ACIM VIII. The Meaning of the Last Judgement. One of the ways in which you can correct the magic-miracle confusion is to remember that you did not create yourself.
ACIM VIII. the Meaning of the Last Judgement.
1 VIII. The Meaning of the Last Judgment, P 1
1 One of the ways in which you can correct the magic-miracle confusion is to remember that you did not create yourself. You are apt to forget this when you become egocentric, and this puts you in a position where a belief in magic is virtually inevitable. Your will to create was given you by your Creator, Who was expressing the same Will in His Creation. Since creative ability rests in the mind, everything you create is necessarily a matter of will. It also follows that whatever you alone make is real in your own sight, though not in the Mind of God. This basic distinction leads directly into the real meaning of the Last Judgment.
I’m not going to think about the Last Judgment right now. I want to think about what Jesus has said about the magic-miracle confusion. He says that the key is to remember I did not create myself. Here is how this feels to me as I rest my mind and allow some clarity to come to me.
Creative Power
God created me like Himself, so there is in me the creative impulse. I can, therefore, create as God creates. When I try to see this in my mind, I see creation occurring in a straight line. From God comes creative power, which becomes the Son of God. From the Son of God comes the same creative power which becomes His creations. This power always moves forward and does not turn on itself. The Son cannot turn the power and re-create Himself. He can only continue to create as He was created. This creative power has never ceased.
There was a tiny mad idea in which the Son wondered what it would be like if creative power could actually allow Him to recreate Himself in an image other than God. This was not possible, but imagining it was. It was imagined in all its possibilities, seen as undesired and dismissed. Some part of the mind is still watching the possibilities as they unfold over and over, deciding when it wants to wake up from the dream of separation.
Within the dream, there are always two choices being made at every moment. One is the choice to end the story. This is done by turning the attention to God and giving full desire to that choice. The other is to continue the story as if it is real. In this choice, the solution is magic, that is, to solve problems that don’t exist using the tools provided in the illusion, which of course, are no more real than the illusion itself.
The Game
I like to imagine this as a video game with lots of levels. I made up the game and designed the levels. And I hid tools all through the game and planted clues on each level to lead me to the next level. But within the game, there is no solution. There is only the illusion that there is a way to win. No matter how long I play, how skilled I become, and how many tools I find and use, I never find the way out.
The only way to win this game is to end it because it was based on an impossible premise. The way to win it is to stop looking at the magical solutions and start looking for the Holy Spirit’s clues. Eventually, the Holy Spirit clues become a constant Voice that guides me through the game and, when I am ready, out of the game.
Can’t Do It on My Own
Before I started playing the game with the Holy Spirit, I was trying to use the creative impulse on my own. This cannot be done, and that is why it didn’t work. I would get the illusion that I was moving forward, winning at the game, but then I would get knocked back to another level, or I would die and have to start over. The creative impulse can make illusions but does not create when used by myself because it is not the nature of God to be separate, and creation is always of God. Creation cannot be anything other than what It is.
Once I begin to follow the Guide and listen to only that Voice, I begin to experience miracles. These miracles are actually the only natural things to be found within the game, though in the game, they seem supernatural. They occur as a result of the corrected mind that begins to make in a way that, while not creation, more closely resembles creation.
2VIII. The Meaning of the Last Judgment, P 2
2 The Last Judgment is one of the most threatening ideas in your thinking. This is because you do not understand it. Judgment is not an attribute of God. It was brought into being only after the separation, when it became one of the many learning devices to be built into the overall plan. Just as the separation occurred over millions of years, the Last Judgment will extend over a similarly long period, and perhaps an even longer one. Its length, however, can be greatly shortened by miracles, the device for shortening but not abolishing time. If a sufficient number become truly miracle-minded, this shortening process can be virtually immeasurable. It is essential, however, that you free yourself from fear quickly, because you must emerge from the conflict if you are to bring peace to other minds.
Jeepers! The last judgment will last for millions of years unless we do something to speed it up. Only miracles will help. If enough of us become miracle minded, we can really shorten the time. All along, Jesus has been asking us to allow our minds to be healed and to allow him to direct our miracles so that we can help awaken our brothers. This is the reason. But to do this, we must free ourselves of fear quickly. So we can be at peace and bring that peace to others.
Fear of the Last Judgment
We have a very strong fear of the Last Judgment. This fear is really the fear of God, the fear that, finally, our misdeeds are catching up with us. And that finally, we have been backed up against the wall. There is nowhere to run, no way to get away from God. He has seen what we have done, and now we will be punished, annihilated for our temerity. We tried to leave God, and He is finally and forever through with us.
Jesus says there is no truth to this. He says that judgment is not in God’s nature and that before the separation, there was no such thing as judgment. Actually, judgment was made just so that we would have a way out of the impossible situation we put ourselves in when we made up separation. We have looked on judgment as a frightening thing. In reality, when used correctly, it is our way out as we shall see when we read further. (I peeked ahead to see what was coming. ~smile~)
We Must Free Ourselves of Fear
Right now, our job is to free ourselves of fear so that we will be useful to the awakening. Not to lose sight of how this is done, I remind myself that all I need do is notice the fear thoughts (remembering that fear is everything that is not love), ask for healing, and accept the Atonement. So simple and so easy to do.
This is my goal while I am here, my purpose, the only thing I do that really matters. This is how I undo fear for myself and for all of us for all time. It is the way I return my mind to God. I will not become distracted from my holy purpose today. Yes, I will continue to do what seems to need to be done in this life I dream. But it will all be used to undo fear. This is the part I will not forget.
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