Hi,
I'm Teresa Hubbard.
Welcome back to our continued reading of the text to A Course in Miracles.
We continue today in Chapter 7,
The Gifts of the Kingdom,
Section 9,
The Extension of the Kingdom.
To summarize my takeaways,
In Section 9 of Chapter 7 we are told that disobeying God's will is meaningful only to the insane.
In truth,
It is impossible.
We are reminded that only we can limit our creative power.
Spirit knows this is true,
Since it knows its fullness and cannot conceive of any part from which it is excluded.
Although we may not always know our creations,
This can no more interfere with their reality than our unawareness of our Spirit can interfere with its being.
Our creations are protected for us because the Holy Spirit,
Who is in our mind,
Knows of them and can bring them into our awareness whenever we allow.
Our selffulness is as boundless as God's.
It extends forever in imperfect peace.
Our radiance is so intense that we create in perfect joy and only the whole can be born from its wholeness.
We are told to be confident that we have never lost our identity nor our extensions which maintain this wholeness and peace.
The extension of God's being is Spirit's only function and miracles are an expression of this confidence.
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.
Kingdom,
A state of consciousness,
The non-dualistic world of knowledge wherein God and his creations dwell in perfect unity.
Creation,
The extension of God's being or Spirit.
Extension,
Offering Christ's vision in the form of forgiveness and peace.
God,
The Creator,
The source of all being or life.
God's essence is Spirit which is shared with all creation.
Holy Spirit,
The communication link between God and us,
Bridging the gap between the mind of Christ and our human minds,
The voice for God.
Miracle,
The change in mind that shifts our perception,
Transcending the laws of this world to reflect the laws of God.
The miracle provides the means to heal our own minds and the minds of others.
Being,
Pure Spirit without form or limit,
Absolutely changeless and certain.
By nature,
It must give or extend outward.
It gives all of itself away all the time,
Therefore increasing its fullness.
This definition was comprised from the Circle of Atonement glossary of terms,
Which can be found at circleofa.
Org.
And now,
On to the reading.
A Course in Miracles,
Chapter 7,
The gifts of the kingdom.
Section 9,
The extension of the kingdom.
Only you can limit your creative power,
But God wills to release it.
He no more wills you to deprive yourself of your creations than he wills to deprive himself of his.
Do not withhold your gifts to the sonship,
Or you withhold yourself from God.
Selfishness is of the ego,
But selffulness is of Spirit,
Because that is how God created it.
The Holy Spirit is in the part of the mind that lies between the ego and the Spirit,
Mediating between them,
Always in favor of the Spirit.
To the ego,
This is partiality,
And it responds as if it were being sided against.
To Spirit,
This is truth,
Because it knows its fullness,
And cannot conceive of any part from which it is excluded.
Spirit knows that the awareness of all its brothers is included in its own,
As it is included in God.
The power of the whole sonship and of its Creator is therefore Spirit's own fullness,
Rendering its creations equally whole and equal in perfection.
The ego cannot prevail against a totality that includes God,
And any totality must include God.
Everything he created is given all his power,
Because it is part of him,
And shares his being with him.
Creating is the opposite of loss,
As blessing is the opposite of sacrifice.
Being must be extended.
That is how it retains the knowledge of itself.
Spirit yearns to share its being,
As its Creator did.
Created by sharing,
Its will is to create.
It does not wish to contain God,
But wills to extend his being.
The extension of God's being is Spirit's only function.
Its fullness cannot be contained,
Any more than the fullness of its Creator.
Fullness is extension.
The ego's whole thought system blocks extension,
And thus blocks your only function.
It therefore blocks your joy,
So that you perceive yourself as unfulfilled.
Unless you create,
You are unfulfilled,
But God does not know unfulfillment,
And therefore you must create.
You may not know your own creations,
But this can no more interfere with their reality than your unawareness of your Spirit can interfere with its being.
The kingdom is forever extending because it is in the mind of God.
You do not know your joy because you do not know your own self-fullness.
Exclude any part of the kingdom from yourself and you are not whole.
A split mind cannot perceive its fullness,
And needs the miracle of its wholeness to taunt upon it and heal it.
This reawakens the wholeness in it,
And restores it to the kingdom because of its acceptance of wholeness.
The full appreciation of the mind's self-fullness makes selfishness impossible and extension inevitable.
That is why there is perfect peace in the kingdom.
Spirit is fulfilling its function,
And only complete fulfillment is peace.
Your creations are protected for you because the Holy Spirit,
Who is in your mind,
Knows of them and can bring them into your awareness whenever you will let Him.
They are there as part of your own being because your fulfillment includes them.
The creations of every Son of God are yours since every creation belongs to everyone,
Being created for the Sonship as a whole.
You have not failed to increase the inheritance of the Sons of God,
And thus have not failed to secure it for yourself.
Since it was the will of God to give it to you,
He gave it forever.
Since it was His will that you have it forever,
He gave you the means for keeping it,
And you have done so.
Disobeying God's will is meaningful only to the insane.
In truth,
It is impossible.
Your self-fullness is as boundless as God's.
Like His,
It extends forever and in perfect peace.
Its radiance is so intense that it creates imperfect joy,
And only the whole can be born of its wholeness.
Be confident that you have never lost your identity and the extensions which maintain it in wholeness and peace.
Miracles are an expression of this confidence.
They are reflections of both your proper identification with your brothers and of your awareness that your identification is maintained by extension.
The miracle is a lesson in total perception.
By including any part of totality in the lesson,
You have included the whole.
