ACIM The Altar of God, P 5. The children of God are entitled to the perfect comfort that comes from perfect trust.

ACIM The Altar of God, P 5.

III. The Altar of God, P 5

5 The children of God are entitled to the perfect comfort that comes from perfect trust. Until they achieve this, they waste themselves and their true creative powers on useless attempts to make themselves more comfortable by inappropriate means. But the real means are already provided, and do not involve any effort at all on their part. The Atonement is the only gift that is worthy of being offered at the altar of God, because of the value of the altar itself. It was created perfect and is entirely worthy of receiving perfection. God and His creations are completely dependent on Each Other. He depends on them because He created them perfect.  He gave them His peace so they could not be shaken and could not be deceived. Whenever you are afraid you are deceived, and your mind cannot serve the Holy Spirit. This starves you by denying you your daily bread. God is lonely without His Sons, and they are lonely without Him. They must learn to look upon the world as a means of healing the separation. The Atonement is the guarantee that they will ultimately succeed.

How Strange!

I pretended to be less than what I am. I pretended to be that for so long that even I believed it. So, I sit here in the middle of a feast and suffer famine. I sit here in perfect safety and suffer fear. And I sit here in Love and feel that I am bereft of comfort. Dear God, hear my prayer. I would wake up and see what is before me, all around me, in me. I would no longer be deceived.

The perfect plan has been designed to wake me gently from my dream of suffering and sacrifice. The Atonement is in place, and I but need to accept it to experience its healing effects. I forgive. I forgive over and over again until finally, I realize what it means to forgive. And with that realization comes an insatiable appetite for forgiveness.

It Makes Me Laugh

This morning everything makes me laugh. I laugh that I still must forgive this little thing and that little thing. How am I still so blind to the blazing light of truth that I still believe there is some little thing separate from some other little thing that needs forgiveness? How can I so easily forget that it is all the same?

And isn’t it hilarious that I know this, and yet, Myron goes out into the world and feels attacked and put upon, fearful and ashamed? She feels all the other ridiculous stuff that is part of the experience of separation. And then I laugh again as I realize that I am the one who sees Myron do this, so I cannot be Myron. I laugh to realize that the more I do this, the less at stake I have in this story of Myron. And so the easier it is to forgive.

Really, laughter just bubbles out of me with abandon this morning.

Oh Spirit, help me remember today. I mean, after I leave the silence of your presence and immerse myself in the daily stuff of life in the illusion, help me remember what I am. Help me remember the purpose I have accepted. Help me remember to forgive it all. But mostly, help me remember to laugh today. When I think of the ridiculous state I am in, I must either laugh or cry. I am tired of crying and would prefer to laugh now.

Let’s See What We Have Learned So Far

So far, we are learning some of the basics of what we are and how we got here. We started with the principles of miracles and how they were distorted. Then in the Origins of Separation, we learned how it is we came to believe we are separate from God and each other. And in The Atonement as Defense, we begin to discover the way out. In The Altar to God, we are told that the altar is in our center and that this is where the Atonement must sit.

I want to talk a little about the restoration of the altar. We have made a mess of things through our desire for specialness. This was done when fear entered our minds. Until the fall, we had never experienced fear because fear did not exist. With fear came guilt, and it went downhill from there. When we knew our oneness, all was well. No fear, no guilt, thus no projection, and no competition.

Specialness needed separation, and bodies became the way we accomplished the impossible. Well, it was accomplished in our minds but not in reality. Still, as Jesus tells us later in the Course, what we believe is true for us. And so we suffer. What a shock that must have been! The whole and perfect suddenly experience suffering.

There Is Good News

The good news is that we made all this up, and we can undo it and will undo it. It is not complicated, nor is it difficult though we can make it seem difficult. Everything we see with our eyes is an out-picturing of a belief in our minds. Thus, we can easily learn to recognize the belief that is holding the world in place. Once seen, we can decide to forgive that belief and let it go.

Perhaps like me, it seems hard to believe a construct so complex could be undone simply by letting it go. But like me, you will, or maybe already have, seen this happen. I use the process that Jesus gives us in the Course. It has three parts. First, I notice the thought that is causing distress, and looking at it with the Holy Spirit, I let it go to Him. The third part is not for me to do. The actual healing is the Holy Spirit’s function. See, it is simple and easy.

How I do It

Here is an example of how I do this. I was concerned for my son because he is feeling discouraged. He is looking for a job and not getting one. His life is not unfolding as he thought it would, which depresses him. My problem was that I was caught up in his story, and so I was suffering right along with him. This was not helping either of us.

I realized that it was my thoughts about the situation that were upsetting to me. I looked at it with the Holy Spirit and asked Him to heal my mind of the belief that I know what is in my son’s best interest. And the belief that my worry for him is somehow helpful, even necessary. I forgave it and let it go to the Holy Spirit. I know that my son is having the experience he came here for. It is helping him to wake up, just as my life is offering me the same opportunity. Now I am at peace. If fear thoughts return, I know what to do with them.

I wrote a short article on fear as a concept for my Pathways of Light blog. CLICK HERE to read it.