Once you look past the enormity of the situation, realizing that differences of degree are not material, it begins to make more and more sense why the Course calls the ego a "tiny, mad idea." And, it is nothing more than that, an idea, a dream, and the mind is thoroughly capable of making another choice:
Let us return the
dream he gave away unto the dreamer, who perceives the dream as
separate from himself and done to him. Into eternity, where all is one,
there crept a tiny, mad idea, at which the Son of God remembered not to
laugh. In his forgetting did the thought become a serious idea, and
possible of both accomplishment and real effects. Together, we can
laugh them both away, and understand that time cannot intrude upon
eternity. It is a joke to think that time can come to circumvent
eternity, which means there is no time. (ACIM:T-27.VIII.6)
In the context of the Thomas Gospel, Logion 87
reminds us of how much special relationships, the relationships of the
ego, which are substitutes for our one holy relationship with God, make
us miserable, and keep our soul mired in misery in the world. It is the
perfect picture for the criminal cameradery of something like the Nazi
"leadership" in Germany, and the world repeats this a thousand times.
These are false relationships based on the ego's despair. Logion 67
reminds us how the ego's "all" is really nothing. And again, the
example of Hitler is only an extreme example, but the pattern is always
the same. All the conquerors of the world always end up with nothing,
for the world is nothing. And the need to conquer the world permanently
pits brother against brother, for it is born from scarcity and will
therefore only yield scarcity. Logion 56
reminds us of this in starkest terms - if you've conquered (understood)
the world, all you've found is a corpse. Once you figure that out
however, you will transcend the world. Logion 45 reminds us that the world's logic is always false. War and scarcity only beget war and scarcity, never anything good. Logion 26
meanwhile is always a good reminder that our job is not judging our
brother, but rather to remove the "log" from our own eye, for else we
can never be of help to anyone. As long as we judge any of our brothers
at all, we exclude them however, and we continue to exclude ourselves
from Heaven, but oneness speaks of a very different reality:
If you were one with God and recognized this oneness, you would know
His power is yours. But you will not remember this while you believe
attack of any kind means anything. It is unjustified in any form,
because it has no meaning. The only way it could be justified is if you
and your brother were separate from the other, and all were separate
from your Creator. For only then would it be possible to attack a part
of the creation without the whole, the Son without the Father; and to
attack another without yourself, or hurt yourself without the other
feeling pain. And this belief you want. Yet wherein lies its value,
except in the desire to attack in safety? Attack is neither safe nor
dangerous. It is impossible. And this is so because the universe is
one. You would not choose attack on its reality if it were not
essential to attack to see it separated from its maker. And thus it
seems as if love could attack and become fearful.
Only the different can attack. So you conclude because you can attack, you and your brother must be different. Yet does the Holy Spirit explain this differently. Because you and your brother are not different, you cannot attack. Either position is a logical conclusion. Either could be maintained, but never both. The only question to be answered in order to decide which must be true is whether you and your brother are different. From the position of what you understand you seem to be, and therefore can attack. Of the alternatives, this seems more natural and more in line with your experience. And therefore it is necessary that you have other experiences, more in line with truth, to teach you what is natural and true. (ACIM:T-22.VI.12-13)
Only the different can attack. So you conclude because you can attack, you and your brother must be different. Yet does the Holy Spirit explain this differently. Because you and your brother are not different, you cannot attack. Either position is a logical conclusion. Either could be maintained, but never both. The only question to be answered in order to decide which must be true is whether you and your brother are different. From the position of what you understand you seem to be, and therefore can attack. Of the alternatives, this seems more natural and more in line with your experience. And therefore it is necessary that you have other experiences, more in line with truth, to teach you what is natural and true. (ACIM:T-22.VI.12-13)
No comments:
Post a Comment