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 8,
The Only Real Relationship.
To summarize my takeaways,
In Section 8 of Chapter 15,
We learn that the Holy Spirit must use everything in this world for our release from it.
He must side with every sign or token of our willingness to learn of Him what the truth must be,
And He is swift to utilize whatever we offer Him on behalf of this.
We must hear Him gladly,
And learn of Him,
That we have no need of special relationship at all,
For we but seek in them what we have thrown away.
Through them,
We will never learn the value of what we have cast aside,
But still desire with all of our heart.
Our loneliness is our yearning for God.
We must remember that we are forever in a relationship so holy that it calls to everyone to escape from loneliness and join us in our love.
Our relationships are with the universe,
And this universe,
Being of God,
Is far beyond the petty sum of all the separate bodies we perceive.
We are called to allow the Holy Spirit,
Whose teaching is only of God,
To teach us the only meaning of relationships.
For God created the only real relationship that has meaning,
And that is His relationship with 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.
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.
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.
Sonship,
All of us,
The creations of God.
Special relationships,
Relationships that attempt to fill up the perceived lack in ourselves by taking from others who are inevitably seen as separate,
Thereby reinforcing a guilt that ultimately comes from our believed separation from God.
Holy Instant,
The instant outside of time in which we choose forgiveness instead of guilt,
The miracle instead of a grievance,
The Holy Spirit instead of the ego,
The expression of our little willingness to live in the present,
Which opens into eternity,
Rather than holding on to the past and fearing the future.
Salvation,
We are saved from our belief in sin and guilt through the change of mind that forgiveness and the miracle bring about.
And now,
On to the reading.
A Course in Miracles,
Chapter 15,
The Holy Instant Section 8,
The Only Real Relationship The Holy Instant does not replace the need for learning.
For the Holy Spirit must not leave you as your teacher until the Holy Instant has extended far beyond time.
For a teaching assignment such as his,
He must use everything in this world for your release.
He must side with every sign or token of your willingness to learn of him what the truth must be.
He is swift to utilize whatever you offer him on behalf of this.
His concern and care for you are limitless.
In the face of your fear of forgiveness,
Which he perceives as clearly as he knows forgiveness is release,
He will teach you to remember that forgiveness is not loss,
But your salvation.
And then in complete forgiveness,
In which you recognize that there is nothing to forgive,
You are absolved completely.
Hear him gladly and learn of him that you have need of no special relationships at all.
You but seek in them what you have thrown away,
And through them you will never learn the value of what you have cast aside,
But still desire with all your heart.
Let us join together in making the Holy Instant all that there is by desiring that it be all that there is.
God's Son has such great need of your willingness to strive for this that you cannot conceive of need so great.
Behold the only need that God and his Son share and will to meet together.
You are not alone in this.
The will of your creations calls to you to share your will with them.
Turn then in peace from guilt to God and them.
Relate only with what will never leave you and what you can never leave.
The loneliness of God's Son is the loneliness of his Father.
Refuse not the awareness of your completion and seek not to restore it to yourself.
Fear not to give redemption over to your Redeemer's love.
He will not fail you,
For he comes from one who cannot fail.
Accept your sense of failure as nothing more than a mistake in who you are.
For the Holy Host of God is beyond failure and nothing that he wills can be denied.
You are forever in a relationship so holy that it calls to everyone to escape from loneliness and join you in your love.
And where you are must everyone seek and find you there.
Think but an instant on this.
God gave the Sonship to you to ensure your perfect creation.
This was his gift,
For as he withheld himself not from you,
He withheld not his creation.
Nothing that ever was created but is yours.
Your relationships are with the universe,
And this universe,
Being of God,
Is far beyond the petty sum of all the separate bodies you perceive.
For all its parts are joined in God through Christ,
Where they become like to their Father.
Christ knows of no separation from his Father,
Who is his one relationship,
In which he gives as his Father gives to him.
The Holy Spirit is God's attempt to free you of what he does not understand.
And because of the source of the attempt,
It will succeed.
The Holy Spirit asks you to respond as God does,
For he would teach you what you do not understand.
God would respond to every need,
Whatever form it takes.
And so he keeps this channel open to receive his communication to you,
And yours to him.
God does not understand your problem in communication,
For he does not share it with you.
It is only you who believe that it is understandable.
The Holy Spirit knows that it is not understandable,
And yet,
He understands it,
Because you made it.
In the Holy Spirit alone lies the awareness of what God cannot know,
And what you do not understand.
It is his holy function to accept them both,
And by removing every element of disagreement,
To join them into one.
He will do this,
Because it is his function.
Leave then what seems to you to be impossible,
To him who knows it must be possible,
Because it is the will of God.
And let him whose teaching is only of God,
Teach you the only meaning of relationships.
For God created the only relationship that has meaning,
And that is his relationship with you.
