ACIM 5. VI. Time and Eternity, P 10-12. You need not fear the Higher Court will condemn you. It will merely dismiss the case against you.

VI. Time and Eternity, P 10

¹⁰ You need not fear the Higher Court will condemn you. It will merely dismiss the case against you. There can be no case against a child of God, and every witness to guilt in God’s creations is bearing false witness to God Himself. Appeal everything you believe gladly to God’s Own Higher Court, because it speaks for Him and therefore speaks truly. It will dismiss the case against you, however carefully you have built it up. The case may be fool-proof, but it is not God-proof. The Holy Spirit will not hear it, because He can only witness truly. His verdict will always be “thine is the Kingdom,” because He was given to you to remind you of what you are.

Oh wow! If you harbor any guilty thoughts toward yourself then this paragraph is your salvation! The ego will, indeed, build a case against you. To this, I can attest. It seems to have so much proof, but its proof is all smoke and mirrors. This is why each time I feel guilty or notice a guilty thought that the ego has dredged up from the past, I ask the Holy Spirit to answer that charge against me.

He never finds me guilty. It is not possible for Him to do so because His function is to remind me that I am the Son of God. There can no more be guilt in me than there can be guilt in God. Once the Holy Spirit has reminded me of the truth, I ask Him to remove the belief in guilt from my mind. I have been a pretty reluctant learner in the past, but I am becoming more malleable as I have asked often and been answered in the same way each time.

Guilt Is Not Real

Now, when I write that guilt does not exist, I actually believe it. I still hear the ego voice as it presents its proof that I am wrong about this, but I seldom agree with it. When it does find a memory that hooks me, I very willingly show it to the Holy Spirit and wait for my mind to be healed. Big change, that! I also see that I must give up the idea that someone else is guilty.

If I am innocent, so must be all my brothers. Imagine that you have an infection in your body. Could the rest of your body argue that the infection is in the hand and so has nothing to do with it? That would be me arguing that you could be guilty and it not have anything to do with me. It is ridiculous. I find that it is unusual for me to think of someone else as guilty, but it still shows up in subtle ways.

It could happen that will be impatient with someone or wish someone had not called me. I will feel attacked by someone’s words or resent his absence. These are all examples of making the other person guilty and noticing these thoughts as such helps me to see where I am still stubbornly clinging to the idea of guilt as being real. This is good information. Once seen, I recognize the need to practice mastering my decision to release the idea of guilt. I give it to the Holy Spirit so He can undo it for me.

11 VI. Time and Eternity, P 11

¹¹ When I said “I am come as a light into the world,” I meant that I came to share the light with you. Remember my reference to the ego’s dark glass, and remember also that I said, “Do not look there.” It is still true that where you look to find yourself is up to you. Your patience with your brother is your patience with yourself. Is not a child of God worth patience? I have shown you infinite patience because my will is that of our Father, from Whom I learned of infinite patience. His Voice was in me as It is in you, speaking for patience towards the Sonship in the Name of Its Creator.

This morning, I was thinking about patience. I had an experience of peeking behind the veil, only to step back from it pretty quickly. I felt frustrated with myself at first, but then I decided to be kind to myself. So, I became patient, knowing that the outcome is certain. I am a child of God, and I am worth patience. Jesus says that he learned infinite patience from His Father and that the Voice that was in him is also in me. So maybe patience is the lesson for me today.

Learning Patience

Actually, I shouldn’t be surprised that patience is a lesson I must learn. I caught myself being impatient with a friend who is afraid of something that to my mind is simple and non-threatening. Then I had to laugh as I thought about some of my fears. I am afraid of heights. My friends who love mountains and love to hike in them and climb them, must think I am silly. And yet, my fear is very real to me. My friend’s fear is just as real to her. Doesn’t she deserve my patience?

I think the reason I felt impatient with her is that I have been impatient with myself. I have felt frustrated that I cannot seem to let go of the fear of heights. There are other things as well that I have problems with, things that I seem to cling to in spite of their seemingly simple solution. I get so frustrated with myself that I feel like crying. But am I, a child of God, not worth patience? And can I have patience for another if I will not give this gift to myself?

Impatience does not mean I want freedom so much I can’t wait for it. It is a sign that I am using the ego mind to direct my spiritual path. Uh oh. That is not going to work. If I look to the ego to find myself, I will find my self, but not my Self. Impatience is of the ego, not of God. So, when I am impatient with myself or anyone, I know that I am looking for salvation in all the wrong places. ~smile~

12 VI. Time and Eternity, P12

¹² Now you must learn that only infinite patience produces immediate effects. This is the way in which time is exchanged for eternity. Infinite patience calls upon infinite love, and by producing results now it renders time unnecessary. We have repeatedly said that time is a learning device to be abolished when it is no longer useful. The Holy Spirit, Who speaks for God in time, also knows that time is meaningless. He reminds you of this in every passing moment of time, because it is His special function to return you to eternity and remain to bless your creations there. He is the only blessing you can truly give, because He is truly blessed. Because He has been given you freely by God, you must give Him as you received Him.

That first sentence seemed strange when I first read it; infinite patience produces immediate effects. I wondered what that even meant. At first glance, it seems like a paradox, but actually, it makes perfect sense as we remember that time is not real, but simply a tool to be used to help us wake up. Once we no longer need time because we have come to our Self, time will cease to exist.

Here is how I think that works now.

There is a wrong-minded thought that I believe. I see that the thought is making me unhappy, and so it must be an ego thought and one that I no longer want to believe. I give the thought to the Holy Spirit and ask that He remove it from my mind. Once that thought is gone, I no longer experience the unhappy effects produced by the thought.

Those effects showed up in my life as part of the story, and that part of the story is no longer showing up, so a chunk of time is removed, the chunk that would have been taken up with the stories that were manifested by the belief that is no longer in my mind. I no longer have those stories because I have learned the lesson they represented, so the time needed to accommodate the story is wiped out.

Jesus says that we can save time in this way. In fact, he says that we can save thousands of years as our lessons are learned. So, this is the way that time is translated into eternity. Now, how does infinite patience come in? We are told that infinite patience calls on infinite love. By calling on the Holy Spirit to translate our mistaken ego thoughts for us, we are calling on infinite love and allowing time to be undone.

Infinitely Patient

The Holy Spirit is not only infinitely loving; He is infinitely patient as well. And through Him, I am learning to use infinite patience, too. The ego is very impatient and wants everything now and in its own way. Through vigilance and trust, I am learning a new way. I am learning to follow the guidance of Patience instead of listening to my ego’s impatience.

The other thing in this paragraph that confused me is the last line in which I am told I must give the Holy Spirit as I received Him. Because I wasn’t sure what I was being told, I asked Jesus how he meant for me to use this. This is what was given to me:

“The Holy Spirit is the solution to your only problem, the separation idea. The Holy Spirit is the answer to every question, the response to every ego thought. You give what you have been given when you answer your brother’s ego words and actions with the Holy Spirit’s answer.”

I understand now how I give the Holy Spirit as freely as He was given me. Sometimes I feel like my brother’s words are an attack on me. That is the ego response. I notice that response in my mind and immediately ask that it be translated into truth. I am reminded that my brother is really asking for love and understanding. So I give him love, as I understand the fear behind his attack. If my brother is fearful and asking that someone understand this and love him, how could I not respond in love? This is the way I give the Holy Spirit as He was given me.  

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