ACIM Chapter 7. III. The Reality of the Kingdom, P 3-5

ACIM Chapter 7. III. The Reality of the Kingdom, P 3-5. I said before that the ego’s friend is not part of you, because the ego perceives itself at war and therefore in need of allies.

III. The Reality of the Kingdom, P 3

³ I said before that the ego’s friend is not part of you, because the ego perceives itself at war and therefore in need of allies. You who are not at war must look for brothers and recognize all whom you see as brothers, because only equals are at peace. Because God’s equal Sons have everything, they cannot compete. Yet if they perceive any of their brothers as anything other than their perfect equals, the idea of competition has entered their minds. Do not underestimate your need to be vigilant against this idea, because all your conflicts come from it. It is the belief that conflicting interests are possible, and therefore you have accepted the impossible as true. Is that different from saying you perceive yourself as unreal?

We are told to be vigilant against the idea of competition and that all our conflicts come from it. I’m happy to be vigilant for these thoughts because I know they are not true. I am one with every living thing. Because all are one, all are equal. Because we are all equal, we have no reason or desire to compete. What would we compete for? Equal brothers have all there is to have.

To feel a sense of competition is to feel separate.

It is only in being separate from each other that we can conceive of the idea of being or having less than another. This, I think, is the reason I need to be vigilant for these beliefs that I am in competition. They indicate that I have fallen back into the belief that I am something I am not, or as Jesus puts it here in this paragraph, I perceive myself as unreal.

My peace of mind is dependent on realizing that we are equal Sons of God, that there is no lack in the Kingdom, and therefore no need to strive. And certainly, there is no need to compete for anything. Only in the illusion of separation is there any possibility that one brother could have and another could lack. Of course, in the illusion, we don’t recognize our brotherhood.

As long as I believe in the idea of separation and support it through competition, I will continue to believe that this is where I am and that the illusion is real. To be in the Kingdom, I must turn my attention from the illusion. I must walk away from it and choose to see the alternative. I cannot believe in both the illusion and the Kingdom at the same time. Through being vigilant for belief in competition, I am alert to opportunities to turn from the illusion and toward God.

Here is a competitive thought my vigilance has shown me. 

This is something I wrote about when I was still working as a salesperson and seeing it so clearly helped me to shift out of this particular form of competition.

2015

I am a heck of a good salesperson. The implication in my mind is that others are not so good at this, making me the winner. Of course, this thought comes with its opposite, and that is the fear that I am not good enough, that someone else is a better salesperson. This person could take my job, or if he works for someone else, could take my customer.

With this idea of a good salesperson in place, I now have something to defend, and so I must have an attack plan in case someone threatens my position as a good salesperson. I no longer have brothers but competitors. We have conflicting interests. We are at war, and there is no peace in war. I have left the Kingdom to be a winner in hell. Maybe I better rethink this.

III. The Reality of the Kingdom, P 4

⁴ To be in the Kingdom is merely to focus your full attention on it. As long as you believe you can attend to what is not true, you are accepting conflict as your choice. Is it really a choice? It seems to be, but seeming and reality are hardly the same. You who are the Kingdom are not concerned with seeming. Reality is yours because you are reality. This is how having and being are ultimately reconciled, not in the Kingdom, but in your mind. The altar there is the only reality. The altar is perfectly clear in thought, because it is a reflection of perfect Thought. Your right mind sees only brothers, because it sees only in its own light.

I wrote this, too, while still at work. It was a major turning point for me.

I am convinced that I am meant to be only in the Kingdom, and so to stay there the only thing I need to do is to focus my full attention on it. I used to think this was hard. By used to, I mean last week. I have made the most amazing discovery. It is not hard to stay in the Kingdom once you realize you can do this and decide you want to do it.

Yesterday, I discovered someone at work made a mistake that caused me some trouble with a customer. For a moment, I left Heaven and put myself back in hell as I followed that thought. Then I realized what I had done. I believed the thought that he should not have done that. I believed that this separate person was guilty and that his guilt hurt me and upset me. And just like that, I was in hell.

Luckily, we make our own hell and can change our minds. God placed the Solution in our right mind, so it is always available to us. I rested in the Solution and felt the peace of God fill me with joy, love, and the truth. I realized that nothing happened. There is only innocence. I am one with my brother, whom I love. I am in Heaven. And I stay in Heaven as long as I want to.

All that I need to do is to bring my focus back to Heaven.

Oh my God, I can’t believe it is that simple and that I managed to avoid understanding what Jesus has been telling us for so long. The ego mind wants my attention and warns me that this is all fine and good because it has not been tested by anything really serious. This is a thought I can follow if I start to miss hell. Hahaha.

There is only this moment, and, at this moment, I choose to give my full attention to the Kingdom. What could be easier than that? I focus fully on the Kingdom at this moment. At this moment, I am in complete joy. If I start to think about what could happen in the next moment or what happened in a past moment, if I start to follow the ego thoughts, I throw myself out of Heaven, just like that!

But I understand now that I did it to myself. No one is forcing me out, pushing me through the door and into the ego storm. Knowing that I am solely responsible and that I have full control over what I think, I see that, as Jesus says in today’s lesson, my salvation comes from me. In this moment, I am in Heaven. And in this moment. In this moment. . .

III. The Reality of the Kingdom, P 5

⁵ God has lit your mind Himself, and keeps your mind lit by His Light because His Light is what your mind is. This is totally beyond question, and when you question it you are answered. The Answer merely undoes the question by establishing the fact that to question reality is to question meaninglessly. That is why the Holy Spirit never questions. His sole function is to undo the questionable and thus lead to certainty. The certain are perfectly calm, because they are not in doubt. They do not raise questions, because nothing questionable enters their minds. This holds them in perfect serenity, because this is what they share, knowing what they are.

Everything about the ego mind is the opposite of reality. In the ego mind, we question everything. Nothing is absolute. Everything is unstable, doubtful, and uncertain. The more “advanced” science becomes, the less we actually know, and with each advancement, we feel the sand shift beneath our feet as we wake up to discover what we were told yesterday is no longer true today. We seem to get smaller and more insignificant as we discover the vastness of the universe.

But there is in our mind a Light.

We never lose that Light because it was placed there by God, so it is what we are. In this Light, there is Knowledge that is certain and unchanging. Here, questioning is unheard of because there is nothing to question. Here we have no doubts, and so we have no fears. In the Light, doubt and fear are unknown. In the Light, we are the vastness in which the universes exist.

What incredibly powerful beings we are. We can block from our awareness the brilliant Light that we are and block it so completely that we must be taught what is already known. And so, like not very bright students, we muck around in our classroom, our eyes tightly closed against the obvious, pretending we have questions that need answers. The Holy Spirit answers us with the truth: There are no answers because there are no questions.

We will not be taught to make sense of the nonsensical. We will simply be led out of our delusions and into Reality. Ultimately, the only thing that happens is that we open our eyes (metaphorically speaking) to what is right here. We spend all our time learning that there is nothing to learn. We already are what we seek. Sometimes I giggle when I think about this. Imagine how we will laugh when the truth finally dawns on our minds.

To read Pathways of Light insights on the Daily Lessons, CLICK HERE.