THE GIFTS OF GOD — Sondra Ray — Markus Ray on A Course in Miracles

THE LAWS OF GOD would make every relationship Whole. Each one may be unique, but one is not more Holy than another. The faith in our brothers is total. Each brother is worthy of our reverence. Everyone has his or her own perfection. Holiness is shared, and we gain the Strength of God when we are looking toward the Perfection of each person. Everyone is deserving of God's Love, and to have the strength of God we cannot hold anyone "outside" the scope of God's Grace. God is the Strength in which I trust, and the Idea I am holding about myself can be changed. I can change the idea of being "weak" for the divine idea of my sacred strength. We unite the Idea of Perfection with our own perception of our Holy Self. This is the Freedom to be who God created us to be. We are the Holy Sons and Daughters of God. This is God's Law in truth.

This Section shows us how much we have made our relationships into special ones, and that we use the past to judge the value of our relationships based on our projected expectations that fill our own "needs." We obligate people to us, and then judge the relationship based on whether they are fulfilling these special needs or not. God makes no one special, so why do we? Do we think our needs are not met by our Creator? Do we seek this dependence on people we have made special, demanding they fill our needs? Is it possible to share the Holy Instant with the people in our Life to discover and express Divine Joy? The Holy Instant removes the "specialness," and purifies these relationships into Holy ones. We can let go of our "imagined needs" and ask for only what God wants for us—which is "perfect happiness."

THE HOLY INSTANT is here now to give us our Magnificence. Yet, we have to let go of all of our thoughts of "limitation" from the ego. The ego would like us to believe it takes time to "improve ourselves." We already are in our Magnificence in truth, but we have made such a case for our "littleness" that we do not think it is possible to leap into this Heaven of our true Self immediately. We are addicted to the "denial of Who we are as God created us." The ego postpones the Holy Instant because we are "arrogant" in insisting upon our own plan that is a substitute for God's Plan. We want our "familiar hell" instead of our “unfamiliar Heaven." We are afraid of the Unknown, and the Holy Instant, before we accept it, is Unknown. Can we give up the plans we "know" that do not actually "improve our life?" Can we let this go, and accept the Holy Instant instead? We have free will to do so. It takes our "willingness," not "time," to accept this Plan of the Holy Instant. We must practice accepting it.

Today is a very important section in A Course in Miracles. "Littleness Versus Magnitude" makes it clear that we are falling short in our definition of ourselves. We are accepting a level of limitation that is "tolerable," and then we define this as "Happiness." We are not content, and now we can actually admit it. Jesus tells us, "Be not content with littleness. But be sure you understand what littleness is, and why you could never be content with it. Littleness is the offering you give yourself. You offer this in place of magnitude, and you accept it. Everything in this world is little because it is a world made out of littleness, in the strange belief that littleness can content you." The fact is we are not content. Can we drop all of our seeking to improve ourselves when we see that we already have everything at our inner disposal? The Holy Spirit can lead us to realize our Magnitude, but only when we stop our attempts to "make up a false heaven." We have made ourselves the "CEO of Hell." And when we admit this is so, and let go of false control, we can invite the Holy Spirit into our awareness to guide us to our Magnitude.

MARKUS reads from his commentary onA Course in Miracles, a book named "THE SECOND COMING.” In this Podcast he discusses Chapter 23 in this book—The End of Sickness. It makes clear the mental "causative factors" behind all disease. How do we overcome these "thoughts of attack and defense” that keep the sickness alive? Can we heal sickness at the "root cause?" First of all, "Sickness is a defense against the Truth." We have to see that all physical sickness begin with erroneous "thoughts” in our mind first. Then we have to make contact with the Truth, which can correct all these errors in our mind. PEACE and JOY are the TRUTH, and they can heal us, but we have to make absolute contact with them. This Chapter makes this shift clear and very possible.

The Holy Instant transcends time and doubt. We are given the Atonement to erase the limitations of time we have placed on our "awakening process." It appears it takes "time" to wake up, but the instant offered to the Holy Spirit is offered to God on our behalf. We let go of all our past learning. TRUTH is outside of time, and happens all at Once. We do not use the "work" we do to postpone this flash of the Holy Instant. The laws of time do not apply. The Holy Instant is just that—a moment that is NOW> TOTAL LIBERATION does not take time. It can happen in a flash when we let go of all the preoccupations to "make ourselves enlightened" by the modes we have used to “awaken ourselves." We are grateful to have the TEACHERS who represent to Holy Spirit in our lives. Their teachings are “outside of time.” We are grateful to have Them, and the means to wake up in a hurry. AMEN.  

WHAT IS TIME? How do we use it? Is it fraught with regret of the past and dread or fear of the future?Do we fear the future will bring death and disaster? The ego uses time to reinforce fear, guilt, death and hell; the Holy Spirit uses time to establish Love, Innocence, Immortality and Heaven. The Holy Instant can get us there, but we have to use time in a different way. Heaven and Immortality are the Holy Spirit's goal. Hell and Death are the ego's goal. The ego uses dissociation to keep its contradictions alive in time—guilt is eternal in its view. The ego pursues us beyond the grave—it offers us “immortality in hell." This insanity is dissolved for good in this Holy Instant. The cornerstone of the Holy Spirit is your eternal innocence. Love is your true nature, and this Holy Instant puts us immediately in Heaven. It takes no long drawn out process. It is here NOW. NOW is the time we enter into the Present. Only Heaven is here, without a past or a future. Continual "instants" of the Holy Instant keep our future clean and promising. What comes to us anew is anticipating the Heaven we are feeling now in our perfect happiness. Immortality of Joy in the present is just a “string of delightful Holy Instants,” the only time there is. AMEN

What is the TEST OF TRUTH? are we in a state of undisturbed peace? Can we have and maintain our "inner calm?" The Holy Spirit would lead us to this truth of peace, but we have to be willing to be guided by It's Light of a different kind of reason. There is a place in us of Perfect Peace, but we must want that above all else. It is easy to think that we can make this "utopia" for ourselves. Many have tried and failed. Thought can project all kinds of ideals that are unreachable. But have we ever admitted we do not know how to establish this unequivocal Inner Peace? This admission is necessary to invoke the Power of the Holy Spirit to give us this God-Given State of being. Can we cease our own "seeking" and accept the truth, which will test us with this one requirement of actual, complete, and palpable Inner Peace? The Peace is already given. Can we receive it?

I WANT THE PEACE OF GOD is Lesson #185 in the Workbook. Are we committed wholeheartedly to bringing this statement into application on ourselves? To say these words is meaningless. To mean them as our Truth is everything. We are not dreaming when the Truth dawns in our minds with sincerity of the highest order. I WANT THE PEACE OF GOD is not a dream. Do we really want this state of being? We rise above all dreams. We rise above all half-hearted attempts to bring these words into application in our life. We need the Strength of God in order to apply them. By ourselves we cannot make this leap of faith. With the Holy Spirit's help, assured when we JOIN with another, 2-by2, in our joined intention to "realize" these words, we are given the Peace of God. We Want the Peace of God. All of Heaven is behind the gift of Peace that is our only real state of Being.

"I PLACE THE FUTURE IN THE HANDS OF GOD." This is Lesson #194. Would we have concerns of the future if we truly applied this Lesson? Do we even trust there is a God Who cares for us, and paves the way for our future to be one of Heavenly proportions? What would it take for us to believe these words are true for us? In times of "uncertainty," we need this Lesson even more. What is the need for a false sense of "certainty" when we have the Trust that God will pave our Future road better than our past? Let us not rest on the laurels of our accomplishments, but rather grow to Expect a BETTER FUTURE than our past, one of NEW POSSIBILITIES that indicate a Bright Future, one in the Hands of our Loving Creator Who wants only the highest JOY for us in our future.

The reflection of Heaven has certain conditions. Peace would be a condition. Freedom from guilt would be there. There would not be attack thoughts in this reflection. The miracles come from this "different world" of unlimited Love, free of all guilt, fear or anger. There is no "order of difficulty" in the Holy Spirit's ability to bestow His blessings upon us. But our world of the ego sees only limitations and doubts. We are very familiar with the contradictions in our thinking that we have grown to accept as "normal." A place beyond this world is a Dimension of Love that is totally different than the one we are used to "perceiving." This other Divine Dimension is sending us Miracles that have no order of difficulty to alter our vision to see this reflection of Heaven. Can we let go and allow the Holy Spirit to show us only Love or a Call for Love are the options available to us.

We already are HOLY. This is our Truth. Atonement is a "reparative process" that removes the illusions of our past "mistakes" that make us miserable. We keep a "record of wrongdoing" in ourselves and others that prevent us from seeing the reflection of our Holiness that is our only Reality. Healing is the only concern of the Holy Spirit, and healing is what we need in order to "erase" the opposites of our Holiness. Fear, guilt and anger have no reality in Truth, but we have to make contact with this Truth of Holiness to shine away these illusions in us. The reflection of our Holiness is seen in the Mirror of our true Self that shines its light of innocence upon us. This Holy Light of the Holy Spirit undoes our illusions. Everything that is not Pure Joy and Pure Life is dissolved. Death itself is undone in this Reflection of our Holiness. We are that—Pure Joy and Immortal Life.

We have a HOLY MEETING PLACE with the Holy Spirit at the Altar of the Father with His Son. The gifts on this "Holy Meeting Place" have the Innocence and Glory of the unseparated Father and the Son. Love flows constantly here. The Holy Altar to our true Relationship with God abides. Let us not put on our Altars what does not belong there. "Fear guilt or anger" are illusions that we have tried to replace that Love and Holiness that is only on our Altar with God. Grievances and Attack Thoughts have no place in this "Holy Meeting Place." Let our minds not wander into the shadows that are not really there. Let's open the doors of our Temple and see God's Glory with that He gives to His Son, Who is US!

TRUTH is UNION. In UNION opposites cannot coexist. War and Peace are but projections of the ego as opposites. When brought to the TRUTH, war has no justification, and only peace has a Divine Cause. Fear is the source of the ego that wants to keep "opposites" alive. The ego justifies fear, and conflict and war are then perpetuated. The opposites have not be "brought together." Only the Holy Spirit can dissolve the fear, and make clear that only LOVE and Peace emanate from the Truth. The false, in this case "fear," does not really exist. It is miraculous to see that fear is never justified, and truly "there is nothing to fear." The ego hides the truth and never looks at it. The justifications for defenses and war are built up in the ego's thought system. In the Divine Mind, war is never justified—killing is not Divine. At best it is a compensation for the ego's gross mistakes. When "opposites" are brought together, the untrue is shined away by the truth. LOVE prevails over "fear," and soon Love, Peace and Joy are seen as our rightful inheritance in TRUTH.

It is the LIGHT which shines away the darkness. What is held secret and obscure in our minds, based on shame and fear and guilt, can be shined away by the Light of True Forgiveness. The Light of Love is Forgiveness in this dimension. The sentinels of guilt keep our shame secret. We carry the past mistakes as "records of wrongdoing." But it is time for us to LET GO of these shadows that have no real substance other than that which we give to them. Bring the LIGHT of Guiltlessness to these shadows of "guilt." Keeping them hidden does not serve our Communication with God. For only the truly Innocent can be communicated. The Light of Love is the only thing worth communicating. All else is a “break down" of communication. Why keep these shadows alive in our MIND? Let them be dissolved by the Light of Holy Reason that shines away the darkness in our memories.

Can we enter into the Circle of Atonement in the quiet of God's eternal Love for us? The message is always the same: God's Son is only guiltless. There is no guilt in the true Mind of God that is ours to use. We were created in this Mind of God, and only Innocence and Joy abide in the holiness of this Mind, of which ours is a part. Who could condemn with guilt Whom God has blessed in His purity? We enter into the circle of the Atonement when we choose to see our brother's sinlessness, and our own. There is no "sin" that we were taught by "false religious theology." We can distinguish the pure message of the Christ to restore us to the awareness of our Innocence, which has always been within us to awaken. Escaping from all pain depends on us freeing ourselves through the Atonement from all forms of guilt we have thought was "real."

We are already absolved of any mistakes we made. But we do have to practice forgiving others, especially if we are prone to holding onto grievances. Love holds no grievances, and mistakes anyone made do not affect at all the Love God has for them. So who are we to withhold our Love to them, based on our grievances. Keeping "records of wrongdoing" puts us in a quagmire of the past, and prevents us from receiving the Atonement for ourselves. Atonement is for ALL for ALL situations, or not for anyone at all. We have to make the decision to forgive fully, and this is seeing that the "errors" had no "effects" on the Reality of Who we are, and What we are divinely doing here.

Only the Guiltless are Free. And only Guiltlessness is our reality. Guilt is an illusion. But this fact does not stop us from projecting guilt onto us and others. We believe the false is "true," and attack based on this "guilt" is justified. We decide each second between "guilt" or "guiltlessness." Our INNOCENCE is our REALITY. How would we step into this Awareness unequivocally? Our Innocence is guaranteed by our Creator. Our Atonement is the end of all guilt, but we have to make a decision with the Holy Spirit to accept it. God's Will for us is perfect happiness, and this would require the decision for "Guiltlessness" for us to align our will with God's Will.

There is a simplicity of Truth. What we pursue to bring us "happiness" too often brings us disappointment or even despair. "Pursuit of happiness" is our divine right, yet these pursuits can lead to "nothing." We make palaces, golden crowns, and royal robes out of nothing. We are fooled by appearances. These appearances too often disintegrate into dust, leaving us with the perishable. The simple beauty of Everything is the stillness of the Peace of God. There is something beyond materiality that is a Gift of God to us. Happiness is here now. Perfect happiness is God's Will for us. Can we receive it and claim the Truth as our own? The Holy Spirit helps us to make this one decision.

Can we really learn anything from the ego when the final result of the ego's thought system is conflict, sickness, and death? These results are "nothing" according to the Holy Spirit. Truth will correct all errors in our Minds when we ask Him to liberate us from our mistakes. We have one decision to make: to turn our minds over the the Holy Spirit for His directions. The logic of the ego's world leads to "nothing." We do not see this, therefore we need the Holy Spirit's correction which is a condition for learning. We first must learn the system we are using is in error, and be willing to give that up. Then we can be shown the Simplicity of Truth, which is the true Love of God that created us.

HEAVEN is real. It is free of all guilt and conflict. War is unreal. Guilt is unreal. There is no conflict in the Will of God. When we use the Holy Spirit's corrective energy on our behalf, we restore our will with God's Will, and therefore dissolve all forms of conflict. PEACE is WHOLE and unambiguous, or not at all. There is no variation or contrast in PEACE. This we would call HEAVEN. We are ready to leave behind our former "guidance system" of the ego, that kept us embroiled in the contrasts of opposites, and surrender to the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit Who is in complete touch with our Reality. He judges the TRUTH from the FALSE, and lets the FALSE go. God would WILL us into HEVEN, and the Holy Spirit can lead us there when we are willing to be led and make no decisions by ourselves.

RELEASE FROM guilt is seeing your true SELF is only pure innocence. Mistakes are inconsequential to this true SELF.

Why do we hang onto the "guilt" we maintain from past mistakes. We have a saying--"Keep no records of wrongdoing." The Atonement stands brightly and clearly in this Holy Instant in the present. God created us Innocent, regardless of our past mistakes. We need not hang onto the "guilt" of wrongdoing from the past. The past is over. And the Self God created did not make the errors in the first place. Can we Identify with our True Self? In this acceptance we are absolved of all past "guilt" we thought we deserved. The Holy Instant is NOW. We do not keep records of wrongdoing. The guilt is "false," therefore guilt does not really exist. AMEN.

VIII. From Perception to Knowledge

1 All healing is release from the past. That is why the Holy Spirit is the only Healer. He teaches that the past does not exist, a fact which belongs to the sphere of knowledge, and which therefore no one in the world can know. It would indeed be impossible to be in the world with this knowledge. For the mind that knows this unequivocally knows also it dwells in eternity, and utilizes no perception at all. It therefore does not consider where it is, because the concept "where" does not mean anything to it. It knows that it is everywhere, just as it has everything, and forever.

2 The very real difference between perception and knowledge becomes quite apparent if you consider this: There is nothing partial about knowledge. Every aspect is whole, and therefore no aspect is separate. You are an aspect of knowledge, being in the Mind of God, Who knows you. All knowledge must be yours, for in you is all knowledge. Perception, at its loftiest, is never complete. Even the perception of the Holy Spirit, as perfect as perception can be, is without meaning in Heaven. Perception can reach everywhere under His guidance, for the vision of Christ beholds everything in light. Yet no perception, however holy, will last forever.

THE REAL WORLD IS OURS. But we have to want it above all else, and be willing to let go of the world we "made up." Would we commit ourselves to see through Christ's Vision? This is given to us when we want it, but we have to welcome it in. Love does not wait on time, but on our welcome to enter into our world of reality. This world is given, not made. This is the world free of pain, strife, unfulfillment, suffering, fear, etc. We have the means within us to be totally immersed in our Divine Reality. The Christ awaits our welcome. Om Namah Shivay!

Can we totally bring our awareness into the Present? Can we let go of all the images we have held on to from our past? The only real time is the Present, and the Light of our true Self is here. "No cloud of guilt" is held onto in our clinging to the past. We let the past go. Christ's Vision is only in the Present. With no past and no future, we are aware of this Holy Instant now. We are only in the Present, and the continuity of God's Peace and Joy in only here. It does not have a "past” regret, image, or projection...and it does not have a "future" into which these negative ways of seeings are projected. To be "born again" is to simply be in the Present without all the images of our past. We are Present in our Divine Truth that we always had, but we have to want to let the past go, and be ready to experience this Heaven on Earth Now. These are Eternal, Timeless states of Being. The Holy Spirit holds this out for us to receive NOW.

LOVE or FEAR. One is of God and one is of the ego. Which will we choose? The ego's "version" of "love" is racked with fear. In fact, the ego is the fear that made it. It rejects the wholeness of real LOVE, and picks its allies carefully to maintain its specialness and separation. Christ's Vision is necessary to cast out the fear that has become so much a part of our modus operandi. LOVE joins us together, is extended, and increases as it is given. FEAR is insanity, which is unique to the "thinker," and divides and separates us into an isolated entity which is connected to nothing, a "meaningless shell" of who we really are. We make fear, or we Create in Love. One or the other is inevitably our choice.

This Section, The Function of Time, we see the two uses of time: The ego's version is to bring the past into the present, all it's regrets and mistakes and guilt, and project those into the future, which turns it into a "hell" of repetitive errors that makes it destroy itself eventually. The Holy Spirit sees only the present, and the past is over and forgiven; the future would be an extension of the Joy that is presently here and "NOW." God's will for us is perfect happiness, and the present is clear and free—totally forgiven—of the past errors we made. We need a new use of "time" in which only the Present is here, which is the truth about "time." In the Present there is not function of "time" as the ego perceives it. And if we are free of the ego's us of time, we are in the timeless present of perfect happiness.

It is not pain and suffering we are afraid of; it is the Love that would heal them that instills a deep fear in us. We have grown accustomed to problems. We have gotten used to attack and counter attack. What would allow us to accept our Love for God and God's Love for us? It is our deepest desire that we keep hidden under the ego's shroud of suffering and death. We include our brothers and sisters in this healing. The real grandeur of God's blessing with healing is what we really want. God placed the solution in us in the midst of our imagined "separation." Let us look upon the Love that would dispel our fear. Let us accept the resurrection instead of the crucifixion that does not really exist.

The Gift of Lillies on this Day of Easter is the recognition that there is no death, and our immortality is guaranteed. Those of us who leave our bodies behind are blessed today, and can enter into the Light of God, and of the Self, God's Son, to meet our true Identity. We give the body this blessing as well, that it served us well as a communication tool we used for awhile to join in Love with our Brothers and Sisters. Let us resurrect into the Spirit, and feel the Joy of Gain, not "loss," in our Vision of our Holiness. May all of those we know who have taken their transition out of the body be blessed in their True Self today, and be given the Lillies of Easter, this day of great Peace and Joy. We can see things differently and offer the Lillies of Easter instead of the "thorns" of "death." There is no death. The Son of God is free. AMEN.

Guilt is something we feel and then project onto others. The ego's thought system is based on guilt, and retaining guilt. Projection of guilt does not "get rid" of it. The ego believes if you dare to think you are "guiltless," then you are really "guilty." To declare our absolute innocence is "blasphemous to God," according to the ego. The guiltless induce "fear" in the ego. But when we have seen the Truth that God's Son is guiltless, full of joy, and whose will is perfect happiness, and we are God's Son, the ego just appears as ridiculous. The cornerstone of the ego has no real basis. The Truth redeems us along with the Christ, who is eternally Innocent.

This whole Chapter 13 is called "THE GUILTLESS WORLD." This Chapter is to help us to see things differently, and be freed from the delusion of "guilt." The guilt projected onto ourselves and others makes up "laws of suffering, separation and death." This is a loveless world of the ego. We cannot have a feeling of a Benevolent and Merciful GOD in this picture of the ego. "Love does not kill to save." Adam's "sin" was merely a mistake of feeling guilt. God did not condemn man by "throwing him out of paradise." We threw ourselves out through the delusion of guilt. It was the belief in "guilt," not our Creator, that put us in hell. God created us "originally innocent" and established Heaven as our eternal State of Being, in the frequency of our "guiltlessness."

Can we remember the Love that created us? It is our Divine Connection. This is the precedent in our life. Our Divine Connection is our attraction to Absolute Love. Love created us like Itself, and this Energy that created the Universe is at our disposal. But if we would rather listen to the ego's voice, the Love that would solve our problem has become "invisible." What is "visible" is our despair that resulted from our separation. Will we continue to relinquish that Power that Created Reality for some version of a "reality" that is embroiled in massive problems that we first projected? We are ATTRACTED to Love and Love only. In Love there is no conflict. There is no "crusade" to protect ourselves from the very Evil that we made up in our world.

"Miracles demonstrate that learning has occurred under the right guidance, for learning is invisible and what has been learned can be recognized only by its results. Its generalization is demonstrated as you use it in more and more situations. You will recognize that you have learned there is no order of difficulty in miracles when you apply them to all situations." This is the beginning of asking for Help in the Mind. You start within. The Holy Spirit is there to Help us with our Healing, but we have to ask for it. This is the Action of "Looking Within." The Miracles is trading our expectations from the ego to the Holy Spirit. We have to expect the Miracles before we can have them. Whose manifestations will we invoke? The Holy Spirit manifests the Christ. Are we willing to have only this?

The Vision of Christ is the help we need to make contact with our Higher Self. The value of our Self is realized by the extension of loving thoughts outward. We have something to give, and this is our own remembrance of God. The Holy Spirit reminds of this Divine Connection. The Real World is composed of only loving thoughts; everything else is a "call for help." Our job is to meet the unloving with the loving. The real world springs to our sight because the Christ has never left us. In perfect peace He waits for us at our Father's Altar, where we waits for our awakening. Christ is the Identity we share, and the way we express love in this world.

This is the beginning of sanity, in which we listen to the Teacher that can give us the SANE CURRICULUM. The ego's rule is to "seek and make sure it does not find what it seeks." In terms of a curriculum, the ego tries to "learn but make sure it does not learn what it studies." Attack makes us weak, but the attacks we do on ourselves and others really have no effects. When we see our invulnerability to attack is true, all the attacks we have done on ourselves and others have not really weakened us. Attack has no effects on our Real Self. The Holy Spirit is our only Real Teacher. His Love is our strength. And this is the Sane Curriculum. No attacks have had any real effects.

The rule of the ego is "seek but make sure it does not find what it seeks." The futile search for "love" fails to acknowledge that Love is already our true nature—there is nothing we need to seek. We already "have" what the ego "seeks." What we "seek" is already ours. Seeking and finding go together. Lesson #230 says, "Today I seek and find the Peace of God." This Peace is inside of us. No external conditions need to be a certain way for us to stand in this Peace. It is always here, and requires we simply accept it in the present. And then it is here in our Mind, in our Awareness. It is always here now.

What is the reality we invest in? Are we investing in conflict, anger, problems, and trouble? Our Investment in Reality would be totally free of inner conflict and anger. The Text later states, "Anger is never justified." JOY is always justified, and we owe our brother the Reality of Peace and Joy. If he asks something of us that "does not really matter," rather than go into "opposition," respond with faith and acceptance. We can give to our brother the harmony and the abundance of the Holy Spirit's spiritual wisdom. To remain in peace is the key. Any response other than Love deviates from the Answer from God which is absolute abundance. We are supplied by the Love that is ours to give.

We remember God by remembering our brothers and sisters. To heal ourselves we translate denial into truth. All sickness is a "lack of love" from our denial. The sick must heal themselves, but it may be us who give this healing to others. We can deny the "denial of love." Only Love exists, and our remembrance to Love everyone and everything including ourselves is the way to remember God. We give the brother Love even in the midst of his problems and calls for help. Our response is the way of remembrance. Sickness is another "call for Love." It is our job to respond to any sickness with more Love. Give Love and we will know we have it. AMEN.

There are either Loving thoughts or a "call for help." How we respond to any situation, incident, or interaction accordingly would involve these. All other reactions would be giving the "unreal" a "reality" that is not there. We can remain neutral with either our response with Loving thoughts or with our response to a "call for help." How do we respond? Appreciation is the only response to our brother. There is one teacher of Reality, and this is the Holy Spirit. Hear This and receive all we need to answer any call for Help. We need the Holy Spirit's guidance in all responses. We do not know what the full situation is asking of us. We keep asking for guidance. And ask for and listen for the Judgment of the Holy Spirit, not our own.

We are in the critical juncture of A Course in Miracles with this Section VIII of Chapter 11. "The end of the world is not its destruction, but it's translation into heaven." Our healing powers require that we see with Christ's vision. We have a challenge to see that "only loving thoughts are true." Everything else is a cry for help. We can heal in the Christ Energy. He encompasses everyone in God's Love. "God had condemned me not. No more do I." This is Lesson #228. It is in keeping with this lesson of invoking only loving thoughts to be in the Reality of God's Answer. God's Answer is some form of Peace. All problems are solved in it. We need but call and God will answer us.

We have a responsibility to see that we do not know much (in the absolute state). We have to see that what we have learned amiss is our "problem." But what we "think we know" is erroneous. Can we drop the false world of ideas that do not require us to make contact with the "Actual?" Our one "problem" is separation from the Truth, which we maintain with the thoughts of the ego. We have one problem which is an "imagined separation" from our Source Energy, and we have specific problems that spring forth from this separation. We have to "undo" the known errors that we maintain. We ask the Holy Spirit to guide us and help us to erase our illusions; to help us solve our "problem of separation."

The main condition of reality is that it is unequivocal. It has no "opposite" in other words. And our attention is given to the Holy Spirit's thought system. The ego may see "the good," but it will always establish its "autonomy" by perceiving an opposing factor. "Evil" is equally valid to fight against. This division of "opposing factors" is one of the ego's principle tools to assert itself. "Nothing real can be threatened; Nothing unreal exists." Therefore, the projections of fear are not really there beyond our false projections. What is "false" is by definition "not true," and what is not true does not exist. We see this and then forget it.

Can we transcend into our True Self? This would be the Self of total forgiveness and total joy. Christs Vision is an aspect of this Self. Are we slaves of the crucifixion we make up, or are we liberated in our resurrection? Christ is the resurrection and the life, and we can align with Him to have a new perception. We need a new experience that comes from Him. His perceptions are our natural awareness. We live in God and therefore in the Christ. And we have to perceive this in all our brothers and sisters. For we cannot exclude anyone. We ascend together into this True Self. Jesus helps us accept the resurrection. This is "waking to redemption."

The freedom of interdependence is a high state of total harmony and cooperation. The ego wants “autonomy” to maintain the separation. It is an isolated entity we have constructed to give ourself a sense of identity that takes no account of our place in the Whole. “God is dependent on the Son; the Son is dependent on Him.” But this is not a loss of freedom, but a gain, because it connects us with the entire Cosmos. Why would we not want that? Why would we want to maintain separation that eventually ends in death and despair? In true Love there is total interdependence on our Creator. There is no need for defense because there is no attack, no guilt that demands punishment, and no separation that is motivated by fear.

We look at the "dynamics" of the ego today. The "autonomy" that the ego would claim for itself is in "separation." It is the interdependence of Creation, and all things in It, that brings us our Peace and Power. The ego's sense of "autonomy" is self-centered, "solipsistic," and isolated, only relating to it's circular arguments of its existence. We look in a mirror of distortion when we are using the ego's thought system. Experience is not necessarily valid for establishing our inner truth. A "separated truth" has no meaning, because Truth is One and Whole, all-inclusive. Fear is running the ego, it constantly divides us off from the Whole, and we have to look at it to dispel it.

Our inheritance is the Sonship. We cannot exclude anyone from this awareness of the WHOLE creation of God's Son. One exclusion, even of a "Hitler," would cloud our vision, and prevent us from receiving Christ's Vision. There is no condemnation of any kind in the Mind of God. Lesson 228 says, "God has condemned me not, no more do I." We must never forget the Sonship. And this is outside of time, space, and the judgments we have about the "people" who occupy this dimension. If we "hate" part of ourself, (any of our brothers) all of our understanding is lost. Markus looks at the movie, "The Zone of Interest," and the challenges we have to "condemn evil," and how the ego justifies its judgments and deeds of cruelty. It is something in us we must cleanse away and rise above.

We go from the darkness we made to the light God created. We have allowed a sense of separation to take us over. This makes us weary of the world, but it is all self-imposed. The will of God for us is the light. "Out of our joy we will create beauty in His name." What God wills for us is ours. Let us walk in the light today. The Great Light is here. It is within us. Let us claim the Light today. It is also within all of our brothers. Let go of the darkness—the grievances, the attack thoughts, the judgments, the things we are against. God wills that our glory is shared together. This is our inheritance. Let's claim it.

Healing involves a few things. First we have to see who we are as God created us, so we are no longer in denial of our Self-Identity. Then we have to listen to the Holy Spirit, the Guest we invite in as our Voice for God's guidance. Healing is a desire to "make whole," and this would include our brothers in the Sonship. None can be excluded, but the healing is of ourself first. The Holy Spirit lobbies for the end of separation. We make our Will one with God's Will that IS Wholeness. We invite the Holy Spirit to guide us in this endeavor to end our separation. We can be vigilant only for God and His Kingdom when we see the Holy Spirit is there to keep us aligned with this.

The main GIFT of the Fatherhood would be receiving the infinite Will of Creation. The Universe has no beginning and no ending, and we are part of this infinite grace. The "fear" of God's Will is because we think our true will is something different than God's. Our will and God's Will are the same in our desire for perfect happiness. Peace and Joy are the only things God Wills for us, because they are the nature of the Universe. The Universe IS JOY. Only cause for rejoicing! This is the gift of the Fatherhood that asks us to JOIN in our own creations. Our return is waking up to who we already are. It is a joyous homecoming.