HOW WILL THE WORLD END?
page 36, paragraph 3
HOW WILL THE WORLD END?
HOW WILL THE WORLD END?
3. Certainly this seems to be a long, long while away. ²“When not one thought of sin remains” appears to be a long-range goal indeed. ³But time stands still, and waits on the goal of God’s teachers. ⁴Not one thought of sin will remain the instant any one of them accepts Atonement for himself. ⁵It is not easier to forgive one sin than to forgive all of them. ⁶The illusion of orders of difficulty is an obstacle the teacher of God must learn to pass by and leave behind. ⁷One sin perfectly forgiven by one teacher of God can make salvation complete. ⁸Can you understand this? ⁹No; it is meaningless to anyone here. ¹⁰Yet it is the final lesson in which unity is restored. ¹¹It goes against all the thinking of the world, but so does Heaven.
Vigilance
I am bending over in my little patch of garden pulling weeds and planting seeds. My focus is on looking at and letting go of wrong-minded thinking as it occurs to me. I see this person or that who seems to be guilty. My job is to bring this belief to the truth and let it be corrected. It seems that I will never get to the end of it because just as I rejoice at a sudden and massive shift in my thinking, I see that it is not complete, as I notice that guilt appears in a different story. There is more work to be done.
2“When not one thought of sin remains” appears to be a long-range goal indeed.
Really? Is Jesus trying to be funny? It appears to be a long-range goal? How about completely out of reach? I can’t seem to go a single hour without another thought of sin popping up in my mind. When all the “big” ones are gone, I begin to notice the smaller, more subtle ways which show me I still believe in guilt. And yet, I am told that it is possible and that it is accomplished and only waiting on my acceptance. He says that time stands still and waits on me.
No Order of Difficulty
Jesus also says that there is no order of difficulty in forgiveness. I can forgive all wrong minded thoughts as easily as any one mistaken thought. It is hard for me to understand this because I have more trouble with some grievances than others. I know that this is because I want some of them more than I want others but that is a difference that is lost to me when I am angry and fearful.
Acceptance
So if I have created an order of difficulty in my grievances, how am I going to make the leap that, one sin perfectly forgiven by one teacher of God can make salvation complete? And when I ask, the Holy Spirit reminds me that the truth does not need my understanding, only my acceptance. I will give my willingness to pass by and leave behind the belief in order of difficulty in miracles. I will rest in the certainty that what Jesus tells me is true no matter how it appears to me while I am still in the grip of the illusion.
2014
I am beginning to understand this, and to understand how to leap forward. Errors stem from guilt and that while it appears guilt takes many forms, actually there is only the belief in guilt that needs to be healed. I can use a thought in my mind or a circumstance in my life to indicate I still believe in guilt, but I am not so much asking that this form of guilt be healed. I am asking that the entire belief in guilt be healed. Guilt cannot be real because it is not in God’s Mind. I am now willing that this false belief be removed from my mind.
2021
After years of practice, this work is no longer arduous and I have no doubt that all trace of guilt will be undone in my mind as it is nearly done now. I can imagine guilt but I cannot imagine keeping a belief in guilt. As soon as I notice guilt, I turn to the Holy Spirit to look at it with me and remove it from my mind. Not only is it easier now, it is joyful work and I am happy to do it.