A Course In Miracles - Chapter 11, Section I

ACIM is read one section at a time. It is a guidebook leading us back to our true natures, as we open to the awareness of love's presence. All quoted material is from A Course in Miracles, copyright ©1992, 1999, 2007 by the Foundation for Inner Peace, publisher, and the copyright holder. This material is used with permission.

Glossary-Index for a Course In Miracles, 8th edition, Kenneth Wapnick, Ph.D.

Music by Bensound.

Transcript

Hi,

I'm Teresa Hubbard.

Welcome back to our continued reading of the text to A Course in Miracles.

We continue today in Chapter 11,

God or the Ego.

Section 1,

The Gifts of Fatherhood.

To summarize my takeaways,

In Section 1 of Chapter 11,

We are invited to reflect upon something we've already learned,

That we make by projection,

While God creates through extension.

Extension cannot be blocked.

It continues forever,

No matter how much we deny it.

Although our denial of extension's reality may have rested in time,

It is not in eternity.

This is why our creations have not ceased to be extended,

And why so much is waiting for our return.

We are the creations of God,

And everything God creates has the function of creating.

We must realize that love does not limit,

And what love creates is not limited.

To give without limit is God's will for us,

Because only this can bring us the joy that is God's,

And that God wills to share with us.

Yet we are afraid to know God's will,

Because we believe it is not our own.

This belief is our whole sickness and our whole fear.

Every symptom of sickness and fear arises here,

Because this is the belief that makes us want not to know God's will.

Believing this,

We hide in darkness,

Denying the light that is in us.

Yet the universe of love does not stop because we do not see it,

Nor have our closed eyes lost the ability to see it.

We must come to know that there is no end to God and his Son,

For we are the universe.

We must look upon the glory of God's creation,

And learn what God has kept for us.

Our love is as boundless as God's,

Because it is God's.

I invite you to keep a few things in mind as you listen to the reading.

The course uses male pronouns,

Yet this is simply a way of pointing to the spiritual being,

Having no gender.

The course is written in first person,

And although not introduced directly to the reader,

It becomes clear that the words are from Jesus,

Often quoting from the Bible.

The course uses traditional Christian terms in a non-traditional manner.

These words are simply pointers to truth,

Nothing more.

A few terms you will hear within this reading.

God,

The Creator,

The Source of all being,

Or Life.

God's essence is Spirit,

Which is shared with all creation.

Yet the word God can be limiting,

Since universal energy and life are infinitely vast and cannot be contained in a word.

The two teachers are the Ego and the Holy Spirit.

The Ego is our belief in the separated or false self that we made as a substitute for the self that God created.

The Holy Spirit is the communication link between God and us,

Bridging the gap between the mind of Christ and our human minds,

The voice for God.

Knowledge and Perception.

These terms were introduced to us back in section 3 of chapter 3,

Where we were shown the difference between perception and knowledge.

Knowledge is power because it is certain,

And certainty is strength.

Knowledge comes to us from God and provides the strength for creative thinking.

To create as God creates,

We must know what we are creating and accept it as our own.

Perception,

On the other hand,

Is temporary.

We can see in many ways,

Because perception involves interpretation,

Which means it is not whole or consistent.

Reality.

Pure Spirit,

Which is changeless,

Eternal,

Formless,

And boundless.

This definition was extracted in part from Glossary of Terms from A Course in Miracles,

Written by Robert Perry.

This useful tool can be found at circleofa.

Org under the tab Resources.

Extension.

Offering Christ's vision in the form of forgiveness and peace.

Will of God.

The expression of God's being.

Through our unity and wholeness with God,

Vision dawns upon us that our will is also God's will.

And now,

On to the reading.

A Course in Miracles Chapter 11.

God or the Ego.

Section 1.

The Gifts of Fatherhood.

You have learned your need of healing.

Would you bring anything else to this sonship,

Recognizing your need of healing for yourself?

For in this lies the beginning of the return to knowledge,

The foundation on which God will help build again the thought system you share with Him.

Not one stone you place upon it but will be blessed by Him,

For you will be restoring the holy dwelling place of His Son,

Where He wills His Son to be and where He is.

In whatever part of the mind of God's Son you restore this reality,

You restore it to yourself.

You dwell in the mind of God with your brother,

For God Himself did not will to be alone.

To be alone is to be separated from infinity.

But how can this be if infinity has no end?

No one can be beyond the limitless,

Because what has no limits must be everywhere.

There are no beginnings and no endings in God,

Whose universe is Himself.

Can you exclude yourself from the universe,

Or from God who is the universe?

I and my Father are one with you,

For you are part of us.

Do you really believe that part of God can be missing or lost to Him?

If you were not part of God,

His will would not be unified.

Is this conceivable?

Can part of His mind contain nothing?

If your place in His mind cannot be filled by anyone except you,

And your filling it was your creation,

Without you there would be an empty place in God's mind.

Extension cannot be blocked,

And it has no voids.

It continues forever,

However much it is denied.

Your denial of its reality may arrest it in time,

But not in eternity.

That is why your creations have not ceased to be extended,

And why so much is waiting for your return.

Waiting is possible only in time,

But time has no meaning.

You who made delay can leave time behind simply by recognizing that neither beginnings nor endings were created by the Eternal,

Who placed no limits on His creation,

Or upon those who create like Him.

You do not know this simply because you have tried to limit what He created,

And so you believe that all creation is limited.

How then can you know your creations,

Having denied infinity?

The laws of the universe do not permit contradiction.

What holds for God holds for you.

If you believe you are absent from God,

You will believe that He is absent from you.

Infinity is meaningless without you,

And you are meaningless without God.

There is no end to God and His Son,

For we are the universe.

God is not incomplete,

And He is not childless.

Because He did not will to be alone,

He created a Son like Himself.

Do not deny Him as Son,

For your unwillingness to accept His fatherhood has denied you yours.

See His creations as His Son,

For yours were created in honor of Him.

The universe of love does not stop because you do not see it,

Nor have your closed eyes lost the ability to see.

Look upon the glory of His creation,

And you will learn what God has done for you,

And you will learn what God has kept for you.

God has given you a place in His mind that is yours forever,

Yet you can keep it only by giving it,

As it was given you.

Could you be alone there when it was given you because God did not will to be alone?

God's mind cannot be lessened.

It can only be increased,

For everything He creates has the function of creating.

Love does not limit,

And what it creates is not limited.

To give without limit is God's will for you,

Because only this can bring you the joy that is His and that He wills to share with you.

Your love is as boundless as His,

Because it is His.

Could any part of God be without His love,

And could any part of His love be contained?

God is your heritage,

Because His one gift is Himself.

How can you give except like Him if you would know His gift to you?

Give then without limit and without end,

To learn how much He has given you.

Your ability to accept Him depends on your willingness to give as He gives.

Your fatherhood and your Father are one.

God wills to create,

And your will is His.

It follows,

Then,

That you will to create,

Since your will follows from His.

And being an extension of His will,

Yours must be the same.

Yet what you will,

You do not know.

This is not strange when you realize that to deny is to not know.

God's will is that you are His Son.

By denying this,

You deny your own will,

And therefore you do not know what it is.

You must ask what God's will is in everything,

Because it is yours.

You do not know what it is,

Because it is yours.

You do not know what it is,

But the Holy Spirit remembers it for you.

Ask Him,

Therefore,

What God's will is for you,

And He will tell you yours.

It cannot be too often repeated that you do not know it.

Whenever what the Holy Spirit tells you appears to be coercive,

It is only because you have not recognized your will.

The projection of the ego makes it appear as if God's will is outside yourself,

And therefore not yours.

In this interpretation,

It seems possible for God's will and yours to conflict.

God,

Then,

May seem to demand of you what you do not want to give,

And thus deprive you of what you want.

Would God,

Who wants only your will,

Be capable of this?

Your will is His life,

Which He has given to you.

Even in time you cannot live apart from Him.

Sleep is not death.

What He created can sleep,

But cannot die.

Immortality is His will for His Son,

And His Son's will for Himself.

God's Son cannot will death for Himself,

Because His Father is life,

And His Son is like Him.

Creation is your will,

Because it is His.

You cannot be happy unless you do what you will truly,

And you cannot change this,

Because it is immutable.

It is immutable by God's will and yours,

For otherwise His will would not be extended.

You are afraid to know God's will,

Because you believe it is not yours.

This belief is your whole sickness and your whole fear.

Every symptom of sickness and fear arises here,

Because this is the belief that makes you want not to know.

Believing this,

You hide in darkness,

Denying that the light is in you.

You are asked to trust the Holy Spirit,

Only because He speaks for you.

He is the voice for God,

But never forget that God did not will to be alone.

He shares His will with you.

He does not thrust it upon you.

Always remember that what He gives,

He keeps,

So that nothing He gives can contradict Him.

You who share His life must not be afraid to share His life,

But must share it to know it,

For sharing is knowing.

Blessed are you who learn that to hear the will of your Father is to know your own,

For it is your will to be like Him,

Whose will it is that it be so.

God's will is that His Son be one and united with Him in His oneness.

That's why healing is the beginning of the recognition that your will is His.