ACIM Chapter 6. IV. The Only Answer, P 10, 11, 12

ACIM Chapter 6. IV. The Only Answer, P 10, 11, 12. You are in an impossible situation only because you think it is possible to be in one.

IV. The Only Answer, P 10

10 You are in an impossible situation only because you think it is possible to be in one. You would be in an impossible situation if God showed you your perfection, and proved to you that you were wrong. This would demonstrate that the perfect are inadequate to bring themselves to an awareness of their perfection, and thus side with the belief that those who have everything need help and are therefore helpless. This is the kind of “reasoning” in which the ego engages. God, Who knows that His creations are perfect, does not affront them. This would be as impossible as the ego’s notion that it has affronted Him.

God created me perfect and He does not doubt Himself, so He does not doubt me. He trusts me to bring myself to an awareness of my perfection and His trust is perfect. I doubt myself but I trust God, so I too trust that I will wake up. I will wake myself up. I have all the help I need. As Jesus said in the previous paragraph, I have a Guide and a model. Now he tells me that I am perfect and can bring myself to that awareness. And that is all that happens when I wake up. I shift my awareness from the illusion to the truth, to my perfect wholeness. The Holy Spirit can guide me and comfort me, but He cannot wake me up, only I can do that.

One day, I was watching a video by John Mark Stroud.

He described our situation like this. He said that we sit in a closet with the lock and key on our side. It is up to us to unlock the door and come out. That visual made a real impact on me at that time, and I see that this is what Jesus is telling me now. The Holy Spirit can’t get me out of the closet because the key is on my side of the door. The Holy Spirit can help me to see that this is true.

He can heal my mind, but only if I ask and really want Him to. I am the one with the key. Jesus found the lock and then found the key. He let himself out, and because we are of one mind, he did this for all of us. He is now waiting for us to follow suit and is being as helpful as we will allow. He is our model, but he is not our rescuer. God will not yank me out of the closet nor will He rescue me. He knows I don’t need to be rescued. He knows I can and will rescue myself.

Jesus ends the paragraph with a zinger. He tells us that God does not affront His creations and that would be as impossible as the ego’s notion it has affronted Him. Thanks, Jesus, for the reminder that in making the ego we have not really affronted God and so we have nothing to be guilty of and no reason to stay hidden in our little closet. It is safe to come out.

IV. The Only Answer, P 11

11 That is why the Holy Spirit never commands. To command is to assume inequality, which the Holy Spirit demonstrates does not exist. Fidelity to premises is a law of mind, and everything God created is faithful to His laws. Fidelity to other laws is also possible, however, not because the laws are true, but because you made them. What would be gained if God proved to you that you have thought insanely? Can God lose His Own certainty? I have frequently said that what you teach you are. Would you have God teach you that you have sinned? If He confronted the self you made with the truth He created for you, what could you be but afraid? You would doubt your right mind, which is the only place where you can find the sanity He gave you.

I wonder if there has ever existed a Course student that at one time did not have the wish that God would just wake her up. I certainly did. I just wanted it to be done and didn’t think I ever would be able to do this myself. I questioned why it had to be so hard. Why couldn’t God just pull me out of this illusion? In this paragraph Jesus explains why this cannot happen.

God created us by extending Himself.

This means we are just like Him, a part of Him. If He came into our dream of something unlike Himself, He would be like what we made. He could not do that unless He was insane, and God is not insane. If He were to fix us, He would, in effect, be saying that we need fixing and that is not true.

He made us like Himself, so how could we be incapable of anything? How could we be broken? This could be true only if God is incapable and broken. God would not teach us that we are what we are not, which is what He would be doing if He forgave us. He would be teaching us that we sinned, and if He did that, it would be true. He would never teach us that we have done something wrong in imagining this ego world because He would be teaching us to doubt our right mind.

Today, when I was meditating, I asked Jesus for help.

He reminded me not to come as a supplicant but as an equal Son of God. It is very easy to forget this because, in my confused dream of separation, I do not seem like the Son of God. This paragraph reminds us that we are equal to the Holy Spirit. The difference is that the Holy Spirit remembers who we are, and we have temporarily forgotten. It reminds us that we can and will awaken.

We will not do this as the ego self, but we will use the ego story of self to undo what we have done. The story of Myron and each of us is a mirror that reflects the beliefs that make up the ego. By contrasting the effects of these beliefs to the promises of God, we are inspired to abandon our beliefs in favor of Knowledge, which takes their place. We begin to remember who we are.

IV. The Only Answer, P 12

12 God does not teach. To teach is to imply a lack, which God knows is not there. God is not conflicted. Teaching aims at change, but God created only the changeless. The separation was not a loss of perfection, but a failure in communication. A harsh and strident form of communication arose as the ego’s voice. It could not shatter the peace of God, but it could shatter yours. God did not blot it out, because to eradicate it would be to attack it. Being questioned, He did not question. He merely gave the Answer. His Answer is your Teacher.

I love this God that Jesus describes. He is immovable, unchangeable and nonthreatening. I thought of times when I was most like this as a parent. When I was the best parent that I could be, I exhibited these ideals. When my child wanted to do things that I could not agree with he might argue with me. I didn’t argue back.

He was upset and angry not to get his way which seemed terribly important to him. But I was calm and unaffected by his anger because I was certain that I had his best interests at heart and I knew I was right. I didn’t try to destroy his point of view. I let him have it and express it. He questioned my judgment, and I let him. Then I gave him my answer, which never changed. I loved him and stayed true to that love even if he thought he hated me for it.

When I was at my best, I was a rock.

He might want to find a way around me, but he could not move me. I was firm and steady, not moving, not changing, but never attacking either. My child could argue and yell and express his frustration in many ways, but my love for him was not altered by his behavior. When he was in his frustration, his attempt to communicate was strident, but I did not join him there. I spoke firmly, gently, and lovingly.

When he acted in his frustration, I never became confused about who he was. I knew this would pass, and I knew that he was my precious son. His behavior did not change my mind about him. At my best, I was utterly dependable and always there. I was love. I was not always at my best, but when I was, I more closely resembled our Father.

God is always at His best.

He is never confused about who He is. He never gets frustrated with me. He is never affected by my behavior. He never believes the strange stories I make up about myself, even though I do a superb job of making them realistic and believable. I went through a period of time when I confused my religion with my God, and when I felt betrayed by my religion, I took it out on God.

I was like my disappointed child. I stamped my feet and banged my head against the floor. I yelled at Him and pretended I didn’t love Him anymore. I threatened to kill this body I thought He created. But God was a rock; He was more than a rock; He was a mountain. He didn’t believe in the person I was showing Him. He just knew who I was, and no matter what I did or thought or said, He was Love.

I made up a me that is not particularly loveable.

This me was a frightful mess, and even I couldn’t depend on her. She changed at the drop of a hat, and nothing was constant about her. The instability she felt and exhibited was very frightening to her, and so she lived with this low level of anxiety that never really abated. Guilt is the sticky mess that held her world together, and it was a painful and frightful world that she made for herself.

This made-up self seemed so real that I argued for her existence even though I suffered through it. But God, my rock, my mountain, didn’t argue against her or attack her or condemn her. He simply knew she didn’t exist. He always knows who I am, and that is all He knows about me. I am looking past the imagined self and finding the one God Knows. I have learned to follow God’s lead and now look past my behavior when it is ego-driven. I do so with an expectation of finding the truth of my Being.

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