melt away, and let my dreams become a sign that I have made a new beginning. Forgiving dreams are kind to everyone who figures in the dream, and they bring the dreamer full release from dreams of fear.
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