IA´s Journal

[IA56]

2 Honesty

All other traits of God´s teachers rest on trust. Once that has been
achieved, the others cannot fail to follow. Only the trusting can
afford honesty, for only they can see its value. Honesty does not
apply only to what you say. The term actually means consistency.
There is nothing you say that contradicts what you think or do; no
thought opposes any other thought; no act belies your word; and
no word lacks agreement with another. Such are the truly honest.
At no level are they in conflict with themselves. Therefore it is
impossible for them to be in conflict with anyone or anything.
The peace of mind which the advanced teachers of God experience
is largely due to their perfect honesty. It is only the wish to deceive
that makes for war. No one at one with himself can even conceive
of conflict. Conflict is the inevitable result of self deception, and
self deception is dishonety. There is no challenge to a teacher of God.
Challenge implies doubt, and the trust on which God´s teachers
rest secure makes doubt impossible. Therefore they can only succeed,
because they never do their will alone. They choose for all mankind;
for all the world and all things in it; for the unchanging and unchangeable
beyond appearances; and for the Son of God and his Creator. How could
they not succeed? They choose in perfect honesty, sure of their choice
as of themselves.

Love

[IA56]

3. Tolerance

God´s teachers do not judge. To judge is to be dishonest, for to
judge is to assume a position you do not have. Judgment without
self deception is impossible. Judgment implies that you have been
deceived in your brothers. How, then, could you not have been
deceived in yourself? Judgment implies a lack of trust, and trust
remains the bedrock of the teacher of God´s whole thought system.
Let this be lost, and all his learning goes. Without judgment are all
things equally acceptable, for who could judge otherwise? Without
judgment are all men brothers, for who is there who stands apart?
Judgment destroys honesty and shatters trust. No teacher of God
can judge and hope to learn.

Love

[IA56]

4. Gentleness

Harm is impossible for God´s teachers. They can neither harm
nor be harmed. Harm is the outcome of judgment. It is the dishonest
act that follows a dishonest thought. It is a verdict of guilt upon a
brother, and therefore on onself. It is the end of peace and the
denial of learning. It demonstrates the absence of God´s curriculum,
and its replacement by insanity. No teacher of God but must learn,
- and fairly early in his training - that harmfulness completely
obliterates his function from his awareness. It will make him confused,
fearful, angry and suspicious. It will make the Holy Spirit´s lessons
impossible to learn. Nor can God´s Teacher be Heard at all, except
by those who realize that harm can actually achieve nothing.
No gain can come of it.
Therefore, God´s teachers are wholly gentle. They need the strength
of gentleness, for it is in this that the function of salvation becomes easy.
To those who would do harm, it is impossible. To those to whom harm
har no meaning, it is merely natural. What choice but this has meaning
to the sane? Who chooses hell when he perceives a way to Heaven?
And who would choose the weakness that must come from harm in
place of the unfailing, all-encompassing and limitless strength of
gentleness? The might of God´s teachers lies in their gentleness,
for they have understood their evil thoughts came neither from
God´s Son nor his Creator. Thus did they join their thoughts with
Him Who is their Source. And so their will, which always was His
Own, is free to be itself.

Love

[IA56]

5. Joy

Joy is the inevitable result of gentleness. Gentleness means that
fear is now impossible, and what could come to interfere with joy?
The open hands of gentleness are always filled. The gentle have no
pain. They cannot suffer. Why would they not be joyous? They are
sure they are beloved and must be safe. Joy goes with gentleness as
surely as grief atends attack. God´s teachers trust in Him. And they
are sure His Teacher goes before them, making sure no harm can
come to them. They hold His gifts and follow in His way, because
God´s Voice directs them in all things, Joy is their song of thanks.
And Christ looks down on them in thanks as well. His need of them
is just as great as their of Him. How joyous it is to share the purpose
of salvation!

Love

[IA56]

6. Defenselessness

God´s teachers have learned how to be simple. They have no
dreams that need defense against the truth. They do not try to make
themselves. Their joy comes from their understanding Who created
them. And does what God created need defense? No one can
become an advanced teacher of God until he fully understands that
defenses are but foolish guradians of mad illusions. The more
grotesque the dream, the fierces and more powerful its defenses
seem to be. Yet when the teacher of God finally agrees to look past
them, he finds that nothing was there. Slowly at first he lets himself
be undeceived. But he learns faster as his trust increases. It is not
danger that comes when defenses are laid down. It is safety. It is
peace. It is joy. And it is God.

Love

[IA56]

7. Generosity

The term generosity has special meaning to the teacher of God. It
is not the usual meaning of the word, in fact, it is a meaning that
must be learned and learned very carefully. Like all the other
attributes of God´s teachers this one rests ultimately on trust, for
without trust no one can be generous in the true sense. To the
world, generosity means "giving away" in the sense of "giving up."
To the teachers of God, it means giving away in order to keep. This
has been emphasized throughout the text and the workbook, but it
is perhaps more alien to the thinking of the world than many other
ideas in our curriculum. Its greater strangeness lies merely in the
obviousness of its reversal of the world´s thinking. In the clearest
way possible, and at the simplest of levels, the word means the
exact opposite to the teachers of God and to the world.
The teacher of God is generous out of self interest. This does not
refer, however, to the self of which the world speaks. The teacher of
God does not want anything he cannot give away, because he
realizes it would be valueless to him by definition. What would he
want it for? He could only lose because of it. He could not gain.
Therefore he does not seek what only he could keep, because that is
a guarantee of loss. He does not want to suffer. Why should he
ensure himself pain? But he does not want to keep for himself all things
that are of God, and therefore for His Son. These are the things that
belong to him. These he can give away in true generosity, protecting
them forever for himself.

Love

[IA56]

8 Patience

Those who are certain of the outcome can afford to wait, and
wait without anxiety. Patience is natural to the teacher of God. All
he sees is certain outcome, at a time perhaps unknown to him as
yet, but not in doubt. The time will be as right as is the answer. And
this is true for Everything that happens now or in the future. The
past as well held no mistakes; nothing that did not serve to benefit
the world, as well as him to whom it seemed to happen. Perhaps it
was not understood at the time. Even so, the teacher of God is
willing to reconsider all his past decisions, if they ar causeing pain
to anyone. Patience is natural to those who trust. Sure of the
ultimate interpretation of all things in time, so outcome already
seen or yet to come can cause them fear.

Love

[IA56]

9 Faithfulness

The extent of the teacher of God´s faithfulness is the measure of
his advancement in the curriculum. Does he still select some
aspects of his life to bring to his learning, while keeping others
apart? If so, his advancement is limited, and his trust not yet firmly
established. Faithfulness is the teacher of God´s trust in the Word of
God to set all things right; not some, but all. Generally, his faithfulness
begins by resting on just some problems, remaining carefully limited
for a time. To give up all problems to one Answer is to reverse the
thinking of the world entirely. And that alone is faithfulness. Nothing
but that really deserves the name. Yet each degree, however small,
is worth achieving. Readiness, as the text notes, is not mastery.
True faithfulness, however, does not deviate. Being consistent, it
is wholly honest. Being unswerving, it is full of trust. Being based
on fearlessness, it is gentle. Being certain, it is joyous. And being
confident, it is tolerant. Faithfulness, then, combines in itself the
other attributes of God´s teachers. It implies acceptance of the Word
of God and His definition of His Son. It is to Them that faithfulness
in the true sense is Always directed. Toward Them it looks, seeking
until it finds. And haveing found, it rests in quiet certainty on That
alone to Which all faithfulness is due.

Love

[IA56]

10 Open-Mindedness

The centrality of open-mindedness, perhaps the last of the
attributes the teacher of God acquires, is easily understood when its
relation to forgiveness is recongnized. Open-mindedness comes with
lack of judgment. At judgment shuts the mind against God´s Teacher,
so open-mindedness invites Him to come in. As condemnation judges
the Son of God as evil, so open-mindedness permits him to be judged
by the Voice of God on His behalf. As the projection of guilt upon him
would send him to hell, so open-mindedness lets Christ´s image be
extended to him. Only the open-minded can be at peace, for they alone
see reason for it.
How do the open-minded forgive? They have let go all things that would
prevent forgiveness. They have in truth abandoned the world, and let it be
restored to them in newness and in joy so glorious they could never have
have conceived of such a change. Nothing is now as it was formerly.
Nothing but sparkles now which seemed so dull in lifeless before.
And above all are all things welcoming, for threat is gone. No clouds
remain to hide the face of Christ. Now is the goal achieved. Forgiveness
is the final goal of the curriculum. It pave the way for what goes far
beyond all learning. The curriculum makes no effort to exceed its
legitimate goal. Forgiveness is its single aim, at which all learning
ultimately converges. It is indeed enough.
You may have noticed that the list of attributes of God´s teachers
does not include things that are the Son of God´s inheritance. Terms
like love, sinlessness, perfection, knowledge and eternal truth do
not appear in this context. They would be most inappropriate here.
What God has given is so far beyond our curriculum that learning
but disappears in its presence. Yet while its presence is obscured,
the focus properly belongs on the curriculum. It is the function of
God´s teachers to bring true learning to the world. Properly speaking
it is unlearning that they bring, for that is "true learning" in the world.
It is given to the teachers of God to bring the glad tidings of complete
forgiveness to the world. Blessed indeed are they, for they are the
bringers of salvation.

Love

[IA56]

HOW IS HEALING ACCOMPLISHED?

Healing involves an understanding of what the illusion of sickness
is for. Healing is impossible without this.

1. The perceived purpose of sickness

Healing is accomplished the instant the sufferer no longer sees
any value in pain. Who would choose suffering unless he thought
it brought him something, and something of value to him? He must
think it is a small price to pay for something of greater worth. For
sickness is an election; a decision. It is the choice of weakness,
in the mistaken conviction that it is strength. When this occurs, real
strength is seen as threat and health as danger. Sickness is a
method, conceived in madness, for placing God´s Son on his
Father´s throne. God is seen as outside, fierce and powerful, eager
to keep all power for Himself. Only by His death can He be conquered
by His Son.
And what, in this insane conviction, does healing stand for? It
symbolizes the defeat of God´s Son and the triumph of his Father
over him. It represents the ultimate defiance in a direct form which
the Son of God is forced to recognize. It stands for all that he would
hide from himself to protect his "life." If he is healed, he is responsible
for his thoughts. And if he is responsible for his thoughts, he will be
killed to prove to him how weak and pitiful he is. But if he chooses
death himself, his weakness is his strength.
Now has he given himself what God would give to him, and thus
entirely usurped the throne of his Creator.

Love