ACIM III. Love Without Conflict, P 1, 2. It is hard to understand what “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you” really means. The word “within” is unnecessary. The Kingdom of Heaven is you.
ACIM Chapter 4, III. Love Without Conflict, P 1, 2
1 III. Love Without Conflict, P 1
1 It is hard to understand what “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you” really means. This is because it is not understandable to the ego, which interprets it as if something outside is inside, and this does not mean anything. The word “within” is unnecessary. The Kingdom of Heaven is you. What else but you did the Creator create, and what else but you is His Kingdom? This is the whole message of the Atonement; a message which in its totality transcends the sum of its parts. You, too, have a Kingdom that your spirit created. It has not ceased to create because of the ego’s illusions. Your creations are no more fatherless than you are. Your ego and your spirit will never be co-creators, but your spirit and your Creator will always be. Be confident that your creations are as safe as you are. The Kingdom is perfectly united and perfectly protected, and the ego will not prevail against it. Amen.
I Am Peace. I Am the Kingdom of Heaven
The Kingdom of Heaven is me. I don’t remember this experience, but I accept that it must be true. Just as in the section The Obstacles to Peace, Jesus says of peace: You are the center from which it radiates outward, to call the others in. Am I the center of peace? I don’t feel like I am peace, but rather I have to seek peace, and yet Jesus says otherwise. He says that I am peace, and I don’t know it because I have placed obstacles to it and now must remove them.
Here he has said that the Kingdom of Heaven is me. I am peace. I am the Kingdom of Heaven. This is the reason I cannot fail! I don’t seek to be someplace else or to become something different. I seek to remove obstacles I placed in my mind, obstacles to what I already am. How hard could this be? It does feel hard, but only because, at times, I remain conflicted about what I want.
First, Jesus tells me that I am God’s Kingdom, and then he tells me that I have a Kingdom that I (my spirit, not my ego self) created. I have fathered creations! I don’t even know what to think about this. While I know that I am part of God, created like Him, and therefore must also be a creator, thinking about this in such specifics just leaves me stunned.
Obstacles to Peace
I cannot imagine what that must look like which makes me want to cry because if I can forget my own creations, it underscores just how deeply lost in my dream I am. Jesus must have anticipated this reaction because he goes on to assure me that my creations are no more fatherless than I am and that I can be confident that my creations are as safe as I am. I am not fatherless and I am safe, and this extends to my creations.
Also, in The Obstacles to Peace Jesus calls our present dream-like state the great amnesia in which the memory of God seems quite forgotten. We have self-inflicted amnesia, and an agreement to pretend that we don’t remember who we are and that we don’t remember our existence in God. It is forgotten, not lost, and we are beginning to wake from that dream.
I Create Even as I Dream
Now there is a difference between the dreaming we seem to do at night and the dream of being separate from God. At night when I sleep, and I dream, my waking story is on hold. I am in bed, and I am doing nothing else in my life while I lay there. But with the ego’s dream of life, it is different. I dream of all sorts of meaningless things (just as happens to Myron in her night dreams), but in the meantime, my spirit goes on as if nothing is happening (which is appropriate, I suppose since nothing is happening). My real life continues uninterrupted into eternity, and I, as spirit, continue to create even while I dream the ego dream of life.
Yesterday I had two experiences of being outside my self, and I take hope from those experiences that I am closer now to accepting the Atonement. I say this to you because they were so very brief, and it would be easy for the ego to discount them as the memory fades, but I want to remember, and I keep only what I share. The ego will not prevail against the Kingdom. Thank you, God, for that. And thank you, sweet brother, for bringing this reassurance from Heaven into the dream.
2 III. Love Without Conflict, P 2
2 This is written in the form of a prayer because it is useful in moments of temptation. It is a declaration of independence. You will find it very helpful if you understand it fully. The reason you need my help is because you have denied your own Guide and therefore need guidance. My role is to separate the true from the false, so truth can break through the barriers the ego has set up and can shine into your mind. Against our united strength the ego cannot prevail.
I depend on that promise of help. I know just enough to know I don’t know anything. If, in any situation, I accept I don’t know, I can step back and allow Jesus to help me. He will sort through my thoughts, showing me what is true and what is just ego nonsense. Earlier, he said he would substitute for my ego if I let him, and I readily agreed to that arrangement.
I notice during the day when I have let the ego take over, and I remember that I have entrusted this to Jesus. It is a great help and has made for a much more peaceful day. Jesus says he teaches through contrast, and I see that those moments when I depend on ego thinking to make decisions seem so much more painful than they did before. The contrast is striking and motivates me to be vigilant for my tendency to return to ego as my guide.
The Kingdom is perfectly united and perfectly protected, and the ego will not prevail against it. Amen.
Joining Is Necessary
When Jesus offered to substitute for the ego in my mind, I knew this would be very helpful, but I didn’t realize that it was more than just help with sorting through my thoughts. When Jesus and I join in this manner, the Kingdom is perfectly united. For a while now, I have recognized how important joining is. Every lesson, every healing is magnified when I join with another.
This is what Jesus has been trying to tell me throughout the Course. We have the idea of separation in our minds, and to undo it, we need to join. We join every time we set aside the ego thought of separate interests. For instance, when I was still working, I might think I needed my boss to recognize my value to the company. I want him to see me and what I do for him and realize I am more valuable to him than the other employees are.
Then I realized that what I really want is to be happy, peaceful, safe, and loved. This is what he wants for himself as well. This is what the other employees want. Before that realization, I thought we each had separate interests, and I had to be sure mine was met, which meant that theirs was not. After I realized that what I actually wanted was the same thing that we all wanted, I no longer saw us as separate and in competition. I saw us as all joined in this same interest.
And Then There Is Politics
Politics is another area I can become confused. I might think I know which politician should be elected and what laws should be passed. The opposing party thinks they know who should be elected and what laws should be passed. If I am lost in this story, it takes on much significance, and I am separate from so many of my brothers.
However, I now understand something. I want my party to win because I believe it will make me happy, and the others want their party to win so they can be happy. What we share is a desire for happiness. Now I don’t feel so separate from them. Our interests are the same; the only difference is our thoughts about achieving happiness. I feel much closer and more loving toward those I used to feel separate from. I feel compassion for their confusion as I feel compassion for mine.
These are examples of life as I learn to join rather than separate. It seems like we join at this moment and then in another moment for one specific thing or another. But it is more important than any specific problem or any specific healing. These moments of joining are undoing the idea of separation. They remind us of our unity, awakening us from the dream of separation.
Joining with Jesus in this way, asking him to sort through the thoughts in my mind and show me the true ones, is more than just helpful. It is uniting to protect the Kingdom, and the power of that uniting perfectly protects the Kingdom and guarantees the ego will not prevail against it.
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