ACIM Chapter 13. VII. Attainment of the Real World, P 6-8

VII. Attainment of the Real World, P 6

6 No one in this distracted world but has seen some glimpses of the other world about him. Yet while he still lays value on his own, he will deny the vision of the other, maintaining that he loves what he loves not, and following not the road that love points out. Love leads so gladly! As you follow Him, you will rejoice that you have found His company, and learned of Him the joyful journey home. You wait but for yourself. To give this sad world over and exchange your errors for the peace of God is but your will. And Christ will always offer you the Will of God, in recognition that you share it with Him.

This morning, I glimpsed the other world.

I follow love gladly because it feels so good! It feels like joy. It feels like I am supported and cared for. This morning, it feels like I am cherished. It also feels like I am something that I don’t remember, a mystery, but a mystery just only out of reach, something very close. There is this sense of happy anticipation.

I see the ego thoughts in my mind trying to pull me back to its world of separate beings with separate thoughts and separate goals. This reminds me of things I need to worry about, things that need my attention, things that are sure to go wrong. The mind wants to be angry and fearful. It wants to find the guilty party. It wants to overcome others and be the winner. The ego is dark and foreboding, the best of its gifts fleeting and unsatisfying.

But right now, in this moment, I just don’t care about ego and am uninterested in its offerings or its warnings. Just in this moment, I am carried by peace, by Love. And just this moment is the only reality that exists. In this moment is the Will of God, and in this one moment, I share it with Him. I have thought that the world had meaning and value, and I sought for my place in it. And I suppose that this will happen again for a while, but maybe not. Who knows, maybe I will follow Him gladly all day long, maybe all the way Home.

VII. Attainment of the Real World, P 7

7 It is God’s Will that nothing touch His Son except Himself, and nothing else comes nigh unto him. He is as safe from pain as God Himself, Who watches over him in everything. The world about him shines with love because God placed him in Himself where pain is not, and love surrounds him without end or flaw. Disturbance of his peace can never be. In perfect sanity he looks on love, for it is all about him and within him. He must deny the world of pain the instant he perceives the arms of love around him. And from this point of safety he looks quietly about him and recognizes that the world is one with him.

What an incredible paragraph this is! I remember Cate’s suggestion that we read the words as if Jesus were sitting next to us, saying them to us. I did this, and I did it in first person. As written, these words have a strong impact. Reading them in first person with the inflections I imagine Jesus would use if speaking directly to me, the impact is powerful. Would you like to try this? Read it slowly, seeing Jesus sitting beside you or before you. Imagine him leaning into you, his eyes sparkling with intensity, his voice filled with love as he shares this news with you.

And then Jesus says to you:

It is God’s Will that nothing touch You except Himself, and nothing else comes nigh unto you. You are as safe from pain as God Himself, Who watches over you in everything. The world about you shines with love because God placed you in Himself where pain is not, and love surrounds you without end or flaw. Disturbance of your peace can never be. In perfect sanity you look on love, for it is all about you and within you. You must deny the world of pain the instant you perceive the arms of love around you. And from this point of safety you look quietly about you and recognize that the world is one with you.

Even after all these years of study, I have to very deliberately shift my thinking from ego to God when I read truth like this in the Course. I am more used to thinking of myself as needy, someone who lacks, someone who has a lot of work yet to do to be ready for the truth, to be able to accept the truth. I still have enough belief in guilt in my mind to deny that this is true right now. So, I have to shift my mind. This is why I use this technique. I imagine that this is true for me, and wait for it to sink in. I read it slowly. I read it with feeling. I open my heart and ask for the meaning of those words to fill me.

Then I read it in first person making it mine.

It is God’s Will that nothing touch Me except Himself, and nothing else comes nigh unto me. I am as safe from pain as God Himself, Who watches over me in everything. The world about me shines with love because God placed me in Himself where pain is not, and love surrounds me without end or flaw. Disturbance of my peace can never be. In perfect sanity I look on love, for it is all about me and within me. I must deny the world of pain the instant I perceive the arms of love around me. And from this point of safety I look quietly about me and recognize that the world is one with me.

Can this be true right now? Can it really be that it is God’s Will that nothing touch me except Himself, and nothing else comes nigh unto me? Am I really as safe from pain as God Himself? Does God watch over me in everything? I want to know that this is true, to feel it in my heart of hearts. I have been staring into the illusion as if it were true and doing it for so long that I must tear my eyes away from it so that I can know God, even though He surrounds me with Himself.

In the morning, I start my day by deciding with God what kind of day I want.

This morning, I have decided I will look on the world and see the love that is all around me without end and without flaw. And if anything comes to disturb my peace, I will shift my mind to God again. I will know safety. I will know that all I perceive is one with me, and that as one, we are surrounded by God. Nothing can touch me except God.

VII. Attainment of the Real World, P 8

8 The peace of God passeth your understanding only in the past. Yet here it is, and you can understand it now. God loves His Son forever, and His Son returns his Father’s Love forever. The real world is the way that leads you to remembrance of the one thing that is wholly true and wholly yours. For all else you have lent yourself in time, and it will fade. But this one thing is always yours, being the gift of God unto His Son. Your one reality was given you, and by it God created you as one with Him.

I can have the peace of God right now, and in having it, I can understand it. But it must be now, not in the nowhere time of the past or the future. That is why I am forming the habit of noticing when I am in the past or the future and then making a decision to be in the present moment. At first, it felt like an impossible task, but now it is easier. As I stay more in the present, I am more in the presence of Love, and that is a powerful motivation.

I have been sending my friend encouraging text messages once a day while he is going through this difficult time. He hasn’t answered me this week. The ego mind is making up all kinds of dreadful stories. Then I read something very upsetting about a niece, and that added to my sense of dread. The ego stories quickly pile up and take on a heaviness that they don’t actually have.

But I am also aware of what is happening.

When I started to feel desperate, I remembered that this was a story. It is an illusion and not actually happening. I am watching the story, and my friend and my niece are watching their stories. I ask for a different way to view this, a way I can detach from them. And I suddenly had the memory of a section I read in The Afterlife of Billy Fingers. He was watching scenes from his life, not with guilt or fear but with interest. I felt like that memory was made available to me in answer to my prayer. I am willing to watch this story and all my seeming errors without fear and guilt and only with interest.

And I was also reminded that I could look at the future that the ego stories point to, or I can return to the present moment where I will find the peace of God. That is my choice and one I make in every moment. After all, what is actually happening in this moment? I am not at peace because I am imagining some other moment. Right now, right this moment I reside in God’s Love. Nothing can touch me here.

I often refer to Regina Dawn Akers who was my mentor for many years. She scribed The Holy Spirit’s Interpretation of the New Testament and Teachings of the Inner Ramana. Here is a link to her Buddha at the Gas Pump interview.