IA´s Journal

[IA56]

The Power of Holiness

You may still think that holiness is impossible to understand, because you cannot see how it can be extended to include everyone. And you have been told that it must include everyone to be holy. Concern yourself not with the extention of holiness, for the nature of miracles you do not understand. Nor do you do them. It is their extension, far beyond the limits you perceive, that demostrates you do not do them. Why should you worry how the miracle extends to all the Sonship when you do not understand the miracle itself? One attribute is no more difficult to understand than is the whole. If miracles are at all, their attributes would have to be miraculous, being part of them. There is a tendence to fragment, and then to be concerned about the truth of just a little part of the whole. And it is but a way of avoiding, or looking away from the whole, to what you think you might be better able to understand. For this is but another way in which you would still try to keep understanding to yourself. A better and far more helpful way to think ofmiracles is this: You do not understand them, either in part or in whole. Yetthey have been done throug you. Therefore your undertanding cannot be necessary. Yet it is stillimpossible to accomplish what you do not understand. And so there must beSomething in you that does understand. To you the miracle cannot seem natural,because what you have done to hurt your mind has made it so unnatural that itdoes not remember what is natural to it. And when you are told what is natural,you cannot understand it. The recognition of the part as whole, and of thewhole in every part is perfectly natural, for it is the way God thinks, andwhat is natural to Him is natural to you. Wholly natural perception would showyou instantly that order of difficulty in miracles is quite impossible, for itinvolves a contradiction of what miracles mean. And if you could understandtheir meaning, their attributes could hardly cause you perplexity. You havesucceeded whenever you have reached another mind and joined with it. When twominds join as one and share one idea equally, the first link in the awarenessof the Sonship as one has been made. When you have made this joining as theHoly Spirit bids you, and have offered it to Him to use as He sees fit, Hisnatural perception of your gift enables Him to understand it, and you to useHis understanding on your behalf. It is impossible to convince you of thereality of what has clearly been accomplished through your willingness whileyou believe that you must understand it or else it is not real. How can faithin reality be yours while you are bent on making it unreal? And are you reallysafer in maintaining the reality of illusions than you would be in joyouslyaccepting truth for what it is, and giving thanks for it? Honor the truth thathas been given you, and be glad you do not understand it. Miracles are naturalto the One Who speaks for God. For His task is to translate the miracle intothe knowledge which it represents, and which is hidden to you. Let Hisunderstanding of the miracle be enough for you, and do not turn away from allthe witnesses that He has given you to His reality. No evidence will convinceyou of the truth of what you do not want. Yet your relationship with Him isreal Regard this not with fear, but with rejoicing. The One you called upon iswith you. Bid Him welcome, and honor the witnesses who bring you the gladtidings He has come. It is true, just as you fear, that the acknowledge Him isto deny all that you think you know. But what you think you know was nevertrue. What gain is there to in clinging to it, and denying the evidence fortruth? For you have come too near to truth to renounce it now, and you willyield to its compelling attraction. You can delay this now, but only a littlewhile. The host of God has called to you, and you have heard. Never again willyou be wholly willing to not to listen. This is a year of joy, in which yourlistening will increase and peace will grow with its increase. The power ofholiness and the weakness of attack are both being brought into your awareness.And this has been accomplished in a mind firmly convinced that holiness isweakness and attack is power. Should not this be a sufficient miracle to teachyou that your Teacher is not of you? But remember also that whenever youlistened to His interpretation the result have brought you joy. Would youprefer the result of your interpretation, considering honestly what they havebeen? God wills you better. Could you not look with greater charity on whom Godloves with perfect love? Do not interpret against God´s Love, for you have manywitnesses that speak of it so clearly that only the blind and deaf could failto see and heart hem. This year determine not to deny what has been given youby God, for that is the only reason. He has called to you. His Voice has spokenclearly, and yet you have so little faith in what you heard, because you havepreferred to place still greater faith in the disaster you have made. Today, letus resolve together to accept the joyful tidings that disaster is not real andthat reality is not disaster. Reality is safe and sure, and wholly kind toeveryone and everything. There is no greater love than to accept this and beglad. For love asks only tht you be happy, and will give you everything thatmakes for happiness. You have never given any problems to the Holy Spirit Hehas not solved for you, nor will you ever do so. You have never tried to solveanything yourself and been successful. It is not time you brought these factstogether and made sense to them? This is the year for the application of the ideathat have been given you. For the ideas are mighty forces, to be used and notheld idly by. They have already proved their power sufficiently for you toplace your faith in them, and not in their denial. This year invest in truth,and let it work in peace. Have faith in Him Who has faith in you. Think whatyou have really seen and heard, and recognize it. Can you be alone withwitnesses like these?

Love

[IA56]

The Reward of Teaching

We have already learned that everyone teaches, and teaches all the time. You may have taught well, and yet you may not have learned how to accept the comfort of your teaching. If you will consider what you have taught,and how alien it is to what you thought you knew, you will be compelled to realize that your Teacher come from beyond your thought system. Therefore He could look upon it fairly, and perceived it was untrue. He must have done so from the basis of a very different thought system, and one with nothing incommon with yours. For certainly what He has taught, and what you have taught through Him, have nothing in common with what you taught before he came. And the results have been to bring peace where there was pain, and suffering has disappeared to be replaced by joy. You may have taught freedom, but have not have learned how to be free. I said earlier, ”By their fruits ye shall know them, and they shall know themselves.” For it is certain that you jugde yourself according to your teaching. The ego´s teaching produces immediateresults, because its decisions are immediately accepted as your choice. Andthis acceptance means that you are willing to judge yourself accordingly. Causeand effect are very clear in the ego´s thought system, because all yourlearning has been directed toward establishing the relationship between them.And would you nnot have faith in what you have so diligently taught yourself tobelieve? Yet remember how much care you have exerted in choosing its witnesses,and in avoiding those which spoke for the cause of truth and its effects. Doesnot the fact that you have not learned what you have taught show you that youdo not perceive the Sonship as one? And does it not also show you that you donot regard yourself as one? For it is impossible to teach successfully whollywithout conviction, and it is equally impossible that conviction be outside ofyou. You could never have taught freedom unless you did believe in it. And itmust be that what you taught came from yourself? Yet this Self you clearly donot know, and do not recognize It even though It functions. What functions mustbe there. And it is only if you deny what It has done that you could possiblydeny Its presence. This is a course in how to know yourself. You have taughtwhat you are, but have not let what you are teach you. You have been verycareful to avoid the obvious, and not to see the real cause and effectrelationship that is perfectly apparent. Yet within you is everything youtaught. What can it be that has not learned it? It must be this part that isreally outside yourself, not by your own projection, but in truth. And it isthis part that you have taken in that is not you. What you accept into your minddoes not really change it. Illusions are but beliefs in what is not there. Andthe seeming conflict between truth andillusion can only be resolved by separating yourself from the illusion and notfrom truth. Your teaching has already done this, for the Holy Spirit in part ofyou. Created by God, He left neither God nor His creation. He is both God andyou, as you are God and Him together. For God´s Answer to the separation addedmore to you than you tried to take away. He protected both your creations andyou together, keeping one with you what you would exclude. And they will takethe place of what you took in to replace them. They are quite real, as part ofthe Self you do not know. They communicate to you through the Holy Spirit, andtheir power and gratitude to you for their creation they offer gladly to yourteaching of yourself, who is their home. You who are host to God arre also hostto them. For nothing real has ever left themind of its creator. And what is notreal was never there. You are not two selves in conflict. What is behond Godd?If you who hold Him and whom He holds are the universe, all else must beoutside, where nothing is. You have taught thiss, and from far off in theuniverse, yet not behond yourself, the witnesses to your teaching have gatheredto help you learn. Their gratitude has joined with yours and God´s tostrengthen your faith in what you taught yourself, and learning from theconviction you shared with them. This year you will begin to learn, and makelearning commensurate with teaching. You have chosen this by your ownwillingness to teach. Though you seemed to suffer for it, the joy of teachingwill yet be yours. For the joy of teaching is in the learning, who offers it tothe teacher in gratitude, and shares it with him. As you learn , yourgratitude, and shares it with him. As you learn, your gratitude to your Self,Who teaches you what He is, will grow and help you honor Him. And you willlearn His power and strength and purity, and love Him as His Father does. HisKingdom has no limits and no end, and there is nothing in Him that is notperfect and eternal. All this is you, and nothing ouytside of this is you. To yourmost holy Self all praise is due for what you are, and for what He is Whocreated you as you are. Sooner or later must everyone bringde the gap heimagines exists between his selves. Each one builds the bridge, which carrieshim across the gap as soon as he is willing to expend some little effort onbehalf of bridging it. His little effort are powerfully supplemented by thestrength of Heaven, and by the united will of all who make Heaven what it is,being joined within it. And so the one who would cross over is literallytransported there. Your bridge is builded stronger than you think, and yourfoot is planted firmy on it. Have no fear that the attraction of those whostand on the other side and wait for you will not drag you safely across. Foryou will come where you would be, and where your Self awaits you.

Love

[IA56]

The Illusion and the Reality of Love

Be not afraid to look upon the special hate relationship,for freedom lies in looking at it. It would be impossible not to know the meaning of love, except for this. For the special love relationship, in which the meaning of love is hidden, is undertaken solely to offset the hate, but not let it go. Your salvation will rise clearly before your eyes as you look on this. You cannot limit hate. The special love relationship will not offset it, but will merely drive it underground and out of sight. It is essential to bring it into sight, and to make not attempt to hide it. For it is the attempt to balance hate with love that makes love meaningless to you. The extent of the split that lies in this you do not realize. And until you do the split will remain unrecongnized, and therefore unhealed. The symbols of hate against the symbols of love play out a conflict that does not exist. For symbols stand for something else, and the symbol of love is without meaning if love is everything. You will go through this last undoing quite unharmed, and will atlast emerge as yourself. This is the last step in the readiness for God. Be notunwilling now; you are too near, and you will cross the bridge in perfectsafety, translated quietly from war to peace. For the illusion of love willnever satisfy, but its reality, which awaits you on the other side, will giveyou everything. The special love relationships in an attempt to limitdestructive effects of hate by finding a haven in the storm of guilt. It makesno attempt to rise above the storm, into the sunlight. On the contrary, itemphasizes the guilt outside the haven by attempting to build barricadesagainst it, and keep within them. The special love relationship is notperceived as a value in itself, but as a place of safety from which hatred issplit off and kept apart. The special love partner is acceptable only as longas he seves this purpose. Hatred can enter, and indeed is welcome in someaspects of the relationship, but it is still held together by the illusion oflove. If the illusion goes, the relationship is broken or becomes unsatisfyingon the grounds of disillusionment. Love is not an illusion. It is a fact. Wheredisillusionment is possible, there was not love but hate. For hate is anillusion, and what can change was never love. It is sure that those who selectcertain ones as partners in any aspect of living, and use them for any purposewhich they would not share with others, are trying to live with guilt ratherthan die of it. This is the choice they see. And love, to them, is only anescape from death. They seek it deperately, but not in the peace in which itwould gladly come quietly to them. And when they find the fear of death isstill upon them, the love relationoship loses the illusion that it is what itis not. When the barricades against it are broken, fear rushes in and hatredtriuphs. There are not triumphs of love. Only hate is at all concerned with the”triuph of love”. The illusion of love can triumph over the illusion of hate,but always at the price of making both illusions. As long as the illusion ofhatred lasts, so long will love be an illusion to you. And then the only choiceremaining possible i which illusion you prefer. There is no conflict in thechoice between truth and illusion. Seen in these terms, no one would hesitate.butconflict enters the instant the choice seems to be one between illusions, butthis choice does not matter. Where one choice is as dangerous as the other, thedecision must be one of despair. Your task is not to seek the love, but merelyto seek and find all of the barriers within yourself that you have builtagainst it. It is not necessary to seek for what is true, but it is necessaryto seek for what is false. Every illusion is one of fear, whatever from ittakes. And the attempt to escape from one illusion into another must fail. Ifyou seek love outside yourself you can be certain that you perceive hatredwithin, and are afraid of it. Yet peace will never come from the illusion oflove, but only from its reality. Recognize this, for it is true, and truth mustbe recognized if it is to be distinguished from illusion: The special loverelationship is an attempt to bring love into fear, and make it real in fear.In fundamental violation of love´s condition, the special love realtionshipwould accomplish the impossible. How but in illusion could this be done? It isessential that we look very closely at exactly what it is you think you can doto solve the dilemma which seems very real to you, but which does not exist.You have come close to truth, and only this stands between you and the bridgethat leads you into it. Heaven waits sileently, and your creations are holdingout their hands to help you cross and welcome them. For it is they you seek.You seek but for your own completion, and it is they who render you complete.The special love relationship is but a shabby substitute for what makes youwhole in truth, not in illusion. Your relationship with them is without guilt,and this enables you to look on all your brothers with gratitude, because yourcreation is the oneness of creation, without which you could never be complete.No specialness can offer you what God has given, and what you are joined withHim in giving. Across the bridge is your completion, for you will be wholly inGod, willing for nothing special, but only to be wholly like to Him, completingHim by by your completion. Fear not to cross to the abode of peace and perfectholiness. Only there is the completion of God and of His Son establishedforever. Seek not for this in the bleak world of illusion, where nothing is certainand where everything fails to satisfy. In the Name of God, be wholly willing toabandon all illusions. In any relationship in which you are wholly willing toaccept completion, and only this, there is God completed, and His Son with Him.The bridge that leads to union in yourself must lead to knowledge, for it willbuilt with God beside you, and will lead you straight to Him where your competion rests, whollycompatible with His. Every illusion you accept into your mind by judging it tobe attainable removes your own sense of completion, and thus denies theWholeness of your Father. Every fantasy, be it of love or hate, deprives you ofknowledge for fantasies are the veil behind which truth is hidden. To lift theveil that seems so dark and heavy, it is only needful to value truth beyond allfantasy, and to be entirely unwilling to settle for illusion in place of truth. Would you not go through fear to love?For such the journey seems to be. Love calls, but hate would have you stay.Hear not the call of hate, and see no fantasies. See in the call of hate, andin every fantasy that rises to dealy you, but the call for help that risesceaselessly from you to your Creator. Would He not answer you whose completionis His? He loves you, wholly without illusion, as you must love. For love iswholly without illusion, and therefore wholly without fear. Whom God remebersmust be whole. And God has never forgotten what makes Him whole. In yourcompletion lie the memory of His Wholeness and His gratitude to you for Hiscompletion. In His link with you lie both His inability to forget and yourability to remember. In Him are joined your willingness to love and all theLove of God, Who forgot you not. Your Father can no more forget the truth inyou than you can fail ro remember it. The Holy Spirit is the bridge to Him,made from your willingness to unite with Him and created by His joy in unionwith you. The journey that seemed endless is almost recognized it. Turn with mefirmly away from all illusions now, and let nothing stand in the way of truth.We will take the last useless journey away from truth together, and thentogether we go straight to God, in joyous answer to His call for Hiscompletion. If special relationships of any kind would hinder God´s completion,can they have any value to you? What would interfere with God must interferewith you. Only in time does interference in God´s completion seem to beimpossible. The bridge that He would carry you across lifts you from time intoeternity. Waken from time, and answer fearlessly the call of Him Who gaveeternity to you in creation. On this side of the bridge to timlessness youunderstand nothing. But as you step lightly across it, upheld by timelessness,you are directed straight to the Heart of God. At its center, and only there,you are safe forever, because you are complete forever. There is no veil to theLove of God in us together cannot lift. The way to truth is open. Follow itwith me.

Love

[IA56]

The Choice of Completion

In looking at the special relationship, it is necessary first to realize that it involves a great amount of pain. Anziety, despair,guilt and attack all enter into it, broken into by periods in which they seem to be gone. All these must be understood for what they are. Whatever form they take, they are always an attack on the self to make the other guilty. I have spoken of this before, but there are some aspects of what is really being attempted that have not been touched upon. Very simply, the attempt to make guilty is always directed against God. For the ego would have you see Him, and Him alone, as guilty, leaving the Sonship open to attack and unprotected from it. The special love relationship is the ego´s chief weapon for keeping you from Heaven. It does not appear to be a weapon, but if you consider how you value it and why, you will realize what it must be. The special love relationship is the ego´s most boasted gift, and one which has the most appeal to those unwilling to relinquish guilt. The ”dynamics” of the ego are clearesthere, for counting on the attraction of this offering, the fantasies thatcenter around it are often quite overt. Here they are usually judged to beacceptable and even natural. No one considers it bizzare to love and hatetogether, and even those who believe that hate is sin merely feel guilty, butdo not correct it. This is the ”natural” condition of the separation, and thosewho learn that it is not natural at all seem to be the unnatural ones. For thisworld is the opposite of Heaven, being made to be its opposite, and everythinghere takes a direction exactly opposite of what is true. In Heaven, where themeaning of love is known, love is the same as union. Here, where the illusionof love is accepted in love´s place, love is perveived as separation andexclusion. It is in the special relationship, born of the hidden wish forspecial love from God, that the ego´s hatred triuphs. For the specialrelationship is the renunciation of the Love of God, and the attempt to securefor the self the specialness that He denied. It is essential to thepreservation of the ego that you beleive this specialness is not hell, butHeaven. For the ego would never have you see that separation could only beloss, being the one condition in which Heaven could not be. To everyone Heavenis completion. There can be no disagreement on this, because both the ego andthe Holy Spirit accept it. They are, however, in complete disagreement on what completion is,and how it is accomplished. The Holy Spirit knows that completion lies first inunion, and then in the extention of union. To the ego completion lies intriumph, and in the extension of the ”victory” even to the final triumph overGod. In this iit sees the ultimate freedom of the self, for nothing wouldremain to interfere with the ego. This is its idea of Heaven. And thereforeunion, which is a conditin in which the ego cannot interfere, must be hell. Thespecial relationship is a strange and unnatural ego device for joining hell andHeaven, and making them indistinguishable. And the attempt to find the imagined”best” of both worlds has merely led to fantasies of both, and to the inabilityto perceive either as it is. The special relationship is the triumph of thisconfusion. It is a kind of union from which union is excluded, and the basisfor the attempt at union rests on exclusion. What better example could there beof the ego´s maxim, ”Seek but do not find?” Most curious of all is the conceptof the self which the ego fosters in the special relationship. The ”self” seeksthe relationship to make itself complete. Yet when it finds the special relationshipin which it thinks it can accomplish this it gives itself away, and tries to”trade” itself for the self of another. This is not union, for there is noincrease and no extention. Each partner tries to sacrifice the self he does notwant one het hinks he would prefer. And he feels guilty for the ”sin” oftaking, and of giving nothing of value in return. How much value can he placeupon a self that he would give away to get a ”better” one? The ”better” selfthe ego seeks is always one that is more special. And whoever seems to possessa special self is ”loved” for what can be taken from him. Where both partnerssee this special self in each other, the ego sees ”a union made in Heaven”. Forneither one will recognize that he has asked for hell, and so he will notinterfere with the ego´s illusion of Heaven, which it offered him to interferewith Heaven. Yet if all illusions are of fear, and they can be of nothing else,the illuison of Heaven is nothing more than an ”attractive” form of fear, inwhich the guilt is buried deep and rises in the form of ”love”. The appeal ofhell lies only in the terrible attracton of guilt, which the ego holds out tothose who place their faith in littleness. The conviction of littleness lies inevery special relationship, for only the deprived could value specialness. Thedemand for specialness, and the perception of the giving of specialness as anact of love, would make love hateful. The real purpose of the specialrelationship, in strict accordance woth the ego ´s goals, is to destroy realityand subsitute illusion. For the ego is itself and illusion, and only illusionscan be the witnesses to its ”reality”. If you perceived the specialrelationship as a triumph over God, would you want it? Le tus not think of itsfearful nature, nor of the guilt it must entail, nor of the sadness and theloneliness. For there are only attributes of the whole religion of separation,andd of the total context in which it is thought to occur. The central theme isits litany to sacrifice is that God must die so you can live. And it is thistheme that is acted out in the special relationship. Through the death of yourself you think you can attack another self, and snatch it from the other toreplace the self that you despise. And you despise it because you do not thinkit offers the specialness that you demand. And hating it you have made itlittle and unworthy, because you are afraid of it. How can you grant unlimitedpower to what you think you have attacked? So fearful has the truth become toyou that unless it is weak and little, you would not dare to look upon it. Youthink it safer to endow the little self you made with power you wrested fromtruth, triumphing over it and leaving it helpless. See how excatly is thisritual enacted in the special relationship. An altar is erected in between twoseparate people, and which each seeks to kill his self, and on his body raiseanother self to take its power from his death. Over and over and over thisritual is enacted. And it is never completed, nor ever will be completed. Theritual of completion cannot complete, for life arises not from death, norHeaven from hell. Whatever any form of special relationship tempts you to seekfor love in ritual, remember love is content, and not form of any kind. Thespecial relationship is a ritual of form, aimed at raising the form to take theplace of God at the expense of content. There is no meaning in the form, andthere will never be. The special relationship must be recongnized for what itis; a sensless ritual in which strength is extracted from the death of God, andinvested in His killer as the sign that form has triumphed over content, andlove has lost its meaning. Would you want this to be possible, even apart fromits evident impossibility? If it were possible, you would have made yourselfhelpless. God is not angry. He merely could not let this happen. You cannotchange His Mind. No rituals that you have set up in which the dance of deathdelights you can bring death to the eternal. Nor can your chosen substitute forthe Wholeness of God have any influence at all uponit. See in the specialrelationship nothing more than a meaningless attempt to raise other gods beforeHim, and by worshipping them to obscure their tininess and His greatness. Inthe name of your completion you do not want this. For every idol that you raiseto place before Hims tands before you, in place of what you are. Salvation liesin the simple fact that illusions are not fearful because the are not true.They but seem to be fearful to the extent to which you fail to recongize themfor what they are; and you will fail to do this to the extent to which you wantthem to be true. And to the same extent you are denying truth, and so arefailing to make the simple choice between truth and illusion; God and fantasy.Remember this, and you will have no difficulty in perceiving the decision asjust what it is, and nothing more. The core of the spearation illusion liessimply in the fantasy of destruction of love´s meaning. And unless love´smeaning is restored to you, you cannot know yourself who share its meaning.Separation is only the decision not to knowyourself. This whole thought system is a carefully contrived learningexperience, designed to lead away fromtruth and into fantasy. Yet for every learning that would hurt you, God offersyour correction and complete escape from all its consequences. The decisionwhether or not to listen to this couser and follow it is but the choice betweentruth and illusion. For here is truth, separated from illusion and not confusedwith it all. How simple does this choice become when it is perceived as onlywht it is. For only fantasies make confusion in choosing possible, and they aretotally unreal. This year is thus the time to make the easiest decision thatever confronted you, and also the only one. You will cross the bridge intoreality simply because you will recoginize that God is on the other side, andnothing at all is here. It is impossible not to make the natural decision asthis is realized.

Love

[IA56]

The Bridge to the Real World

The serch for the special relatonship is the sign that you equate yourself with the ego and not with God. For the special relationship has value only to the ego. To the ego, unless a relationship has special value it has no meaning, for it perceives all love as special. Yet this cannot be natural, for it is unlike the relationship of God and His Son, and all relationships that are unlike this one must be unnatural. For God created love as He would have it be, and gave it at is is. Love has no meaning except as its Creator defined it by His Will. It is impossible to define it otherwise and understand it. Love is freedom. To look for it by placing yourself in bondage is to separate yourself from it. For the Love of God, no longer seek for union in separation, nor for freedom in bondage! As you release, so will you be released. Forget this not, or love will be unable to find you and comfort you.There is a way in which the Holy Spirit asks your help, if you would have His. The holy instant is His most helpful aid in protecting you from the attraction ofguilt, the real lure in the special relationship. You do not recognize thatthis is its real appeal, for the ego has taught you that freedom lies in it.Yet the closer you look at the special relationship, the more apparant itbecomes that it must foster guilt and therefore must imprison. The specialrelationship it totally meaningless without a body. If you value it, you mustalso value a body. And what you value you will keep. The special relationshipis a device for limiting your self to a body, and for limiting your perceptionof others to theirs. The Great Rays would establish the total lack of value ofthe special relationship, if they were seen. For in seeing them the body woulddisappear, because its value would be lost. And so your whole investment inseeing it would be withdrawn from it. You see the world you value. On this sideof the bridge you see the world of separate bodies, seeking to join each otherin separate unions and to become one by losing. When two individuals seek tobecome one, they are trying to decrease the magnitude. Each would deny hispower, for the separate union excludes the universe. Far more is left outsidethan would be taken in, for God is left without and nothing taken in. If onesuch union were made in perfect faith, the universe would enter into it. Yetthe special relationship the ego seeks does not include even one wholeindividual. The ego wants but part of him, and sees only this part and nothingelse. Across the brigde it is so different! For a time the body is still seen,but not exclusively, as it is seen here. The little spark that holds the GreatRays within it is also visible, and this spark cannot be limited long tolittleness. Once you have crossed the bridge, the value of a body is sodiminished in your sight that ou will see no need at all to magnify it. For youwill realize that the only value the body has is to enable you to bring yourbrothers to the bridge with you, and to be released together there. The bridgeitself is nothing more than a transition in the perspective of reality. On thisside, everything you see is grossly distorted and completely out ofperspective. What is little and insignificant is magnified, and what is strongand powerful cut down to littleness. In the transition there is a period ofconfusion, in which a sense of actual disorientation may occur. But fear itnot, for it means only that you have been willing to let go your hold on thedistored frame of reference that seemed to hold your wourld together. Thisframe of reference is built around the special relationship. Without thisillusion there could be no meaning you would still seek here. Fear not that youwill be abruptly lifted up and hurled into reality. Time is kind, and if youuse it on behalf of reality, it will keep gentle pace with you in yourtransition. The urgency is only indislodgin your mind from its fixed positionhere. This will not leave you homeless and without a frame of reference. Theperiod of disorientation, which precedes the actual transition, is far shorterthen the time it took to fix your mind so firmly on illusions. Delay will hurtyou now more than before, only because you realize it is delay, and that escapefrom pain is really possible. Find hope and comfort, rather than depair, inthis: You could not long find even the illusion of love in any specialrelationship here. For you are no longer wholly insane, and you would soonrecognize the guilt of self-betrayal for what it is. Nothing you seek tostrengthen in the special relationship is reallly part of you. And you cannotkeep part of the thought system that taught you it was real, and understand theThought that knows what you are. You have allowed the Thoought of your realityto enter your mind, and because you invited it, it will abide with you. Yourlove for it will not allow you to betray yourself, and you could not enter intoa relationship where it could not go with you, for you would not want to beapart from it. Be glad you have escaped the mockery of salvation the ego offeredyou, and look not back with longing on the travesty it made of yourrelationships. Now no one need suffer, for you have come too far to yield tothe illusion of the beauty and holiness of guilt. Only the wholly insane couldlook on death and suffering, sickness and despair, and see it thus. What guilthas wrought is ugly, fearful and very dangerous. See no illusion of truth and beauty there. And beyour thankful that there is a place where truth and beauty wait for you. Go on to meet them gladly, and learn now howmuch awaits your for the simple willingness to give up nothing because it isnothing. The new perspective you will gain from crossing over will be theunderstanding of where Heaven is. From this side, it seems to be outside andacross the bridge. Yet as you cross to join it, it will join with you andbecome one with you. And you will think, inglad astonishment, that for all thisyou gave up nothing! The joy of Heaven, which has no limit, is increased with eachlight that returns to take its rightful place within it. Wait no longer, forthe Love of God and you. And may the holy instant speed you on the way, as itwill surely do if you but let it come to you. The Holy Spirit asks only thislittle help of you: Whenever your thoughts wander to a special relationshipwhich still attracts you. He needs only your willingness to share Hisperspective to give it to you completely. And your willingness need not becomplete because His is perfect. It is His task to atone for your unwillingnessby His perfect faith, and it is His faith you share with Him there. Out of yourrecongnition of your unwillingness for your release, His perfect willingness isgiven you. Call upon Him, for Heaven is at His call. And let Him call on Heavenfor you.

Love

[IA56]

The End of Illusions

It is impossible to let the past go without relingquishing the special relationship. For the special relationship is an attempt to re-enact the past and change it. Imagined slights, remembered pain, past disappointments, perceived injustices and deprivations all enter into the special relationship, which becomes a way in which you seek to restore your wounded self-esteem. What basis would you have for choosing a special partner without the past? Every such choice is made because if something ”evil” in the past to which you cling, and for which must someone else atone. The special relationship takes venegance on the past. By seeking to remove suffering in the past, it overlooks the present in its preoccupation with the past and its total commitment to it. No special relationship is experienced in the past. Shades of the past envelop it, and make it what it is. It has no meaning it the present,and if it means nothing now, it cannot have any real meaning at all. How can you change the past except in fantasy? And who can give you what you think thepast deprived you of? The past is nothing. Do not seek to lay the blame fordeprivation on it, for the past is gone. You cannot really not let go what hasalready gone. It must be, therefore, that you are maintaining the illusion thatit has not gone because you think it serves some purpose that you wantfulfilled. And it must also be that this purpose could not be fulfilled in thepresent, but only in the past. Do not underestimate the intensity of the ego´sdrive for venegance on the past. It is completely savage and completely insane.For the ego remembers everything you have done that has offended it, and seeksretribution of you. The fantasies it brings to its chosen relationship in whichto act out its hate are fantasies of your destruction. For the ego holds thepast against you, and in your escape from the past it sees itself deprived ofthe venegance it believes you so justly merit. Yet without your alligance inyour own destruction, the ego could not hold you to the past. In the specialrelationship you are allowing your destruction to be. That this is insane isobvious. But what is less obvious is that the present is useless to you whileyou pursue the ego´s goal as its ally. The past is gone; seek not to preserveit in the special relationship that binds you to it, and would teach yousalvation is past and so you must return to the past to find salvation. Thereis no fantasy that does not contain the dream of retribution for the past.Would you act out the dream, or let it go? In the special relationship it doesnot seem to be an actiong out of venengance that you seek. And even when thehatred and the savagery break briefly through, the illusion of love is notprofoundly shaken. Yet the one thing the ego never allows to reach awareness isthat the specila relationship is the acting out of venegance on yourself. Yetwhat else could it be? In seeking the special relationship, you look not forglory in yourself. You have denied that it is there, and the relationshipbecomes your substitute for it. And venegance becomes your substitute forAtonement, and the escape from venegance becomes your loss. Against the ego´sinsane notion of salvation the Holy Spirit gently lays the holy instant. Wesaid before the Holy Spirit must teach through comparisons, and uses oppostiesto point to truth. The holy instant is the oppoisite of the ego´s fixed beliefin salvation through venegance for the past. In the holy instant it isunderstood tht the past is gone, and with its passing the drive for venegancehas been uprooted and has disappered. The stillness and the peace of now enfoldyou in perfect gentleness. Everything is gone except the truth. For a time youmay attempt to bring illusions into the holy instant, to hinder your fullawareness of the complete difference, in all respects, between your experienceof truth and illusion. Yet you will not attempt this long. In the holy instantthe power of the Holy Spirit will prevail, because you joined Him. Theillusions you bring with you will weaken the experience of Him for a while, andwill prevent you from keeping the expereince in your mind. Yet the holy instantis eternal, and your illusions of time will not prevent the timeless from beingwhat it is, nor you from experiencing it as it is. What God has given you istruly given, and will be truly received. For God´s gifts has no reality apartfrom your receiving them. Your receiving completes His giving. You will receivebecause it is His Will to give. He gave the holy instant to be given you, andit is impossible that you receive it not because He gave it. When He willedthat His Son to be free, His Sojn was free. In the holy instant is His reminderthat His Son will always be exactly as he was created. And everything the HolySpirit teaches is to remind you that you have received what God has given you.There is nothing ou can hold against reality. All that must be forgiven ar theillusions you have held against your brothers. Their reality has no past, andonly illusions can be forgiven. God holds nothing against anyone, for He isincapable of illusions of any kind. Release your brothers from the slavery oftheir illusions by forgiving them for the illusions you perceive in them. Thuswill you learn that you have been forgiven, for it is you who offered themillusions. In the holy instant this is done for you in time, to bring you thetrue condition of Heaven. Remember that you always choose between truth andillusion; between the real Atonement that would heal and the ego´s ”atonement”that would destroy. The power of God and all His Love, without limit, willsupport you as you seek only your place in the plan of Atonement arising fromHis Love. Be an ally of God and not the ego in seeking how Atonement can cometo you. His help suffices, for His Messenger understands how to restore theKingdom to you, and to place all your investment in salvation in yourrelationship with Him. Seek and find His message in the holy instant, where allillusions are forgiven. From there the miracle estends to bless everyone and toresolve all problems, be they perceived as great or small, possigle orimpossible. There is nothing that will not give place to Him and to Hismajesty. To join in close relationship with Him is to accept relationships asreal, and through their reality to give over all illusions for the reality ofyour relationship with God. Praise be to your relationship with Him and to noother. The truth lies there and nowhere else. You choose this or nothing.

”Forgive us our illusions, Father, and help us to accept ourtrue realtionship with You, in which there are no illusions, and where none canever enter. Our holiness is Yours. What can there be in us that needs forginesswhen Yours is perfect? The sleep of forgetfulness is only the unwillingness toremeber. Your forgiveness and Your Love. Let us not wander into temptation, forthe temptation of the Son of God is not Your Will. And let us receive only whatYou have given, and accept but this into the minds which You created and whichYou love. Amen.”

Love

[IA56]

FORGIVENESS AND THE HOLY RELATIONSHIP
Bringing Fantasy to Truth

The betrayal of the Son of God lies only in illusions, and all his ”sins” are but his own imagining. His reality is forever sonless. He need not be forgiven but awakened. In his dreams he has betrayed himself, his brothers and his God. Yet what is done in dreams has not been really done. It is impossible to convince the dreamer that this is so, for dreams are what they are because of their illusion of reality. Only in waking is the full release from them, for only then does it become perfectly apparant that they had no effect upon reality at all, and did not change it. Fantasies change reality.That is their purpose. They cannot do so in reality, but they can do so in the mind that would have reality be different. It is, then, only your wish to change reality that is fearful, because by your wish you think that you have accomplished what you wish. This strange position, in a sense, acknowledges your power. Yet by distorting it and devoting it to ”evil”, it also makes itunreal. You cannot be faithful to two masters who ask conflicting things ofyou. What you use in fantasy you deny to truth. Yet what you give to truth touse for you is safe from fantasy. When you maintain that there must be an orderof difficulty in miracles, all you mean is that there are some things you wouldwithhold from truth. You believe truth cannot deal with them opnly because youwould keep them from truth. Very simply, your lack of faith in the power thatheals all pain arises from your wish to retain some aspects of reality forfantasy. If you but realize what this must do to your appreciation of thewhole! What you reserve for yourself, you take away from Him Who would releaseyou. Unless you give it back, it is inevitable that your perspective on realitybe warped and uncorrected. As long as you would have it so, so long will theillusion of an order of difficulty in miracles remain with you. For you haveestablished this order in reality by giving some of it to one teacher, and someto another. And so ou learn to deal with part of the truth in one way, and inanother way the other part. To fragment truth is to destroy it by rendering itmeaningless. Orders of reality is a perspective without understanding; a frameof reference for reality to which it cannot really be compared at all. Thinkyou that you can bring truth to fantasy, and learn what truth means from theperspective of illusions? Truth has no meaning in illusion. The frame ofreference for its meaning must be itself. When you try to bring truth toillusions, you are trying to make illusions real, and keep them by justifyingyour belief in them. But to give illusions to truth is to enable truth to teachthat the illusions are unreal, and thus enable you to escape from them. Reservenot one idea aside from truth, or you establish orders of reality that must imprisonyou. There is no order in reality, because everything there is true. Bewilling, then, to give all you have to held outside the truth to Him Who knowsthe truth, and in Whom all is brought to truth. Be not concerned with anythingexcept your willingness to have this be accomplished. He will accomplish it;not you. But forget not this: When you become disturbed and lose your peace ofmind because another is attempting to solve his problems through fantasy, youare refusing to forgive yourself for just this same attempt. And you areholding both of you away from truth and from salvation. As you forgive him, yourestore to truth what was denied by both of you. And you will see forgivenesswhere you have given it.

Love

[IA56]

The Forgiven World

Can you imagine how beautiful those you forgive will look to you? In no fantasy have you ever seen anything so lovely. Nothing you see here,sleeping or waking, comes near to such loveliness. And nothing will you value like unto this, nor hold so dear. Nothing that you remember that made your heart sing with joy has ever brought you even a little part of the happiness this sight will bring you. For you will see the Son of God. You will behold the beauty the Holy Spirit loves to look upon, and which He thanks the Father for.He was created to see this for you, until you learned to see it for yourself.And all His teaching leads to seeing it and giving thanks with Him. This loveliness is not a fantasy. It is the real world, bright and clean and new, with everything sparkling under the open sun. Nothing is hidden here, for everything has been forgiven and there are no fantasies to hide the truth. The bridge between that world and this is so little and so easy to cross, that you could not believe it is the meeting place of worlds so different. Yet thislittle bridge is the strongest thing that touches on this world at all. Thislittle step, so small it has escaped your notice, is a stide through time intoeternity, beyond all ugliness into beauty that will enchant you, and will nevercease to cause you wonderment at its perfection. This step, is smallest evertaken, is still the greatest accomplishment of all in God´s plan of Atonement.All else is learned, but this is given, complete and wholly perfect. No one butHim Who planned salvation could complete it thus. The real world, in itsloveliness, you learn to reach. Fantasies are all undone, and no one andnothing remain still bound by them, and by your own forgiveness you are free tosee. Yet what you see is only what you made, with the blessing of yourforgiveness on it. And with this final blessing of God´s Son upon himself, the realperfection, born of the new perspective he has learned, has served its purpose.The stars will disappear in light, and the sun that opened up the world tobeauty will vanish. Perception will be meaningless when it has been perfected,for everything that has been used for learning will have no function. Nothingwill ever change; no shifts nor shadings, no differences, no variations that madeperception possible will still occur. The perception of the real world, will beso short that you will barely have time to thank God for it. For God will takethe last step swiftly, when you have reached the real world and have been madeready for Him. The real world is attained simply by the complete forgiveness ofthe old, the world you see without forgiveness. The Great Transformer ofperception will undertake with you the carful serching of the mind that madethis world, and uncover to you the seeming reasons for your maiking it. In thelight of the real reason that He brings, as you follow HIm, He will show youthat there is no reason here at all. Each spot His reason touches grows alivewith beauty, and what seemed ugly in the darkness of your lack of reason issuddenly released to loveliness. Not even what the Son of God made in insanitycould be without a hidden spark of beauty that gentleness could release. Allthis beauty will rise to bless your sight as you look upon the world withforgivning eyes. For forgiveness literally transforms vision, and lets you seethe real world reaching quietly and gently across chaos, removing all illusionsthat had twisted your perception and fixed it on the past. The smallest leafbecomes a thing of wonder, and a blade of grass a sign of God´s perfection.From the forgiven world the Son of God is lifted easily into his home. Andthere he knows that he has always rested there is peace. Even salvation willbecome a dream, and vanish from his mind. For salvation is the end of dreams,and with the closing of the dream will have no meaning. Who, awake in Heaven,could dream that there could never be need of salvation? How much do you wantsalvation? It will give you the real world, trembling with readiness to giveyou. The eagerness of the Holy Spirit to give you this is so intense He wouldnot wait, although He waits in patience. Meet His patiece with your impatienceat delay in meeting Him. Go out in gladness to meet with your Redeemer, andwalk with Him in trust out of this world, and into the real world of beauty andforgiveness.

Love

[IA56]

Shadow of the Past

To forgive is merely to remember only the loving thoughts you gave in the past, and those that were given you. All the rest must be forgotten. Forgiveness is a selective remembering, based not on your selection. For the shadow firgures you would make immortal are ”enemies” of reality. Be willing to forgive the Son of God for what he did not do. The shadow figures are the witnesses you bring with you to demonstrate he did what he did not.Because you bring them, you will hear them. And you who keep them by your own selection do not understand how they came into your mind, and what their purpose is. They represent the evil that you think was done to you. You bring them with you only that you may return evil for evil, hoping that their witness will enable you to think guiltily of another and not harm yourself. They speak so clearly for the separation that no one not obsessed with keeping separation could heart hem. They offer you the ”reasons” why you should enter into unholly alliance to support the ego´s goals, and make your relationships the witness toits power. It is there shadow figures that would make the ego holy in yoursight, and teach you what you do not keep it safe is really love. The shadowfigures always speak for venegance, and all relationships into which they enterare totally insane. Without exception, these relationsips have as their purposethe exclusion of the truth about the other, and of yourself. This is why yousee in both what is not there, and make of both the slaves of vengeance. Andwhy whatever reminds you of your past grievances attracts you, and seems to goby the name of love, no matter how distorted the associations by which youarrive at the connection may be. And finally, why all such relationships becomeattempts at union through the body, for only bodies can be seen as means forvengeance. That bodies are central to all unholy relationships is evident. Yourown experience has taught you this. But what you may not realize are all thereasons that go to make the relationship unholy. For unholiness seeks toreinforce itself, as holines does, by gathering to itself what it perceives aslike itself. In the unholy relationship, it is not the body of the other withwhich union is attempted, but the bodies of those who are not there. For eventhe body of the other, already a verely limited perception of him, is not thecentral focus as it is, or in eternity. What can be used for fantasies ofvengance, and what can be most readily associated with those on whom vengeanceis really sought, is centered on and separated off as being the only parts ofvalue. Every step taken in the making, the maintaining and the breaking off ofthe unholy relationship is a move toward further fragmentation and unreality.The shadow figures enter more and more, and the one in whom they seem to bedecreases in importance. Time is indeed unkind to the unholy relationship. Fortime is cruel in the ego´s hands, as it is kind when used for gentleness. Theattraction of the unholy relationship begins to fade and to be questionedalmost at once. Once it is formed, doubt must enter in, because its purpose isimpossible. The ”ideal” of the unholy relationship thus becomes one in whichthe reality of the other does not enter at all to ”spoil” the dream. And theless the other really brings to the relationship, the ”better” it becomes.Thus, the atempt at union becomes a way of excluding even the one with whom theunion was sought. For it was formed to get him out of it, and join withfantasies in uninterrupted ”bliss”. How can the Holy Spirit bring Hisinterpretation to the body as a means of communication into relationship whoseonly purpose is separationfrom reality? What forgiveness is enables Him to doso. If all bu tloving thoughts has been fogotten, what remains is eternal. Andthe transformed past is made like the present. No longer does the past conflictwith now. This continuity extends the present by increasing its reality and itsvalue in your perception of it. In these loving thoughts is the spark of beautyhidden in the ugliness of the unholy relationship where hatred is rememberd;yet there to come alive as the relationship is given to Him Who gives it lifeand beauty. That is why Atonement centers on the past, which is the source ofseparation, and where it must be undone. For separation must be corrected whereit was made. The ego seeks to ”resolve” its problems, not at their source, butwhere they were no tmade. And thus it seeks to guarantee there will be nosolution. The Holy Spirit wants only to make His resolutions complete andperfect, and so He seeks and finds the source of problems where it is, andthere undoes it. And with each step in His undoing is the separation mor e andmore undone, and union brought closer. He is not at all confused by andy”reasons” for separation. All He perceives in separation is that it must beundone. Let Him uncover the hidden spark of beauty in your relationships, andshow it to you. Its loveliness will so attract you that you will be unwillingever to lose the sight of it again. And you will let this spark transform therelationship so you can see it more and more. For you will want it more andmore, and become increasingly unwilling to let it be hidden from you. And youwill learn to seek for and establish the conditions in which this beauty can beseen. All this you will do gladly, if you but let Him hold the spark beforeyou, to light your way and make it clear to you. God´s Son is one. Whom God hasjoined as one, the ego cannot puta sunde. The spark of holiness must be safe,however hidden it may be, inevery relationship. For the Creator of the onerelationship has left no part of it without Himself. This is the only part ofthe relationship the Holy Spirit sees, because He knows that only this is true.You have made the relationship unreal, and therefore unholy, by seeing it whereit is not and as it is not. Give the past to Him Who can change your mind aboutit for you. But first, be sure you fully realize what you have made the past torepresent, and why. The past becomes the justification for entering into acontinuing, unholy alliance with the ego against the present. For the presentis forgiveness. Therfore, the relationship s the unholy alliance dictates arenot perceived nor felt as now. Yet the frame of reference to which the presentis referred for meaning is an illusion of the past, in which those elements thtfit the purpose of the unholy alliance are retained, and all the rest let go.And what is thus let go is all the truth the past could ever offer to thepresent as witnesses for its reality. What is kept but witnesses to the realityof dreams. It is still up to you to choose to join with truth or with illusion.But remember that to choose one is to let the other go. Which one you chooseyou will endow with beauty and reality, because the choice depends on which youvalue more. The spark of beauty or the veil of ugliness, the real world or theworld of guilt and fear, truth or illusion, freedom or slavery – it is all thesame. For you can never choose except between God and the ego. Thought systemsare but true or false, and all their attributes come simply from what they are.Only the Thoughts of God are true. And all the follows from them comes fromwhat they are, and is as true as is the holy Source from Which they came. Myholy brother, I would enter into all your relationships, and step between youand your fantasies. Let my relationship to you be real to you, and let me bringreality to your perception of your brothers. They were not created to enableyou to hurt yourself through them. They were created to create with you. Thisis the truth that I would interpose between you and your goal of madness. Benot separate from me, and let not the holy purpose of Atonement be lost to youin dreams of vengeance. Relationships in which such dreams are cherished have excluded me. Let me enter in theName of God and bring you peace, that you may offer peace to me.

Love

[IA56]

The Two Pictures

God established His relationship with you to make you happy,and nothing you do that does not shares His purpose can be real. The purpose God ascribed to anything is its only function. Because of His reason for creating His relationship with you, the function of relationships became forever ”to make happy”. And nothing else. To fulfill this function you relate to your creations as God to His. For nothing God created is apart from happiness, and nothing God created but would extend happiness as its Creator did. Whatever does not fulfill this function cannot be real. In this world is it impossible to create. Yet it is possible to make happy. I have said repeatedly that the Holy Spirit would not deprive you of your special relationships, but would transform them. And all that is meant by that is thatHe will restore to them the function given them by God. The function you have given them is clearly not to make happy. But the holy relationship shares God´s purpose, rather than aiming to make a substitute for it. Every specialrelationship you have made is a substitute of God´s Will, and glorifies yourinstead of His because of the illusion that they are different. You have madevary real relationships even in this world. Yet you do not recongize thembecause you have raised their substitutes to such predominance that, when truthcalls to you, as it does constantly, you answer with a substitute. Everyspecial relationship you have made has, as its fundamental purpose, the aim ofoccupying your mind so completely thatyour will not hear the call of truth. In a sense, the special relationship wasthe ego´s answer to the creation of the Holy Spirit, Who was God´s Answer tothe separation. For although the ego did not understand what had been created,it was aware of threat. The whole defense system the ego evolved to protect theseparation from the Holy Spirit was in response to the gift with which Godblessed it, and by His blessing enabled it to be healed. The blessing holdswithin itself the truth about everything. And the truth is that the Holy Spiritis in close relationship with you, because in Him is your relationship with Godrestored to you. The relationship with Him has never been broken, because theHoly Spirit has not been separate from anyone since the separation. And throughHim have all your holy relationships been carefully preserved, to serve God´spurpose for you. The ego is alert to threat, and the part of your mind intowhich the ego was accepted is very anxious to preserve its reason, as it seesit. It does not realize that it is totally insane. And you must realize just whatthis means if you would be restored to sanity. The insane protect theri thoughtsystems, but they do so insanely. And all their defenses are as insane as whatthey are supposed to protect. The separation has nothing in it, no part, no”reason”, and no attribute that is not insane. And its ”protection” is part ofit, as insane as the whole. The special relationship, which is its chiefdefense, must therefore be insane. You have but little difficulty now inrealizing that the thought system the special relationship protects is but asystem of delusions. You reconize, at least in general terms, that the ego isinsane. Yet the special relationship still seems to you somehow to be”different”. Yet we have looked at it far closer than we have at many other aspectsof the ego´s thought system that you have been willing to let go. While thisone remains, you will not let the other go. For this one is not different.Retain this one, and you have retained the whole. It is essential to realizethat all defenses do what they would defend. The underlying basis for theireffectiveness is that they offer what they defend. What they defend is placedin them for safe-keeping, and as they operate they bring it to you. Everydefense operates by giving gifts, and the gift is always a miniature of thethough system the defense protectds, set in a golden frame. The frame is veryelaborate, all set with jewels, and deeply carved and polished. Its purpose isto be of value in itself, and to divert your attention from what it encloses.But the frame without the picture you cannot have.Defenses operate to make youthink you can. The special relationship has to most imposing and deceptive frameof all the defenses the ego uses. Its thought system is offered here,surrounded by a frame so heavy and so elaborate that the picture is almostobliterated by its imposing structure. Into the fram are wowen all sorts offanciful and fragmented illusions of love, set with dreams of sacrifice andself-aggrandizement, and interlaced with gilded threads of self-destruction.The glitter of blood shines like rubies, and the tears are faceted likediamonds and gleam in the dim light in which the offering is made. Look at thepicture. Do not let the fram distract you. This gift is given you for yourdamnation, and if you take it you will believe that you are damned. You cannothave the frame without the picture. What you value is the frame, for there yousee no conflict. Yet the frame is only the wrapping for the gift in conflict.The frame is not the gift. Be not deceived by the most superficial aspects ofthis thougt system, for these aspects enclose the whole, complete in everyaspect. Death lies in the glittering gift. Let not your gaze dwell on thehypnotic gleaming of the frame. Look at the picture, and realize that death isoffered you. That is why the holy instant is so important in the defense oftruth. The truth itself needs no defense, but you do need defense against youraccpetance of the gift of death. When you who are truth accept and idea sodangerous to truth, you threaten truth with destruction. Adn your defense mustnow be undertaken, to keep truth whole. The power of Heaven, the Love of God,the tears of Christ, and the joy of His eternal Spirit are marshalled to defendyou from your own attack. For you attack Them, being part of Them, and Theymust save you, for They love Themselves. The holy instant is a miniature ofHeaven, sent you from Heaven. It is a picture, too, set in frame. Yet if youaccept this gift you will not see the frame at all, because the gift can onlybe accepted through your willingness to focus all your attention on thepicture. The holy instant is a miniature of eternity. It is a picture oftimelessness, set in a frame of time. If you focus on the picture, you willrealize that it was only the frame that made you think it was a picture.Without the frame, the picture is seen as what it represents. For as the wholethougt system of the ego lies in its gifts, so the whole of Heaven lies in thisinstant, borrowed from eternity and set in time for you. Two gifts are offeredyou. Each is complete, and cannot be partially accepted. Each is a picture ofall that you can have, seen very differently. You cannot compare their value bycomparing a picture to a frame. It must be a picture only that you cmpare, orthe comparision is wholy without meaning. Remember that it is the picture thatis the gift. And only on this basis are you really free to choose. Look at thepictures. Both of them. One is a tiny picture, hard to see at all beneath theheavy shadows of its enormous and disproportionate enclosure. The other islightly framed and hung in light, lovely to look upon for what it is. You whohave tried so hard, and are still trying, to fit the better picture into thewrong frame and so combine what cannot be combined, accept this and be glad:These pictures are each framed perfectly for what they represent. One is framedto be out of focus and not seen. The other is framed for perfect clarity. Thepicture of darkness and of death grows less convincing as you serch it out amidits wrappings. And each senseless stone that seems to shine from the frame indarkness is exposed to light, it becomes dull and lifeless, and ceases todistract you from the picture. And finaly you look upon the picture itself,seeing at last that, unprotected by the frame, it has no meaning. The otherpicture is lightly framed, for time cannot contain eternity. There is nodistraction here. The picture of Heaven and eternity grows more convincing asyou look at it. And now, by real comparison, a transformationj of both picturescan at last occur. And each is given its rightful place when both are seen inrelation to each other. The dark picture, brought to light, is not perceived asfearful, but the fact that it is just a picture is brought home at last. Andwhat you see there you will recognize as what it is; a picture of what youthought was real, and nothing more. For beyond this picture you will seenothing. The picture of light, in clear-cut and unmistakable contrast, istransformed into what lies beyond the picture. As you look on this, you realizethat it is not a picture, but a reality. This is no figured representation of athought system, but the Thought itself. What it represents is there. The framefades gently and God rises to your rememberance, offering you the whole ofcreation in exchange for your little picture, wholly without value and eternitydeprived of meaning. As God ascends into His rightful place and you to yours,you will experience again the meaning of relationship and know it to be true. Letus ascend in peace to the Father, by giving Him ascendance in our minds. Wewill gain everything by giving Him the power and the glory, and keeping noillusions of where they are. They are in us, through His ascendance. What Hehas given is His. It shines in every part of Him, as in the whole. The wholereality of your relationship with Him lies in our relationship to one another. Theholy instant shines alike on all relationship, for in it they are one. For hereis only healing, already complete and perfect. For here is God, and where He isonly perfect and complete can be.

Love