Hi,
I'm Teresa Hubbard.
Welcome back to our continued reading of the text,
To A Course in Miracles.
We continue today in Chapter 12,
The Holy Spirit's Curriculum,
Section 4,
Seeking and Finding.
To summarize my takeaways,
In Section 4 of Chapter 12,
We are reminded that the ego cannot love,
And in its frantic search for love,
It is seeking what it is afraid to find.
No one wants to find what would utterly defeat him,
And being unable to love,
The ego would be totally inadequate in love's presence,
For it could not respond at all.
If we follow the ego's teaching then,
We will search for love,
But will not recognize it.
Yet the Holy Spirit offers us a different promise,
And one that will lead to joy,
For His promise is always,
Seek,
And you will find.
His is the journey to accomplishment,
And the goal set before us will be given us.
We must remember that we are not at home in this world,
And if we believe our home is outside of us,
The search will be futile,
For we will be seeking it where it is not.
Our home is in God,
Which is love,
Which is life.
Although we do not remember how to look within ourselves,
The Holy Spirit remembers it for us,
And will guide us back home,
Because that is His mission.
As the Holy Spirit fulfills His mission,
He will teach us ours,
For ours is the same as His.
By guiding our brother's home,
We are but following Him.
As we behold the guide our Father gave us,
We will have eternal life.
Yet we must relinquish our investment in the ego,
Or we will not see life,
Though life is all around us.
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.
Our belief in the separated or false self that we made as a substitute for the self that God created.
Holy Spirit,
The communication link between God and us,
Bridging the gap between the mind of Christ and our human minds,
The voice for God.
Atonement,
The Holy Spirit's plan of correction,
Healing our minds from the earthly world of illusion to God's world of truth.
And now,
On to the reading.
A Course in Miracles Chapter 12,
The Holy Spirit's Curriculum Section 4,
Seeking and Finding The ego is certain that love is dangerous,
And this is always its central teaching.
It never puts it this way.
On the contrary,
Everyone who believes that the ego is salvation seems to be intensely engaged in the search for love.
Yet the ego,
Though encouraging the search for love very actively,
Makes one proviso.
Do not find it.
What this dictates,
Then,
Can be summed up simply as,
Seek and do not find.
This is the one promise the ego holds out to you,
And the one promise it will keep.
For the ego pursues its goals with fanatic insistence,
And its judgment,
Though severely impaired,
Is completely consistent.
The search the ego undertakes is therefore bound to be defeated.
And since it also teaches that it is your identification,
Its guidance leads you to a journey which must end in perceived self-defeat.
For the ego cannot love,
And in its frantic search for love it is seeking what it is afraid to find.
The search is inevitable,
Because the ego is part of your mind,
And because of its source,
The ego is not wholly split off,
Or it cannot be believed at all.
For it is your mind that believes in it,
And gives existence to it.
Yet it is also your mind that has the power to deny the ego's existence,
And you will surely do so when you realize exactly what the journey is on which the ego sets you.
It is surely obvious that no one wants to find what would utterly defeat him.
Being unable to love,
The ego would be totally inadequate in love's presence,
For it could not respond at all.
Then you would have to abandon the ego's guidance,
For it would be quite apparent that it had not taught you the response you need.
The ego will therefore distort love,
And teach you that love really calls forth the responses the ego can teach.
Follow its teaching then,
And you will search for love,
But will not recognize it.
Do you realize that the ego must set you on a journey which cannot but lead to a sense of futility and depression?
To seek,
And not to find,
Is hardly joyous.
Is this the promise you would keep?
The Holy Spirit offers you another promise,
And one that will lead to joy.
For His promise is always,
Seek,
And you will find.
And under His guidance,
You cannot be defeated.
This is the journey to accomplishment,
And the goal He sets before you,
He will give you.
For He will never deceive God's Son,
Whom He loves with the love of the Father.
You will undertake a journey,
Because you are not at home in this world.
And you will search for your home,
Whether you realize where it is or not.
If you believe it is outside you,
The search will be futile,
For you will be seeking it where it is not.
You do not remember how to look within,
For you do not believe your home is there.
Yet the Holy Spirit remembers it for you,
And He will guide you to your home,
Because that is His mission.
As He fulfills His mission,
He will teach you yours,
For your mission is the same as His.
By guiding your brother's home,
You are but following Him.
Follow the guide your father gave you,
That you might learn you have eternal life.
For death is not your father's will,
Nor yours,
And whatever is true is the will of the Father.
You pay no price for life,
For that was given you.
But you do pay a price for death,
And a very heavy one.
If death is your treasure,
You will sell everything to purchase it.
And you will believe that you have purchased it,
Because you have sold everything else.
Yet you cannot sell the Kingdom of Heaven.
Your inheritance can neither be bought nor sold.
There can be no disinherited parts of the Sonship,
For God is whole,
And all His extensions are like Him.
The atonement is not the price of your wholeness,
But it is the price of your awareness of your wholeness.
For what you chose to sell had to be kept for you,
Since you could not buy it back.
Yet you must invest in it,
Not with money,
But with Spirit.
For Spirit is will,
And will is the price of the Kingdom.
Your inheritance awaits only the recognition that you have been redeemed.
The Holy Spirit guides you into eternal life.
But you must relinquish your investment in death,
Or you will not see life,
Though it is all around you.
