ACIM Chapter 13. VIII. From Perception to Knowledge, P 8-10

ACIM Chapter 13. VIII. From Perception to Knowledge, P 8-10

VIII. From Perception to Knowledge, P 8

8 When you have seen your brothers as yourself you will be released to knowledge, having learned to free yourself through Him Who knows of freedom. Unite with me under the holy banner of His teaching, and as we grow in strength the power of God’s Son will move in us, and we will leave no one untouched and no one left alone. And suddenly time will be over, and we will all unite in the eternity of God the Father. The holy light you saw outside yourself, in every miracle you offered to your brothers, will be returned to you. And knowing that the light is in you, your creations will be there with you, as you are in your Father.

It has been a long time now since I did something that affected a brother, and I did not consider that what affects one affects all. I cannot do or say something unkind, even think something unkind, without affecting myself and the entire Sonship. However, I sometimes go back to thinking of this one or that one as separate, or sometimes a particular situation triggers a response that is intended to defend or attack. But that is now the exception instead of the rule, and even then, there is a knowing in me that I am mistaken.

When I think of our complete, unbroken union, I often think of the Borg.

If you are not a Trekkie, let me explain. The Borg are a race of people in the Star Trek series. They are a collective; each individual is a part of the whole. To me, the Borg represents an ego version of the idea of union. They act as one and act in accordance with the good of the whole, but they are without compassion, love, or kindness. Their imperative is the survival of the whole through assimilation, defense, and attack.

But I think in terms of Love. What if we remembered the truth about our nature? What if we remembered we were part of God and remembered that means we are Love itself? We would then turn as one, not to defend or attack, but turn in compassion, in peace, in joy and certainty and fearlessness. I think that we are actually doing this now. Each of us, as we allow our minds to be healed, is remembering that this is what we are. We are each whole and part of a whole.

We do not assimilate others into our wholeness, but rather, we live a life that invites union. As more and more choose to live as one and as the Son of God that we are, the stronger the pull toward that union, and the more impelling it becomes. Love is the force that ties us together. There is a different force, though, that drives us apart, and that is fear and guilt.

When we choose to believe in fear and guilt rather than love we are polarized.

We saw that happen recently in the campaign for president. An entire nation began taking sides against each other, and in their fear, they attacked friends and even family members, turning on each other. Even though a decision has been made and a president has been elected, there is no peace because there has been no overriding decision for love.

More than ever before, we are given an opportunity as spiritual beings to be the love that we are and, in so doing, to be the miracle workers that we are asked to be. I understand the temptation to turn toward fear, but I also know that this is an ego desire, not my true desire. When I think of all that could go wrong, soon the ego mind is off and running, and I am filled with regret that our fear turned us toward an idea of defense and self-centered action. I am filled with fear as to where this might lead us.

But then I remember that nothing is happening.

I am only projecting my ego fears onto a future, and that is not something I want to do. All thought produces form at some level, and this is not a future I want to produce. Also, God is not in the future; He is in this moment. Sometimes, I have to drag my mind, kicking and screaming, back to the now, but I do it. I remember that I cannot enter God’s presence if I attack His Son. We are God’s Son, and if we attack any part of that Sonship, we are attacking the Whole.

For some lightworkers, their part of this story may be to enter the political arena or to influence that arena. If so, it must be done with compassion and love and with kindness. It must be done without placing guilt and without working from a place of fear. It must be done with constant guidance. Otherwise, the worker has turned from light and toward the darkness.

We cannot, as A Course in Miracles students, assimilate others; we can only show them the light, and that light will offer an irresistible invitation. My intention and my devotion are toward that light and toward the Love in Which I was created. I invite you to join me in this powerful intention. Let us unite with Jesus under the holy banner of His teaching, and as we grow in strength, the power of God’s Son will move in us, and we will leave no one untouched and no one left alone.

VIII. From Perception to Knowledge, P 9

9 As miracles in this world join you to your brothers, so do your creations establish your fatherhood in Heaven. You are the witnesses to the Fatherhood of God, and He has given you the power to create the witnesses to yours, which is as His. Deny a brother here, and you deny the witnesses to your fatherhood in Heaven. The miracle that God created is perfect, as are the miracles that you established in His Name. They need no healing, nor do you, when you accept them.

I understand that miracles in the world join me to my brothers. I think of this as happening on two levels. First, I forgive in my mind, and from that pure place of love, I project love. In the world, this appears as a miracle in form. Maybe the person who I didn’t like and who didn’t like me suddenly became friendly and kind. Maybe the sickness I believed in until I forgave the idea in the world disappeared. However the miracle appears, it creates a sense of oneness, of unity with my brothers and sisters. It may appear as form in the world, or maybe not, but the joining has occurred.

What I don’t really get is the part about my creations. I do understand that we, as the Son of God, are witness to His Fatherhood. That makes sense. I have children in this world, and they are witnesses to my motherhood. They prove I am a mother. So, we prove that God is Father. Then, I get to the part that confuses me. God gave me the power to create my own witnesses. He does not mean that I can have children in the world because that is not creation; that is making.

So, what are my creations?

The reason that I have trouble with this is that I cannot envision formlessness.  And because if creation is extension, then I would create more of me, and I don’t have a handle on me, either. There is still too much identity with ego. Or at least, while I don’t fully identify with ego anymore, I don’t have an image with which to replace it. I guess I mean that I don’t remember anything but form, so what I am feels alien and impossible to grasp. So, the idea of my creations is intriguing but not tangible. It is something I take on faith.

Now, here is where I get really confused. “Deny a brother here, and you deny the witnesses to your fatherhood in Heaven.” I think he must mean that my brothers here are all, as one, the Sonship, and if any are denied, we are not whole. Our creations exist as witnesses to the Sonship as it exists, whole and complete, so if it is not whole and complete, it is not the Sonship that created them. Of course, it was done, and we are whole, but when we deny any part of our Self, we also deny our creations. Well, that is a bit untangled in my mind. Maybe this is why I have no memory or concept of my creations. I still deny my brothers, and so I have lost the awareness of our creations.

And then he says:

“The miracle that God created is perfect, as are the miracles that you established in His Name. They need no healing, nor do you, when you accept them.”

We are the miracle that God created, and we are perfect. The creations that we established in His Name are also perfect. We do not need healing; we only need acceptance of who we are and what our brothers are. If we are to accept our true identity, we must accept that our identity is whole, which means that no one is denied.

There are none I can push away and say that one is not me.

I test my resistance as I open my arms and invite in different people: the pedophile, the racist, the murderer, the cruel, and the hateful. Do I feel any resistance? How about making it personal? The difficult relative, the politician who seems to be so different from me? Can I accept them both as me, part of the Sonship that I am?

When I accept all my brothers, I accept my creations, and I accept our Creator. There is, in my mind, a memory of my creations and a memory of God. I long for that memory to be in my awareness, so I am willing to allow the healing that will bring me to that memory. I do this as I forgive all thoughts that separate me from my brothers.

VIII. From Perception to Knowledge, P 10

10 Yet in this world your perfection is un-witnessed. God knows it, but you do not, and so you do not share His witness to it. Nor do you witness unto Him, for reality is witnessed to as one. God waits your witness to His Son and to Himself. The miracles you do on earth are lifted up to Heaven and to Him. They witness to what you do not know, and as they reach the gates of Heaven, God will open them. For never would He leave His Own beloved Son outside them, and beyond Himself.

God created me perfect, and so perfect I am. Yet, as Jesus says in the first sentence, my perfection is un-witnessed in this world. Well, I get that! I find no witnesses to my perfection, and that is the reason I sometimes fall for the ego’s interpretation of things. I realize that my thoughts, actions, and words witness to the ego thought system more than I would like, even now after all this time of study and practice. Even at my best, my perception witnesses to something truer, but not truth.

But God knows my perfection.

So, nothing has actually changed, and that is my salvation. It is our salvation. We do not share His witness to our perfection because reality can only be witnessed to as one. We still, in this world, see division, and that is not one. What I see happening in my life and in the lives of others is a shift toward oneness. We do this through miracles.

We ask for another way to see and accept that vision, recognizing that the eyes do not show reality. Instead, we trust the Holy Spirit’s Vision until that vision becomes our own. First, the mind changes, and then the changed mind projects that change onto the world, and miracles are made manifest. This is why we study this book, why it is called A Course in Miracles. Miracles matter, not the miracles themselves, but the love they represent. It is through performing miracles that we return our minds to reality and remember that we are the Sons of God.

Jesus says that the miracles we do on earth are lifted up to God and they witness to what we do not know. This is our path back home. The gates to Heaven are open to us, and the miracles we do here lead us to those gates and to the welcoming presence of God. Perhaps you think you have never performed a miracle, but I bet that you have. Each time you believe the ego and then change your mind and let the Holy Spirit heal your mind, you have an opportunity to change miraculously. All you need to do is accept that healing.

Sometimes, the manifestation of the miracle is obvious.

Sometimes, it is even astounding. But often, the manifestation is subtle at first and perhaps not recognized. At those times, it becomes clear only in retrospect as you review your life and recognize how much happier and more peaceful you are now. You know it is because you have been practicing what you are learning through A Course in Miracles. That is no small miracle. And there may be even more to it. It may be that when you come to a fork in the road, your past study and your past choices for God take you down a gentler path, and you have saved a thousand years, even though you do not realize it.

I wonder if I decided today that I want the miracle, not as a possible outcome of a daily practice, but as a decision I make, how would that change things? What if I start the day asking the Holy Spirit what miracles He would have me perform today? I am going to do that. I am asking and expecting an answer. And I will keep my mind and heart open so that I will recognize the answer when it comes to me.

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