Hi,
I'm Teresa Hubbard.
Welcome back to our continued reading of the text to A Course in Miracles.
We continue today in Chapter 4,
The Illusions of the Ego.
Section 3,
Love Without Conflict.
To summarize my takeaways,
In section 3 of chapter 4 we are given a contrast between spirit and the ego.
While the ego is made by us,
Arising from our perception and our separation from God,
Spirit is our true self which was created by God.
The ego can only offer a sense of temporary existence,
Which begins with its own beginning and ends with its own ending,
While spirit offers us the knowledge of permanence and unshakable being.
We learn that love will enter immediately into the mind that truly wants it,
But we must want it truly.
Jesus our brother,
Our guide,
Invites us to invite the Father in His name to keep us mindful of God's love and ours for Him.
God has never failed to answer this request because it asks for only what He has already willed.
Those who call truly are always answered.
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 definitions of terms you will hear within this reading.
Ego – Our belief in the separated or false self that we made as a substitute for the self that God created.
Atonement – The Holy Spirit's plan of correction,
Healing our minds from the earthly world of illusion to God's world of truth.
Holy Spirit – The communication link between God and us,
Bridging the gap between the mind of Christ and our human minds.
Through this bridge,
Our worldly perception of sin,
Guilt,
And fear is transformed into the reality of love and forgiveness.
Spirit – The nature of our true reality,
Which being of God,
Is changeless and eternal,
Contrasted with the body,
Which changes and dies.
Perception – The untrue belief in sin that affirms our identity as separate from God.
This idea is represented by the ego,
Which results in a world filled with the perception of pain,
Suffering,
And death.
Knowledge – Also referred to as heaven or the real world,
It is the pre-separation world of God and His unified creation in which there are no differences in form and therefore exclusive of the world of perception.
Revelation – Direct communication from God to His sons.
It represents the original form of communication present at creation.
Once our minds are healed and we remember our truth,
The Holy Spirit,
Our bridge of communication,
Is no longer needed.
And now,
On to the reading.
A Course in Miracles Chapter 4 – The Illusions of the Ego Section 3 – Love Without Conflict It is hard to understand what,
Quote,
The kingdom of heaven is within you really means.
This is because it is not understandable to the ego,
Which interprets it as if something outside is inside,
And this does not mean anything.
The word within is unnecessary.
The kingdom of heaven is you.
What else but you did the Creator create?
And what else but you is His kingdom.
This is the whole message of the atonement,
A message which in its totality transcends the sum of its parts.
You too have a kingdom that your spirit created.
It is not ceased to create because of the ego's illusions.
Your creations are no more fatherless than you are.
Your ego and your spirit will never be co-creators,
But your spirit and your Creator will always be.
Be confident that your creations are as safe as you are.
The kingdom is perfectly united and perfectly protected,
And the ego will not prevail against it.
Amen.
This is written in the form of a prayer because it is useful in moments of temptation.
It is a declaration of independence.
You will find it very helpful if you fully understand it.
The reason you need my help is because you have denied your own guide,
And therefore need guidance.
My role is to separate the true from the false,
So truth can break through the barriers the ego has set up and can shine into your mind.
Against our united strength,
The ego cannot prevail.
It is surely apparent by now why the ego regards spirit as its enemy.
The ego arose from the separation,
And its continued existence depends on your continuing belief in the separation.
The ego must offer you some sort of reward for maintaining this belief.
All it can offer is a sense of temporary existence,
Which begins with its own beginning and ends with its own ending.
It tells you this life is your existence because it is its own.
Against this sense of temporary existence,
Spirit offers you the knowledge of permanence and unshakable being.
No one who has experienced the revelation of this can ever fully believe in the ego again.
How can this meager offering to you prevail against the glorious gift of God?
You who identify with your ego cannot believe God loves you.
You do not love what you made,
And what you made does not love you.
Being made out of the denial of the Father,
The ego has no allegiance to its maker.
You cannot conceive of the real relationship that exists between God and His creations because of your hatred for the self you made.
You project onto the ego the decision to separate,
And this conflicts with the love you feel for the ego because you made it.
No love in this world is without this ambivalence,
And since no ego has experienced love without ambivalence,
The concept is beyond its understanding.
Love will immediately enter into any mind that truly wants it,
But it must want it truly.
This means that it wants it without ambivalence,
And this kind of wanting is wholly without the ego's quote drive to get,
End quote.
There is a kind of experience so different from anything the ego can offer that you will never want to cover it or hide it again.
It is necessary to repeat that your belief in darkness and hiding is why the light cannot enter.
The Bible gives many references to the immeasurable gifts which are for you,
But for which you must ask.
This is not a condition as the ego sets conditions.
It is the glorious condition of what you are.
No force,
Except your own will,
Is strong enough or worthy enough to guide you.
In this,
You are as free as God and must remain so forever.
Let us ask the Father in my name to keep you mindful of His love for you and yours for Him.
He has never failed to answer this request because it asks only for what He has already willed.
Those who call truly are always answered.
Thou shalt have no other gods before Him because there are none.
It has never really entered your mind to give up every idea you ever had that opposes knowledge.
You retain thousands of little scraps of fear that prevent the Holy One from entering.
Light cannot penetrate through the walls you made to block it,
And it is forever unwilling to destroy what you have made.
No one can see through a wall,
But I can step around it.
Watch your mind for the scraps of fear,
Or you will be unable to ask Me to do so.
I can help you only as our Father created us.
I will love you and honor you and maintain complete respect for what you have made,
But I will not uphold it unless it is true.
I will never forsake you any more than God will,
But I must wait as long as you choose to forsake yourself.
Because I wait in love and not in impatience,
You will surely ask Me truly.
I will come in response to a single,
Unequivocal call.
Watch carefully and see what it is you are really asking for.
Be very honest with yourself in this,
For we must hide nothing from each other.
If you will really try to do this,
You have taken the first step toward preparing your mind for the Holy One to enter.
We will prepare for this together,
For once He has come,
You will be ready to help Me make other minds ready for Him.
How long will you deny Him His kingdom?
In your own mind,
Though denied by the ego,
Is the declaration of your release.
God has given you everything.
This one fact means the ego does not exist,
And this makes it profoundly afraid.
In the ego's language,
To have and to be are different,
But they are identical to the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit knows that you both have everything and are everything.
Any distinction in this respect is meaningful only when the idea of getting,
Which implies a lack,
Has already been accepted.
That is why we make no distinction between having the Kingdom of God and being the Kingdom of God.
The calm being of God's Kingdom,
Which in your sane mind is perfectly conscious,
Is ruthlessly banished from the part of the mind the ego rules.
The ego is desperate because it opposes literally invincible odds,
Whether you are asleep or awake.
Consider how much vigilance you have been willing to exert to protect your ego,
And how little to protect your right mind.
Who but the insane would undertake to believe what is not true,
And then protect this belief at the cost of truth.
