Hi,
I'm Teresa Hubbard.
Welcome back to our continued reading of the text to A Course in Miracles.
We continue today in chapter 17.
Forgiveness,
And the holy relationship.
Section 2 the forgiven world.
To summarize my takeaways,
In section 2 of chapter 17,
We are asked to imagine how beautiful those we forgive will look to us.
Nothing that has ever made our hearts sing with joy has ever brought even a little part of the happiness this site will bring us.
For we will see the Son of God.
The beauty we will see is not a fantasy.
It is the real world.
Where there are no fantasies to hide the truth.
Forgiveness literally transforms vision and lets us see the real world reaching quietly and gently across chaos.
Removing all illusions that had twisted our perception and fixed it on the past.
The bridge between this world and the real world is so little and so easy to cross that we will not believe it is the meeting place of worlds so different.
This step.
The smallest ever taken.
Is still the greatest accomplishment of all in God's plan of atonement.
All else is learned.
But this is freely given.
Complete and wholly perfect.
We are invited to meet with our Redeemer and walk with Him in trust out of this world.
And into the real world of beauty and forgiveness.
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.
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.
Son of God.
All of us,
The creations of God.
Real world.
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.
Forgiveness.
A shift in our perception of an other to brother or friend.
The ability to look at ourselves and others without guilt or judgment.
Atonement.
The Holy Spirit's plan of correction.
Healing our minds from the earthly world of illusion to God's world of truth.
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 17 – Forgiveness and the Holy Relationship Section 2 – The Forgiven World Can you imagine how beautiful those you forgive will look to you?
In no fantasy have you ever seen anything so lovely.
Nothing you see here,
Sleeping or waking,
Comes near to such loveliness.
And nothing will you value like unto this,
Nor hold so dear.
Nothing that you remember that you made your heart sing with joy has ever brought you even a little part of the happiness this site will bring you.
For you will see the Son of God.
You will behold the beauty the Holy Spirit loves to look upon,
And which he thanks the Father for.
He was created to see this for you until you learn to see it for yourself.
And all his teaching leads to seeing it and giving thanks with him.
This loveliness is not a fantasy.
It is the real world,
Bright and clean and new,
With everything sparkling under the open sun.
Nothing is hidden here.
For everything has been forgiven and there are no fantasies to hide the truth.
The bridge between that world and this is so little and so easy to cross that you could not believe it is the meeting place of worlds so different.
Yet this little bridge is the strongest thing that touches on this world at all.
This little step,
So small it has escaped your notice,
Is a stride through time into eternity.
Beyond all ugliness into beauty that will enchant you and will never cease to cause you wonderment at its perfection.
This step,
The smallest ever taken,
Is still the greatest accomplishment of all in God's plan of atonement.
All else is learned,
But this is given,
Complete and wholly perfect.
No one but Him who planned salvation could complete it thus.
The real world and its loveliness you learn to reach.
Fantasies are all undone.
And no one and nothing remains still bound by them.
And by your own forgiveness,
You are free to see.
Yet what you see is only what you made,
With the blessing of your forgiveness on it.
And with this final blessing of God's Son upon himself,
The real perception.
Born of the new perspective he has learned,
Has served its purpose.
The stars will disappear in light.
And the sun that opened up the world to beauty will vanish.
Perception will be meaningless when it is perfected.
For everything that has been used for learning will have no function.
Nothing will ever change.
No shifts,
No shadings,
No differences,
No variations that may perfect perception possible will still occur.
The perception of the real world will be so short that you will barely have time to thank God for it.
For God will take the last step swiftly when you have reached the real world and have been made ready for Him.
The real world is attained simply by the complete forgiveness of the old,
The world you see without forgiveness.
The Great Transformer of Perception will undertake with you the careful searching of the mind that made this world and uncover to you the seeming reasons for your making it.
In the light of the real reason that he brings as you follow him,
He will show you that there is no reason here at all.
Each spot his reason touches grows alive with beauty.
And what seemed ugly in the darkness of your lack of reason is suddenly released to loveliness.
Not even what the Son of God made in insanity could be without a hidden spark of beauty that gentleness could release.
All this beauty will rise to bless your sight as you look upon the world with forgiving eyes.
For forgiveness literally transforms vision and lets you see the real world reaching quietly and gently across chaos,
Removing all illusions that had twisted your perception and fixed it on the past.
The smallest leaf becomes a thing of wonder.
And a blade of grass,
A sign of God's perfection.
From the forgiven world,
The Son of God is lifted easily into His home.
And there.
He knows that he has always rested there in peace.
Even salvation will become a dream and vanish from his mind.
For salvation is the end of dreams,
And with the closing of the dream will have no meaning.
Who,
Awake in heaven,
Could dream that there could be need of salvation?
How much do you want salvation?
It will give you the real world,
Trembling with readiness to be given you.
The eagerness of the Holy Spirit to give you this is so intense,
He would not wait,
Although He waits in patience.
Meet his patience with your impatience at delay in meeting him.
Go out in gladness to meet with your Redeemer.
And walk with Him in trust out of this world and into the real world of beauty.
And forgiveness.
