| >THE COURSE IN MIRACLES -
>************************
>Foundation for Inner Peace
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>ACIM, Text of the Course, Chapter 24, Page 473
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>
>THE CHRIST IN YOU
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>
>September 20, 1994
>
>The Christ in you is very still. He looks on what He loves, and
>knows it as Himself. And thus does He rejoice at what He sees,
>because He knows that it is one with Him and with His Father.
>Specialness, too, takes joy in what it sees, although it is not
>true. Yet what you seek for is a source of joy as you conceive
>it. What you wish is true for you. Nor is it possible that you
>can wish for something and lack faith that it is so. Wishing
>makes real, as surely as does will create. The power of a wish
>upholds illusions as strongly as does love extend itself.
>Except that one deludes; the other heals.
>
>There is no dream of specialness, however hidden or disguised
>the form, however lovely it may seem to be, however much it
>delicately offers the hope of peace and the escape from pain, in
>which you suffer not your condemnation. In dreams effect and
>cause are interchanged, for here the maker of the dream believes
>that what he made is happening to him. He does not realize he
>picked a thread from here, a scrap from there, and wove a
>picture out of nothing. For the parts do not belong together,
>and the whole contributes nothing to the parts to give them
>meaning.
>
>Where could your peace arise BUT from forgiveness? The Christ
>in you looks only on the truth, and sees no condemnation that
>would need forgiveness. He is at peace BECAUSE He sees no sin.
>Identify with Him, and what has He that you have not? He is
>your eyes, your ears, your hands, your feet. How gentle are the
>sights He sees, the sounds He hears. How beautiful His hand
>that holds His brother's, and lovingly He walks beside him,
>showing him what can be seen and heard, and where he will see
>nothing and there is no sound to hear.
>
>Yet let your specialness direct his way, and you will follow.
>And both will walk in danger, each intent, in the dark forest of
>the sightless, unlit but by the shifting tiny gleams that spark
>an instant from the fireflies of sin and then go out, to lead
>the other to a nameless precipice and hurl him over it. For
>what can specialness delight in but to kill? What does it seek
>for but the sight of death? Where does it lead but to
>destruction? Yet think not that it looked upon your brother
>first, nor hated him before it hated you. The sin its eyes
>behold in him and love to look upon it saw in you, and looks on
>still with joy. Yet is it joy to look upon decay and madness,
>and believe this crumbling thing, with flesh already loosened
>from the bone and sightless holes for eyes, is like yourself?
>
>Rejoice you have no eyes with which to see; no ears to listen,
>and no hands to hold nor feet to guide. Be glad that only Christ
>can lend you His, while you have need of them. They are
>illusions, too, as much as yours. And yet because they serve a
>different purpose, the strength their purpose holds is given
>them. And what they see and hear and hold and lead is given
>light, that you may lead as you were led.
>
>The Christ in you is very still. He knows where you are going,
>and He leads you there in gentleness and blessing all the way.
>His Love for God replaces all the fear you thought you saw
>within yourself. His holiness shows you Himself in him whose
>hand you hold, and whom you lead to Him. And what you see is
>like yourself. For what but Christ is there to see and hear and
>love and follow home? He looked upon you first, but recognized
>that you were not complete. And so He sought for your
>completion in each living thing that He beholds and loves. And
>seeks it still, that each might offer you the Love of God.
>
>Yet is He quiet, for He knows that love is in you now, and
>safely held in you by that same hand that holds your brother's
>in your own. Christ's hand holds all His brothers in Himself.
>He gives them vision for their sightless eyes, and sings to them
>of Heaven, that their ears may hear no more the sound of battle
>and of death. He reaches through them, holding out His hand,
>that everyone may bless all living things, and see their
>holiness. And He rejoices that these sights are yours, to look
>upon with Him and share His joy. His perfect lack of
>specialness He offers you, that you may save all living things
>from death, receiving from each one the gift of life that your
>forgiveness offers to your Self. The sight of Christ is all
>there is to see. The song of Christ is all there is to hear.
>The hand of Christ is all there is to hold. There is no journey
>but to walk with Him.
>
>You who would be content with specialness, and seek salvation in
>a war with love, consider this: The holy Lord of Heaven has
>Himself come down to you, to offer you your own completion.
>What is His is yours because in your completion is His Own. He
>Who willed not to be without His Son could never will that you
>be brotherless. And would He give a brother unto you except he
>be as perfect as yourself, and just as like to Him in holiness
>as you must be?
>
>There must be doubt before there can be conflict. And every
>doubt must be about yourself. Christ has no doubt, and from His
>certainty His quiet comes. He will exchange His certainty for
>all your doubts, if you agree that He is one with you, and that
>this oneness is endless, timeless, and within your grasp because
>your hands are His. He is within you, yet He walks beside you
>and before, leading the way that He must go to find Himself
>complete. His quietness becomes your certainty. And where is
>doubt when certainty has come?
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> End of Today's Reading
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| THE COURSE IN MIRACLES - Daily reading:
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WHAT IS THE RESURRECTION?
=========================
Very simply, the resurrection is the overcoming
or surmounting of death. It is a reawakening or
a rebirth; a change of mind about the meaning of
the world. It is the acceptance of the Holy
Spirit's interpretation of the world's purpose;
the acceptance of the Atonement for oneself. It
is the end of dreams of misery, and the glad
awareness of the Holy Spirit's final dream. It
is the recognition of the gifts of God. It is
the dream in which the body functions perfectly,
having no function except communication. It is
the lesson in which learning ends, for it is
consummated and surpassed with this. It is the
invitation to God to take His final step. It is
the relinquishment of all other purposes, all
other interests, all other wishes and all other
concerns. It is the single desire of the Son
for the Father.
The resurrection is the denial of death, being
the assertion of life. Thus is all the thinking
of the world reversed entirely. Life is now
recognized as salvation, and pain and misery of
any kind perceived as hell. Love is no longer
feared, but gladly welcomed. Idols have
disappeared, and the remembrance of God shines
unimpeded across the world. Christ's face is
seen in every living thing, and nothing is held
in darkness, apart from the light of
forgiveness. There is no sorrow still upon the
earth. The joy of Heaven has come upon it.
Here the curriculum ends. From here on, no
directions are needed. Vision is wholly
corrected and all mistakes undone. Attack is
meaningless and peace has come. The goal of the
curriculum has been achieved. Thoughts turn to
Heaven and away from hell. All longings are
satisfied, for what remains unanswered or
incomplete? The last illusion spreads across
the world, forgiving all things and replacing
all attack. The whole reversal is accomplished.
Nothing is left to contradict the Word of God.
There is no opposition to the truth. And now
the truth can come at last. How quickly will it
come as it is asked to enter and envelop such a
world!
All living hearts are tranquil with a stir of
deep anticipation, for the time of everlasting
things is now at hand. There is no death. The
Son of God is free. And in his freedom is the
end of fear. No hidden places now remain on
earth to shelter sick illusions, dreams of fear
and misperceptions of the universe. All things
are seen in light, and in the light their
purpose is transformed and understood. And we,
God's children, rise up from the dust and look
upon our perfect sinlessness. The song of
Heaven sounds around the world, as it is lifted
up and brought to truth.
Now there are now distinctions. Differences
have disappeared and Love looks on Itself. What
further sight is needed? What remains that
vision could accomplish? We have seen the face
of Christ, His sinlessness, His Love behind all
forms, beyond all purposes. Holy are we because
His holiness has set us free indeed! And we
accept His holiness as ours; as it is. As God
created us so will we be forever and forever,
and we wish for nothing but His Will to be our
own. Illusions of another will are lost, for
unit of purpose has been found.
These things await us all, but we are not
prepared as yet to welcome them with joy. As
long as any mind remains possessed of evil
dreams, the thought of hell is real. God's
teachers have the goal of wakening the minds of
those asleep, and seeing there the vision of
Christ's face to take the place of what they
dream. The thought of murder is replaced with
blessing. Judgment is laid by, and given Him
Whose function judgment is. And in His final
judgment is restored the truth about the holy
Son of God. He is redeemed, for he has heard
God's Word and understood its meaning. He is
free because he let God's Voice proclaim the
truth. And all he sought before to crucify are
resurrected with him, by his side, as he
prepares with them to meet his God.
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