Hi,
I'm Teresa Hubbard.
Welcome back to our continued reading of the text to A Course in Miracles.
We continue today in Chapter 15,
The Holy Instant,
Section 2,
The End of Doubt.
To summarize my takeaways,
In Section 2 of Chapter 15,
We are lovingly reminded that an instant offered to the Holy Spirit is offered to God on our behalf,
And in that instant we will awaken gently in God.
In this blessed instant,
We will let go of all our past learning,
And the Holy Spirit will quickly offer us the whole lesson of peace.
This instant of peace is eternal,
Because it is without fear.
It will come,
Being the lesson God gives us through the teacher God has appointed to translate time into eternity.
Blessed is God's teacher,
Whose joy it is to teach us our holiness.
His joy is not contained in time,
And His teaching is for us because His joy is ours.
Through Him we stand before God's altar,
Where He gently translates hell into heaven.
We are invited to practice our little part in separating out the holy instant in our daily life.
To learn to separate out this single second,
And to experience it as timeless,
Is to begin to experience ourself as not separate from God.
We must fear not that we will not be given help in this.
For God's teacher will support our strength.
It is only our weakness that will depart from us in this practice,
For it is the practice of the power of God in us.
For when we use it but for one instant,
We will never deny it again.
I invite you to keep a few things in mind as you listen to the reading.
The course uses malpronouns,
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 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.
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.
Atonement,
The Holy Spirit's plan of correction,
Healing our minds from the earthly world of illusion to God's world of truth.
Time,
A learning device,
A means of undoing the ego by choosing love and forgiveness of ourselves and others.
When forgiveness is complete,
The world of time,
Which is simply an illusion,
Has served the Holy Spirit's purpose and will simply disappear.
Altar,
Not an external structure,
But an attitude.
It represents the part of our minds that chooses the world of God,
Truth,
Or chooses instead the earthly world,
Illusion.
Whatever attitude we choose,
That is our altar.
And now,
On to the reading.
A Course in Miracles,
Chapter 15,
The Holy Instant.
Section 2,
The End of Doubt.
The atonement is in time,
But not for time.
Being in you,
It is eternal.
What holds remembrance of God cannot be bound by time.
No more are you.
For unless God is bound,
You cannot be.
An instant offered to the Holy Spirit is offered to God on your behalf,
And in that instant,
You will awaken gently in Him.
In the blessed instant,
You will let go all your past learning,
And the Holy Spirit will quickly offer you the whole lesson of peace.
What can take time when all the obstacles to learning it have been removed?
Truth is so far beyond time that all of it happens at once.
For as it was created one,
So its oneness depends not on time at all.
Do not be concerned with time,
And fear not the instant of holiness that will remove all fear.
For the instant of peace is eternal,
Because it is without fear.
It will come,
Being the lesson God gives you,
Through the teacher He has appointed to translate time into eternity.
Blessed is God's teacher,
Whose joy it is to teach God's only Holy Son is holiness.
His joy is not contained in time.
His teaching is for you,
Because His joy is yours.
Through Him you stand before God's altar,
Where He gently translates hell into heaven.
For it is only in heaven that God would have you be.
How long can it take to be where God would have you be?
For you are where you have forever been,
And will forever be.
All that you have,
You have forever.
The blessed instant reaches out to encompass time,
As God extends Himself to encompass you.
You who have spent days,
Hours,
And even years in chaining your brothers to your ego,
In an attempt to support it and uphold its weakness,
Do not perceive the source of strength.
In this holy instant,
You will unchain all your brothers and refuse to support either their weakness or your own.
You do not realize how much you have misused your brothers by seeing them as sources of ego support.
As a result,
They witness to the ego in your perception,
And seem to provide reasons for not letting it go.
Yet they are far stronger and much more compelling witnesses for the Holy Spirit,
And they support His strength.
It is therefore your choice whether they support the ego or the Holy Spirit in you,
And you will recognize which you have chosen by their reactions.
A son of God who has been released through the Holy Spirit in a brother is always recognized.
He cannot be denied.
If you remain uncertain,
It is only because you have not given complete release,
And because of this,
You have not given a single instant completely to the Holy Spirit.
For when you have,
You will be sure you have.
You will be sure because the witness to Him will speak so clearly of Him that you will hear and understand.
You will doubt until you hear one witness whom you have wholly released through the Holy Spirit,
And then you will doubt no more.
The Holy Instant has not yet happened to you,
Yet it will,
And you will recognize it with perfect certainty.
No gift of God is recognized in any other way.
You can practice the mechanics of the Holy Instant and will learn much from doing so.
Yet its shining and glittering brilliance,
Which will literally blind you to this world by its own vision,
You cannot supply.
And here it is.
All in this instant,
Complete,
Accomplished,
And given wholly.
Start now to practice your little part in separating out the Holy Instant.
You will receive very specific instructions as you go along.
To learn to separate out this single second,
And to experience it as timeless,
Is to begin to experience yourself as not separate.
Fear not that you will not be given help in this.
God's Teacher and His lesson will support your strength.
It is only your weakness that will depart from you in this practice,
For it is the practice of the power of God in you.
Use it but for one instant,
And you will never deny it again.
Who can deny the presence of what the universe bows to in appreciation and gladness?
Before the recognition of the universe that witnesses to it,
Your doubts must disappear.
