A Course In Miracles Chapter 5, Section I
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. (Foundation for Inner Peace, 448 Ignacio Blvd #306 Novato, CA 94949 USA). Glossary-Index for a Course In Miracles, 8th edition, Kenneth Wapnick, Ph.D. Music by BenSound
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 5,
Healing and Wholeness,
Section 1,
The Invitation to the Holy Spirit.
To summarize my takeaways,
In Section 1 of Chapter 5,
We take a close look at the function of the Holy Spirit and how we invite it into our awareness.
We learn that the Holy Spirit is the Christ Mind,
Or the Mind of the Atonement.
It is aware of the knowledge that lies beyond perception.
The Holy Spirit then is the call to Atonement,
Or the restoration of the integrity of the mind.
Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit is in our right mind,
As it was in His.
We learn that healing is a thought by which two minds perceive their oneness and become glad,
And we are reminded that Spirit knows no difference between having and being.
We are offered clarity on this by contrasting the concept of sharing a possession with the concept of sharing an idea.
By sharing a possession,
Its ownership is divided.
Yet sharing an idea does not lessen the idea.
By sharing an idea,
It is still ours,
Although it is fully given away.
Further,
If the one to whom the idea is given accepts it as his own,
He reinforces it in our own mind and thus increases it.
We learn that if we can accept that the world is one of ideas,
Not possessions,
The whole false belief of the ego that giving is losing is gone.
We are offered a few simple concepts to start the process of reawakening,
Which is our invitation to the Holy Spirit.
These simple concepts are,
Thoughts increase by being given away.
The more who believe in them,
The stronger they become.
Everything is an idea.
How then can giving and losing be associated?
One final thought before we read together.
We have already learned that once the atonement is complete and our minds are healed,
The Holy Spirit,
Our bridge of communication,
Is no longer needed.
Yet we are reminded in this section that what God creates is eternal.
Therefore the Holy Spirit will remain with us always to bless our creations and keep us in the light of joy.
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 the reading.
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.
Christ.
The self that God created by extension of His Spirit.
It represents the potential within each of us.
Trinity.
The levels of the Trinity are not understandable in the world of illusion or the ego.
The Trinity consists of God,
The Father and Creator,
The Son,
Christ,
Our true self,
Which includes our creations,
And the Holy Spirit,
The bridge of communication,
The voice for God.
Sonship,
All of us,
The creations of God.
Spirit.
The nature of our true reality,
Which being of God is changeless and eternal,
Contrasted with the body,
Which changes and dies.
Atonement.
The Holy Spirit's plan of correction,
Healing our minds from the earthly world of illusion to God's world of truth.
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 5,
Healing and Wholeness.
Section 1,
The Invitation to the Holy Spirit.
Healing is a thought by which two minds perceive their oneness and become glad.
This gladness calls to every part of the sonship to rejoice with them and lets God go out into them and through them.
Only the healed mind can experience revelation with lasting effect because revelation is an experience of pure joy.
If you do not choose to be holy joyous,
Your mind cannot have what it does not choose to be.
Remember that Spirit knows no difference between having and being.
The higher mind thinks according to the laws Spirit obeys and therefore honors only the laws of God.
To Spirit,
Getting is meaningless and giving is all.
Having everything,
Spirit holds everything by giving it and thus creates as the Father created.
While this kind of thinking is totally alien to having things,
Even to the lower mind it is quite comprehensible in connection with ideas.
If you share a physical possession,
You do divide its ownership.
If you share an idea,
However,
You do not lessen it.
All of it is still yours,
Although all of it has been given away.
Further,
If the one to whom you give it accepts it as his,
He reinforces it in your mind and thus increases it.
If you can accept the concept that the world is one of ideas,
The whole belief in the false association the ego makes between giving and losing is gone.
Let us start our process of reawakening with just a few simple concepts.
Thoughts increase by being given away.
The more who believe in them,
The stronger they become.
Everything is an idea.
How then can giving and losing be associated?
This is the invitation to the Holy Spirit.
I have said already that I can reach up and bring the Holy Spirit down to you,
But I can bring him to you only at your own invitation.
The Holy Spirit is in your right mind as he was in mine.
The Bible says,
Quote,
May the mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus,
End quote,
And uses this as a blessing.
It is the blessing of miracle mindedness.
It asks that you may think as I thought,
Joining with me in Christ thinking.
The Holy Spirit is the only part of the Holy Trinity that has a symbolic function.
He is referred to as the healer,
The comforter and the guide.
He is also described as something separate,
Apart from the Father and from the Son.
I myself said,
Quote,
If I go,
I will send you another comforter and he will abide with you,
End quote.
His symbolic function makes the Holy Spirit difficult to understand because symbolism is open to different interpretations.
As a man and also one of God's creations,
My right thinking,
Which came from the Holy Spirit,
Or the universal inspiration,
Taught me first and foremost that this inspiration is for all.
I could not have it myself without knowing this.
The word no is proper in this context,
Because the Holy Spirit is so close to knowledge that he calls it forth,
Or better,
Allows it to come.
I have spoken before of the higher or true perception,
Which is so near to truth that God himself can flow across the little gap.
Knowledge is always ready to flow everywhere,
But it cannot oppose.
Therefore,
You can obstruct it,
Although you can never lose it.
The Holy Spirit is the Christ Mind,
Which is aware of the knowledge that lies beyond perception.
He came into being with the separation as a protection,
Inspiring the atonement principle at the same time.
Before that,
There was no need for healing,
For no one was comfortless.
The voice of the Holy Spirit is the call to atonement,
Or the restoration of the integrity of the mind.
When the atonement is complete,
And the whole Sonship is healed,
There will be no call to return.
But what God creates is eternal.
The Holy Spirit will remain with the Sons of God to bless their creations and keep them in the light of joy.
God honored even the miscreations of his children,
Because they had made them.
But he also blessed his children with a way of thinking that could raise their perception so high they could reach almost back to him.
The Holy Spirit is the Mind of the atonement.
He represents a state of mind close enough to one-mindedness that transfer to it is at last possible.
Perception is not knowledge,
But it can be transferred to knowledge,
Or cross over into it.
It might even be more helpful here to use the literal meaning of transferred or carried over,
Since the last step is taken by God.
The Holy Spirit,
The shared inspiration of all the Sonship,
Induces a kind of perception in which many elements are like those in the Kingdom of Heaven itself.
First,
Its universality is perfectly clear,
And no one who attains it could believe for one instant that sharing it involves anything but gain.
Second,
It is incapable of attack and is therefore truly open.
This means that although it does not engender knowledge,
It does not obstruct it in any way.
Finally,
It points the way beyond the healing that it brings and leads the mind beyond its own integration towards the path of creation.
It is at this point that sufficient quantitative change occurs to produce a real qualitative shift.
