A Course In Miracles - Chapter 13, Section III

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: Bensound

Please note: This track may include some explicit language.

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 13,

The Guiltless World.

Section 3,

The Fear of Redemption.

To summarize my takeaways,

In Section 3 of Chapter 13,

We learn that beneath all of the grandiosity we hold so dear is our real call for help.

For deeper than the ego's foundation,

And much stronger than the ego will ever be,

Is our intense and burning love of God,

And God's for us.

And this is what we really want to hide.

We have used the world to cover our love,

And the deeper we go into the blackness of the ego's foundation,

The closer we come to the love that is hidden there.

And it is this that frightens us.

We must ask ourselves honestly,

Is it not harder for us to say,

I love,

Than I hate?

We have built our whole insane belief system because we think we would be helpless in God's presence.

We are afraid it would sweep us away from ourself and make us little,

Because we believe that magnitude lies in defiance,

And that attack is grandeur.

Yet in that place of love,

Which we have hidden,

We will only to unite with our Father.

In loving remembrance of our Father,

We will find this place of truth only as we see it in our brothers.

For though our brothers may deceive themselves,

Like us,

They long for the grandeur that is in them.

We must save each other from our illusions,

So that we may accept the magnitude of our Father in peace and joy.

But we must exempt no one from our love,

Or we will be hiding a dark place in our mind where the Holy Spirit is not welcome.

And thus we will exempt ourselves from the Holy Spirit's healing.

For by not offering total love,

We will not be healed completely.

And healing must be as complete as fear,

For love cannot enter where there is one spot of fear to mar its welcome.

When we seek this place,

We will find it.

For love is in us and will lead us there.

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.

The Two Teachers,

Ego and 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.

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.

Crucifixion,

The symbol of the ego's attack on God and therefore on His Son,

Witnessing for us our belief in suffering,

Sacrifice,

Victimization and death.

The true meaning of the crucifixion is that our true identity of love can never be destroyed because death has no power over life.

Salvation,

We are saved from our belief in sin and guilt through the change of mind that forgiveness and the miracle bring about.

Heaven,

The real world where God and His creations dwell in perfect unity.

Through total forgiveness,

We are released from our perception of guilt,

Allowing us to see through the vision of Christ,

Which blesses rather than condemns.

And now,

On to the reading.

A Course in Miracles Chapter 13,

The Guiltless World Section 3,

The Fear of Redemption You may wonder why it is so crucial that you look upon your hatred and realize its full extent.

You may also think that it would be easy enough for the Holy Spirit to show it to you and to dispel it without the need for you to raise it to awareness yourself.

Yet there is one more obstacle you have interposed between yourself and the Atonement.

We have said that no one will countenance fear if he recognizes it.

Yet in your disordered state of mind,

You are not afraid of fear.

You do not like it,

But it is not your desire to attack that really frightens you.

You are not seriously disturbed by your hostility.

You keep it hidden because you are more afraid of what it covers.

You could look even upon the ego's darkest cornerstone without fear if you did not believe that without the ego,

You would find within yourself something you fear even more.

You are not really afraid of crucifixion.

Your real terror is of redemption.

Under the ego's dark foundation is the memory of God,

And it is of this that you are really afraid.

For this memory would instantly restore you to your proper place,

And it is this place that you have sought to leave.

Your fear of attack is nothing compared to your fear of love.

You would be willing to look even upon your savage wish to kill God's Son if you did not believe that it saves you from love.

For this wish caused the separation,

And you have protected it because you do not want the separation healed.

You realize that by removing the dark cloud that obscures it,

Your love for your Father would impel you to answer His call and leap into heaven.

You believe that attack is salvation because it would prevent you from this.

For still deeper than the ego's foundation,

And much stronger than it will ever be,

Is your intense and burning love of God and His for you.

This is what you really want to hide.

In honesty,

Is it not harder for you to say,

I love,

Than I hate?

You associate love with weakness,

And hatred with strength,

And your own real power seems to you as your real weakness.

For you could not control your joyous response to the call of love if you heard it,

And the whole world you thought you made would vanish.

The Holy Spirit,

Then,

Seems to be attacking your fortress,

For you would shut out God,

And He does not will to be excluded.

You have built your whole insane belief system because you think you would be helpless in God's presence,

And you would save yourself from His love because you think it would crush you into nothingness.

You are afraid it would sweep you away from yourself and make you little,

Because you believe that magnitude lies in defiance,

And that attack is grandeur.

You think you have made a world God would destroy,

And by loving Him,

Which you do,

You would throw this world away,

Which you would.

Therefore,

You have used the world to cover your love,

And the deeper you go into the blackness of the ego's foundation,

The closer you come to the love that is hidden there,

And it is this that frightens you.

You can accept insanity because you made it,

But you cannot accept love because you did not.

You would rather be a slave of the crucifixion than a son of God in redemption.

Your individual death seems more valuable than your living oneness,

For what is given you is not so dear as what you have made.

You are more afraid of God than of the ego,

And love cannot enter where it is not welcome,

But hatred can,

For it enters of its own volition and cares not for yours.

You must look upon your illusions and not keep them hidden,

Because they do not rest on their own foundations.

In concealment they appear to do so,

And thus they seem to be self-sustained.

This is the fundamental illusion on which the others rest,

For beneath them,

And concealed as long as they are hidden,

Is the loving mind that thought it made them in anger.

And the pain in this mind is so apparent when it is uncovered,

That its needs of healing cannot be denied.

Not all the tricks and games you offer it can heal it,

For here is the real crucifixion of God's Son,

And yet he is not crucified.

Here is both his pain and his healing,

For the Holy Spirit's vision is merciful and his remedy is quick.

Do not hide suffering from his sight,

But bring it gladly to him.

Lay before his eternal sanity all your hurt,

And let him heal you.

Do not leave any spot of pain hidden from his light,

And search your mind carefully for any thoughts you may fear to uncover,

For he will heal every little thought you have kept to hurt you,

And cleanse it of its littleness,

Restoring it to the magnitude of God.

Beneath all the grandiosity you hold so dear is your real call for help,

For you call for love to your Father,

As your Father calls you to himself.

In that place which you have hidden,

You will only to unite with the Father,

In loving remembrance of him.

You will find this place of truth,

As you see it in your brothers,

For though they may deceive themselves,

Like you,

They long for the grandeur that is in them.

And perceiving it,

You will welcome it,

And it will be yours,

For grandeur is the right of God's Son,

And no illusions can satisfy him or save him from what he is.

Only his love is real,

And he will be content only with his reality.

Save him from his illusions that you may accept the magnitude of your Father in peace and joy,

But exempt no one from your love,

Or you will be hiding a dark place in your mind where the Holy Spirit is not welcome,

And thus you will exempt yourself from his healing power,

For by not offering total love you will not be healed completely.

Healing must be as complete as fear,

For love cannot enter where there is one spot of fear to mar its welcome.

You who prefer separation to sanity cannot obtain it in your right mind.

You were at peace until you asked for special favor,

And God did not give it,

For the request was alien to him,

And you could not ask this of a father who truly loved his son.

Therefore you made of him an unloving father,

Demanding of him what only such a father could give.

And the peace of God's son was shattered,

For he no longer understood his father.

He feared what he had made,

But still more did he fear his real father having attacked his own glorious equality with him.

In peace he needed nothing and asked for nothing.

In war he demanded everything and found nothing.

For how could the gentleness of love respond to his demands,

Except by departing in peace and returning to the father?

If the son did not wish to remain in peace,

He could not remain at all,

For a darkened mind cannot live in the light,

And it must seek a place of darkness where it can believe it is where it is not.

God did not allow this to happen,

Yet you demanded that it happen,

And therefore believed that it was so.

To single out is to make alone,

And thus make lonely.

God did not do this to you.

Could he set you apart,

Knowing that your peace lies in his oneness?

He denied you only your request for pain,

For suffering is not of his creation.

Having given you creation,

He could not take it from you.

He could but answer your insane request with a sane answer that would abide with you in your insanity,

And this he did.

No one who hears his answer but will give up insanity,

For his answer is the reference point beyond illusions,

From which you can look back on them and see them as insane.

But seek this place and you will find it,

For love is in you and will lead you there.