ACIM Chapter 7.VII. The Totality of the Kingdom, P 10, 11. You are the Will of God. Do not accept anything else as your will, or you are denying what you are.
You are the Will of God. Do not accept anything else as your will, or you are denying what you are.
VII. The Totality of the Kingdom, P10
10 You are the Will of God. Do not accept anything else as your will, or you are denying what you are. Deny this and you will attack, believing you have been attacked. But see the Love of God in you, and you will see it everywhere because it is everywhere. See His abundance in everyone, and you will know that you are in Him with them. They are part of you, as you are part of God. You are as lonely without understanding this as God Himself is lonely when His Sons do not know Him. The peace of God is understanding this. There is only one way out of the world’s thinking, just as there was only one way into it. Understand totally by understanding totality.
The sentence which means the most to me is the last one. “Understand totally by understanding totality.” I will know peace, love, and joy when I accept that I am not alone and separate. I am part of a whole. My brother is myself. I am part of God; the same is true for everyone else.
This is the simple truth that I had been able to avoid within the story of my relationship with a co-worker. I became angry with my co-worker because he seemed a threat to me. How could this be? He is my counterpart, a different version of me. He is me playing the part of a young man with a particular personality. But in reality, in truth, he is me, and we are God.
How could I conflict with him without conflicting with myself and God.
We are, after all, part of the same Wholeness. If I think I am at war with my brother and we are both part of God, then I must, in part of my mind, believe I am at war with God. No wonder I wasn’t at peace. I am never upset for the reason I think, and this is why. I tell myself that my brother attacks me, but in my confusion, I must think that this means I am attacked by myself and by God.
How could I be attacked or harmed in any way? I am part of God, in God, and safe from harm. And since I am part of all that is, what is there to harm me? If I feel threatened, I must be dreaming. The threat can only be an illusion. Can an illusion threaten the Son of God? There is a way out of this confused and insane thinking.
A Course in Miracles offers me the path out and the way Home. I accept that I am God’s Son, part of Him always. Nothing else is possible, and nothing else is my desire. I know that I am part of All That Is. I know that my brother is part of the same Wholeness. We are One. We are innocent. There are no exceptions to this.
11 VII. The Totality of the Kingdom, P 11
11 Perceive any part of the ego’s thought system as wholly insane, wholly delusional and wholly undesirable, and you have correctly evaluated all of it. This correction enables you to perceive any part of creation as wholly real, wholly perfect and wholly desirable. Wanting this only you will have this only, and giving this only you will be only this. The gifts you offer to the ego are always experienced as sacrifices, but the gifts you offer to the Kingdom are gifts to you. They will always be treasured by God because they belong to His beloved Sons, who belong to Him. All power and glory are yours because the Kingdom is His.
I accept that the ego thought system is wholly insane, delusional, and undesirable. And I don’t. When I look at the world from the ego’s perspective, I can still slip back into insanity briefly. No matter how often I do this, I will choose again until I want only the Kingdom. Actually, I have come a long way and never slip all the way back into it. I have moments when I think someone is guilty, and then I see what is happening and remind myself of the only truth there is: we are wholly innocent.
This remembering of innocence is the gift I give to God, and what I give to the Kingdom I give to myself.
Yesterday, toward the end of the day, I found myself on that slippery slope again. I don’t even know what attracted me to the ego. Here is what it feels like to me. I see a thought that attracts my attention and decide to follow it. I get lost in that thought and all the thoughts triggered by that one.
In the past, it was like being in a dense jungle or a thick fog. I knew I was lost, but I couldn’t remember how to escape it. Which means I couldn’t remember the truth or the words that would lead me to the truth. Then, doubt and uncertainty would confuse me further. Paying attention to the ego thought and believing the thought are my gifts to the ego. And in return, my ego gives me grief. It gives me doubt, fear, and guilt. But now I’ve been doing this work too long to stay in ego, and I quickly remember the truth. And, like what happened today, I can’t even remember what was so important to me.
The ego wants me to disbelieve all this metaphysical stuff and wants me to disbelieve that Jesus gave us these words and that the Holy Spirit is in our minds, just waiting for our permission to wake us up. It takes every opportunity to reinforce the separation thought and to discourage true thoughts. It is up to me to pay attention and make a better choice when needed.
I have a choice.
I can believe what Jesus is telling me in A Course in Miracles, be vigilant for my ego thoughts and willing to let them be corrected, and in return, I get peace and joy. Or I can listen to my ego and believe that I am alone and guilty and suffer life after life. Hmm. I wonder which choice I should make. Haha.
The only way the ego can hold my attention for more than a brief moment at a time is through its gift of guilt. If I spend too much time in judgment, I feel guilty, and the ego warns me I will never wake up. And so, the way to short-circuit this ego plan is to remind myself immediately that I cannot be guilty. I see what the ego does, but I am not the ego. I was created innocent, so I am I am innocent, I will always be innocent. Remembering this is my gift to God, and He treasures my gifts because He treasures me.
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