ACIM 5. II. The Voice for God, P 7, 8 ,9. The Voice of the Holy Spirit does not command, because it is incapable of arrogance. It does not demand, because It does not seek control. It does not overcome, because It does not attack. It merely reminds.
ACIM Chapter 5. II. The Voice for God, P 7, 8, 9
II. The Voice for God, P 7
7 The Voice of the Holy Spirit does not command, because it is incapable of arrogance. It does not demand, because It does not seek control. It does not overcome, because It does not attack. It merely reminds. It is compelling only because of what it reminds you of. It brings to your mind the other way, remaining quiet even in the midst of the turmoil you may make. The Voice for God is always quiet, because It speaks of peace. Peace is stronger than war because it heals. War is division, not increase. No one gains from strife. What profiteth it a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? If you listen to the wrong voice you have lost sight of your soul. You cannot lose it, but you can not know it. It is therefore “lost” to you until you choose right.
This is the Holy Spirit I know; It is gentle, peaceful, loving, kind, quiet, respectful, patient, undemanding, available, and utterly trustworthy. I call on the Holy Spirit for help, and It answers. I ask for healing, and It heals, but It answers the request of my heart, and so heals only to the degree I truly desire that healing. And It sometimes answers in unexpected ways.
Healing the Belief in Guilt
Here is an example. I asked the Holy Spirit to help me let go of the belief in guilt, not just the belief that I am guilty of this thing or that thing, but the belief in guilt altogether. Guilt is not of God, so it cannot be real, and while I understand that concept, I still feel guilty for various “sins” that I commit, so I must still believe in it. I felt ready to let that go, and so I asked for help.
The Course tells us that the way to do this is to look at my thoughts and beliefs with the Holy Spirit and, deciding against them, ask for the Atonement (healing). So naturally, lots of guilty thoughts are coming forward so that I can see the many uses I have for guilt and make another choice. After a while, I feel overwhelmed with this and even a little confused as I lose my detachment and start to forget why I am looking at guilt. Then I simply feel guilty, and this is depressing. I recover, but I am making it a more painful process than it needs to be. Realizing this, I asked for help.
I Am Being Healed
A couple of days ago, I was walking from my car to the store for groceries. I thought that even as I walk in this parking lot, I am being healed. It was a little revelation, that. It brought to mind that the important stuff happens without my help. The healing of the mind requires only my sincere desire. The healing itself does not need my help.
Later that day, I was worrying about a problem, concerned that I might forget something important. The thought came into my mind that even as I worry, my mind is being healed. I laughed out loud. Yes, my mind is being healed; what I do, say, or even think does not prevent that healing. I sincerely asked for healing, and so the healing is taking place.
This happened several more times when I was concerned about something or feeling guilty about something. I remembered something I said, which triggered guilt in my mind. I was feeling bad about it, and a healing thought came. Even as I sit here in this guilt, my mind is being healed. I am awash in relief to remember that there is nothing to worry about because I am being healed. I am waking up. Nothing I say or do is stopping that because it is my true desire.
Seeing the Gift
After a while, I realized that this was a gift from Holy Spirit, the answer to my prayer for help to do the work on guilt without suffering while I did it. I began to notice that I often feel a sense of removal from the problem when I pause for that reminder. It was as if I were not part of it but simply watching it. Such blessings, such grace, and only because I asked for it!
This paragraph also talks about the strength of peace. Before the Course, I didn’t understand the idea of peace as strength because my mind was steeped in the idea of attack as defense. I have since learned that in my defenselessness, my safety lies. No one gains from strife. I know this because I have proven it to myself in my own life.
I wonder how different our government would be if everyone in it understood this. Perhaps they are helping us all learn that strife is not strength as we watch them squabble and fight for dominance. Everyone has the option of joining them in their divisive behavior by taking sides and giving up their peace to this battle. Or we can step back and let peace guide our thoughts. We will learn the lesson we want to learn, and it won’t be a lesson in politics, however it seems. We are all learning and teaching purpose. What is my purpose? Am I here to create and promote strife, or am I hear to experience and thus teach peace?
8 II. The Voice for God, P 8
8 The Holy Spirit is your Guide in choosing. He is in the part of your mind that always speaks for the right choice, because He speaks for God. He is your remaining communication with God, which you can interrupt but cannot destroy. The Holy Spirit is the way in which God’s Will is done on earth as it is in Heaven. Both Heaven and earth are in you, because the call of both is in your mind. The Voice for God comes from your own altars to Him. These altars are not things; they are devotions. Yet you have other devotions now. Your divided devotion has given you the two voices, and you must choose at which altar you want to serve. The call you answer now is an evaluation because it is a decision. The decision is very simple. It is made on the basis of which call is worth more to you.
Jesus is helping us to understand what the Holy Spirit is to us. He is the Truth that is in our minds. The Holy Spirit is the Voice that speaks that truth. He is the Healer that corrects our thinking and so brings our will back into alignment with God’s Will. Thus His Will is done on earth as it is in Heaven. The Holy Spirit is completely safe from our illusions, and while we can refuse to listen to Him, we can’t destroy Him.
Altars Are Devotions
Jesus also defines altars as he uses the term, at least to the degree that he explains that the altars are not things but devotions. He says the Holy Spirit comes from my own altars to Him, my devotion to Truth. But I also have other altars now. It seems that I am devoted to the Holy Spirit. But within this illusory experience of separation, I am also devoted to things of the world, magical solutions. This would help explain why I am so conflicted and uncertain in my life.
We are told that we cannot serve two masters. So, I must decide who I will serve or at which altar I will devote myself. I choose the Holy Spirit right now, and even if it seems during the day that I have chosen some other devotion, my true devotion is to God. I am fully willing to become aware of any mistaken belief that there is something else to which I could be devoted. And I am fully willing to release my devotion from any of those false altars and am happy to do so as I become aware of them.
Devotion to Specialness
I have been aware of my devotion to specialness. I choose certain people to be special to me and expect them to treat me as if I am special to them. When it doesn’t happen, or I don’t see enough signs that they think I am special, I become unhappy. I feel unworthy and then project my unhappiness onto them and see them as guilty. This is an altar I have been devoted to all my life, and it seems there is still some belief in its power to make me happy.
The ego mind believes that if no one sees me as special, that means I am unworthy. And yet, Jesus tells us we are worthy. Your worth is not established by teaching or learning. ²Your worth is established by God. ³As long as you dispute this everything you do will be fearful, particularly any situation that lends itself to the belief in superiority and inferiority. (ACIM, T-4.I.7:1-3)This is an altar to fear, one I am ready to let go. It is not possible that God’s creation could be unworthy. Holy Spirit, I give this belief to you and ask that you heal my mind. I gladly accept the Atonement for this. I desire only one altar in my mind, and that this altar be You.
9 II. The Voice for God, P 9
9 My mind will always be like yours, because we were created as equals. It was only my decision that gave me all power in Heaven and earth. My only gift to you is to help you make the same decision. This decision is the choice to share it, because the decision itself is the decision to share. It is made by giving, and is therefore the one choice that resembles true creation. I am your model for decision. By deciding for God I showed you that this decision can be made, and that you can make it.
In every moment of the day, I make a decision. I decide for ego, that is, for separation, weakness, loss, and death. Or I decide for God, for love, for all power in Heaven and earth. I can decide for God continuously. And I know I can because Jesus did it and proved to me it can be done. I long to make that decision because I long for love. Love is universally the strongest drive of man because deep down in our core we have an ancient memory of our creation. And thus, we know that we are an extension of Love Itself. We are Love playing at being human. Every fiber of our being longs for union with Itself.
Desire for Love
The desire for love becomes distorted as it passes through the ego filters in our mind and becomes something closer to neediness, seeking, always seeking something to fulfill it. It is hardly recognizable as love. And yet, it is still the highest calling we know within the illusion because it is the closest we can come to our true nature. Through the Holy Spirit in our mind, we can become healed and as our true nature stretches, the neediness dissolves. Our little attempts at love grow and are purified. We become what we always were, or close enough to it, that ascension becomes possible.
Oh my, can you imagine that? Can you imagine love ascending into Love and joining with Love, never to imagine Itself separated again? I imagine it . . . but of course, I can’t really. I try to think what it would be like, what it is like. It must be absolute freedom and vastness. When I think of it, I feel claustrophobic in this body. I feel like crying. What if I lived without the limits imposed by humanness and the limits imposed by separation? I would never experience loneliness or loss again. Grief and pain would be such a distant memory I couldn’t grasp it in my mind. Smallness would no longer be a concept I could hold onto. Would we wonder at the idea of guilt and fear, barely able to describe it much less feel it?
Prayer
Holy Spirit, I want to remember the truth. I want to remember my Self and my God. I’m doing my best to choose God over ego. Please help me today as I continue my practice. Help me be as loving as it is possible for me to be in this moment. I accept the Atonement. Please heal the part of my mind that resists the Atonement. It knows not what it does.
Here are some links to other websites focused on A Course in Miracles. CLICK HERE.