ACIM Chapter 6. V. A. To Have, Give All to All, P 5, 6

ACIM Chapter 6. V. A. To Have, Give All to All, P 5, 6. The Holy Spirit, Who leads to God, translates communication into being, just as He ultimately translates perception into knowledge.

A. To Have, Give All to All, P 5

⁵ The Holy Spirit, Who leads to God, translates communication into being, just as He ultimately translates perception into knowledge. You do not lose what you communicate. The ego uses the body for attack, for pleasure and for pride. The insanity of this perception makes it a fearful one indeed. The Holy Spirit sees the body only as a means of communication, and because communicating is sharing it becomes communion. Perhaps you think that fear as well as love can be communicated; and therefore can be shared. Yet this is not so real as it may appear. Those who communicate fear are promoting attack, and attack always breaks communication, making it impossible. Egos do join together in temporary allegiance, but always for what each one can get separately. The Holy Spirit communicates only what each one can give to all. He never takes anything back, because He wants you to keep it. Therefore, His teaching begins with the lesson:

To have, give all to all.

I don’t need to be convinced that I misused the body, and sometimes I still do.

Though I am changing my mind about that. I wanted it to present this strong-willed person in charge of her life to the world. That is why I spent so much of my life trying to mold it into what I perceived as a body that represented this image I wanted to project. Keeping it a certain shape and size was an impossible chore.

I wanted my hair to look like the shampoo models and my skin to be smooth and flawless like the make-up models. I can’t tell you the time, money, and effort spent toward this goal. Even if I could have achieved it, what would I have really achieved, anyway? That I am the maker of my self? That I am a better maker of self than others? Is that communication? Or is that separation?

I seem to be losing my desire to misuse my body. It is not a done deal, yet, but I feel differently about it now, and I am looking forward to seeing how this unfolds. I am no longer obsessed with my weight, though I haven’t completely lost interest in it. I used to stand in front of the mirror and wonder what I could do with this body to make it more appealing, to attract people to me. Now I sometimes forget to look at all and at the end of the day realize I didn’t comb my hair. Looking for some balance here. Ha ha.

I am now a lot more interested in using the body for true communication.

And though I don’t always succeed, I know I will because it is God’s Will, and so it is my will, too. I spend some time each morning working in my journal and sharing what I get. Maybe this is true communication since there is no ulterior motive. I don’t do it to look holy or to prove I am a better student or more spiritual than someone else. I do it because that is what I am supposed to do. And I do it out of love.

I communicate during the day when I see past someone’s behavior to the Christ within. I communicate when I respond to attack, not with defense, but with compassion and understanding. When I express love to whoever is in front of me or in my thoughts, rather than to those special few I designate as “loved ones, this is communication. I don’t do any of this perfectly, but I do it as consistently as I can, and when I notice that I am not doing it, I ask for and accept the Atonement for it.

How do I give all to all? I give love to everyone in every circumstance. Love will take whatever form is needed as long as I am allowing it to flow through me, and I am not trying to direct it myself. This is my desire and my commitment.

A. To Have, Give All to All, P 6

⁶ This is a very preliminary step, and the only one you must take for yourself. It is not even necessary that you complete the step yourself, but it is necessary that you turn in that direction. Having chosen to go that way, you place yourself in charge of the journey, where you and only you must remain. This step may appear to exacerbate conflict rather than resolve it, because it is the beginning step in reversing your perception and turning it right-side up. This conflicts with the upside-down perception you have not yet abandoned, or the change in direction would not have been necessary. Some remain at this step for a long time, experiencing very acute conflict. At this point they may try to accept the conflict, rather than take the next step towards its resolution. Having taken the first step, however, they will be helped. Once they have chosen what they cannot complete alone, they are no longer alone.

The beginning step may at first cause conflict rather than resolution.

This is because we have not yet abandoned our upside-down perception. So, I am looking at what it is that I think now. My thinking is no longer completely upside down, but even the thinking that I have abandoned, for the most part, shows up in certain circumstances.

• I am a body, and the body is real.
• The body and many things in the world determine my destiny and affect my everyday life in ways I cannot control.
• I am alone in the world, and even when I try to join with others, there is an element of fear and uncertainty because of the inevitable competition that arises when one believes they are separate.
• There is only so much love and only so many things, and I have to get mine regardless of what is left for others.

The thinking toward which I am being led:

• The body and the world are an illusion, the effects of wrong-minded thinking.
• I am neither a body nor am I in a body.
• The body is in my mind, and it is a communication device that I use. It is not me.
• I am one with all there is and one with God.
• I am powerful beyond measure and perfect in every way.
• And I am part of God and in God and, therefore, eternal and safe.
• There is no loss nor lack and, therefore, no need for competition. No matter how much I give, I can never be without.
• There is no separation; my brother and I are one with each other, and therefore I can only give to myself.

I can know these things are true only as I give all to all. In other words, I know who I am by stepping into who I am.

That’s about it in a nutshell.

It is easy to see that while I hold onto any vestige of my upside-down thinking, the truth is going to seem like nonsense. And that is at best, because it is also going to seem threatening. When I felt like there was only a very limited amount of anything, I clung to what I had so sharing felt like a sacrifice. The idea of giving all to all was just crazy.

When I look back on my overly long journey through this Course, I am amazed that I ever made it this far. I was so afraid of everything, and guilt was my constant belief. I was guilty in my mind for everything, and the guilt I couldn’t bear, I projected onto others. No one was safe from my attacks. I was that afraid.

However, despite my fear and guilt, I turned in that direction.

I turned and stayed turned. For a long time, that was all I could do. But I was not alone, and my Help was constant and strong, and eventually, I became more consistent and stronger. I am not through yet. I still believe in me a bit.

Eventually, that “me” will fall away. I don’t know when, and it is not my job to do anything about that. I am in charge of my journey in that every step of the way is a choice I make, but I am not generally aware of the part of my mind that makes this decision. For now, my awareness needs to be primarily focused on Myron and her story. That is where I see the effects of my change of mind and so I am motivated to continue my awakening, receiving help and guidance to do what I cannot do alone.

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