“Bitter idols have been made of he who would have only been brother to the world.”

The Course is unique in its use of very traditional Christian terms. You see words like Christ, Heaven, hell, Holy Spirit, thrown around in the Course and it’s enough to dissuade the casual reader (like myself at first, who is rather disillusioned with the Catholic Church and traditional Christianity). We might be put off by these terms; even moderately practicing Christians might be made uncomfortable in theological discussion, preferring to keep it limited to Sunday mornings.

What we’re talking about here is Esoteric Christianity. Esoteric means, as some of you may know, that it is intended to be understood by those who have special knowledge or interest. Essentially, those who have gotten the message will see past the terminology. If you’re hung up on the lingo, you’re not tuned into the message.

The Christian tradition of the Pentecost, right?

Foundation of the Church, when Jesus tells his disciples to go spread the gospel, and the Holy Spirit descends upon them. Traditional artwork depicts flames over their heads as they are imbued suddenly with the ability to speak in tongues. Of course, what we mean here is that the holy spirit suddenly transcends language.

He tells them to go out into the countryside and teach the gospel. But teach means to demonstrate — he doesn’t say go kill anyone who won’t accept our book (hello Inquisition, hello crusades).

They’re unsure of themselves and they ask, “What will I say?”

Jesus says, “I will tell you when you get there.”

How’s that for esoteric?

This happens to coincide with the Jewish tradition of Shavuot, the day which (among other things) Moses received the Law on Mt Sinai. There’s a reason these two traditions share a calendar day — the day we accept God (love, self-actualization) into our lives is the beginning.

“In the beginning was the Word.

And the Word was with God.

And the Word was God.”

Or:

“The day we consciously choose to be filled with the Holy Spirit is the start of something new.

The Spirit of love brings us to our true being.

Our being is love.”

I always liked John the best of the canonical gospels.

The Course perspective here is that as we go into our lives to exemplify love, the very spirit of love will awaken within us a level we perhaps weren’t aware of. We will transcend language because the language we’re speaking is universal. We may think, “But what would I do or say to show something as powerful and as important as love?”

And there we have our answer: “I will tell you when you get there.”

Every instance is an opportunity for a miracle.

Now ACIM says, and I included this as the title of my first entry, “Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God.”

Essentially, what we’re saying is:

The only thing real is God (definition to follow).

God cannot be threatened.

Anything that is not God does not exist.

Remember this, and you’ll be at peace.

I’m paraphrasing Marianne pretty heavily there.

I’ve gone back and forth on how to define these terms. I think I’ll just list them.

Ego — We talk about the ego not as the narcissistic projection of ourselves, but from an etymological standpoint — in Greek, the ego refers to a separate self, a smaller self. Maybe you’d like to picture the devil on one shoulder whispering in your ear. Ego is that within you which is not real, which is not in touch with love, which does not exist. The ego, its thoughts and all it creates, are illusions. They are hallucinations, and mass hallucinations when multiple people become sucked into it. The ego’s core belief is fear, lack, scarcity, inadequacy, all of which funnel back into fear. More coming in the Eden allegory below.

Christ — Christ mind, Spirit, True Self, whatever you want to call it then, is ego’s opposite. The Course says that what is all encompassing can have no opposite, and that’s how we arrive to the conclusion that ego is a hallucination. If ego is darkness, Christ is the light, and no darkness can overpower a flame. The Christ mind is that part of us which shines unconditionally. We were made with divine intent, and put on this inevitable track to self-actualization/enlightenment/Heaven.

And Christ, by the way, was not the guy’s name. He wasn’t Jesus H. Christ, born to Mr. and Mrs. Christ. That’s his title. It’s no different than calling a person who has been knighted Sir. Obviously Elton John’s first name is not Sir. Christ is Latin for the anointed servant. The Hebrew equivalent is messiah, and the Dutch equivalent comes out to knight.

Christ represents a plane of potential for which the plan is already in place. It is the acorn into the oak tree, the embryo into the baby, as Marianne says. The difference between acorns, embryos, and the physical forces that hold the universe together, and humans, is that we can blow a raspberry, sigh, and say “nah I don’t want to.” “I don’t feel like it.”

We can say “Ugh, how am I gonna become an oak tree?”

We can say “I think I can I think I can”.

Or we can let go of that ego thought that we don’t have what it takes, that we don’t know how to be it or that we won’t be enough when we get there, and say “I was born for this. God, how am I gonna do this?”

and it will NOT be in exacerbation.

There is no stress in spiritual surrender. It is ultimately the only option we have, as the Course says in the excerpt I posted in the first entry. What IS up to us is whether we learn though peace or pain. This is a required Course. Christ’s nature is of love — unconditional, un-conflicted. Abundance, perfection, and a higher consciousness the ego cannot breach.

God — Represents this state of potential within us. It’s not just in some of us. It’s in all of us. If you prefer to think of self-actualization as a plane and not a persona, then it’s the destination to which we are all headed. It is the force that imbues DNA with the knowledge to self-replicate, that dictates subatomic charges and sets entropy in motion. Entropy is especially powerful here. This is the law of thermodynamics which states that all energy will spread from high to low until all is at balance. At this point, the very atoms that make up the universe will cease moving as all will be at stable and permanent peace. The world ends not with a bang. “After the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven.”

Holy — In Course terminology, Holy means whole. In English too, by the way. The Holy Spirit then refers to the all-encompassing essence of love, divine love. If you’ve been following along, you’ll recognize this as God, the Christ mind, and as Spirit mind. If you’ve not been following along, I have a feeling I may have lost you a while ago. Go back to the first entry and start over. :)

Separation — The Course talks about the separation and it’s hardly the only text to describe such an event. This is the point in which our collective consciousness began to see ourselves as less than we are. As something other than what we are, which is one with Christ. In the Abrahamic myth of Adam and Eve, a story we all know, we have one such allegorical explanation as to how this came to be. In ACIM terminology, the story goes:

We have a couple of people. They are living in a paradise, surrounded by love, and aware of love’s presence. They are emotionally naked (this predates the start of the textile industry by some time) which is to say they are connecting on a level that is not of this world — they are thinking the thoughts of Heaven. Up comes this idea that, “Hmm, if I were to use the powers, internal or external, to get what I’ve decided I want, I would be even happier.” Well, ego speaks first and ego speaks loudest. But here’s the thing (more Marianne paraphrasing coming up). Ego doesn’t stroll up and say “Hi, I’m your self hatred, here to destroy everything around you.” “Hi I’m your self loathing turned outward here to make sure nothing goes right.”

It says, “Hi buddy! We’re gonna look out for number one, get you what you want so you can be the best.” And if we aren’t considering the source, we go and eat the apple.

What happens? They figure out what they’ve done, and suddenly are ashamed that they’re (emotionally) naked. They aren’t of Heaven anymore, and it takes an extraordinary teacher (Jesus) generations later to demonstrate Atonement.

In the world of BPD, which I can best describe as an especially loud and persuasive ego, it’s easy to separate from God at just about every step. Ego says “Get this and you’ll be happy, get the job, relationship, house, car, and you’ll be happy.” Christ mind says, “I’m already happy. How can I be a Servant of Love to you today”

Miraculous isn’t it?

Heaven — The Course says, “Heaven is here. There is no other place. Heaven is now. There is no other time.” It’s not a place we go when we die, it’s not a reward for the good people while the wicked burn for eternity. It’s a state of mind. It’s literally a state of mental clarity that is brought about intentionally, not wished into existence. “Begotten, not made, one in being with God.”

Hell — Hell is ego’s domain. Fear reigns and the Separation remains unhealed. But we know that what is all encompassing has no opposite, so hell is an illusory world. It is as consciously attainable as Heaven, if not easier, but it carries no substance. When we follow that core ego thought of “When x happens, I’ll be happy,” our core belief is that we aren’t already. Nothing could ever be enough because the foundation is lack. Of course we have room for miracles. Says the Course “There is no place for hell within a world whose loveliness can yet be so intense and so inclusive it is but a step from there to Heaven.”

Miracles — You were wondering when I’d get to miracles weren’t you? Kind of a big deal. The other word used rather interchangeably here is Atonement. Miracles are the point in which we choose to let go of fear, of our own egos, and to step into Heaven. Miracles are a change in perception from dark to light, an attitude adjustment of other-worldly, of meta-physical power. They are a recognition of who we truly are, a re-orientation to ourselves, a “Return to Love.”

Recognition — This isn’t necessarily a Course term, but I am so fond of it. Recognize. Re-cognize. Cognize means to learn. Recognition is a re-learning. It doesn’t mean that just because you like fractions and I like decimals, or I like fractions and you like decimals, that either of us learned it wrong or came to the wrong conclusion. The Course says, “We must master a new way to think before we master a new way to be.” Learning with a new perspective sets all things right. Recognition is inevitable and miraculous.

Holy Instant and Time— Time is of this world. It is not of God’s world, but of the ego’s. The Course speaks of time as a learning device. How many times do we go from town to town, job to job, relationship to relationship, finding ourselves in the same problems? (I have stories that will go in the narrative essays of this blog, not here.) We eventually recognize that the problem here isn’t the people and the situations, it’s us. The same flawed thinking that got us into this mess isn’t going to get us out, and we can repeat algebra a hundred times until we recognize that the old way just isn’t working for us. Time, says the Course, is a track put in place (by humans, no doubt) as a learning tool. The only point in which linear time intersects with God’s time, another word for which is eternity is the Present. (More Marianne). That is what is meant by the Holy Instant. You’re busy looking at the past or the future, what are you going to miss on?

The present.

The Course says, in one of my favorite sentences, “Miracles collapse time.”

Miracles collapse time.

Miracles

Collapse

Time.

That’s it. The lesson is done. Once the miracle occurs, there’s no need to repeat the lesson over and over ad nauseum. Cognitive awareness of being in the present and attuned to the mind of Christ within us, renders the man-made construct of time irrelevant.

Sin — I discussed Sin in a previous essay, where I introduced it as an archery term meaning “to miss the mark.” Sin is the moment of separation, where we check out of this world and go down the rabbit hole of our ego-centric hallucinations.

Forgiveness — Forgiveness is choosing to see someone or a situation as it is now. Marianne writes in Return to Love, “We are not held back by the love we didn’t receive in the past, but by the love we aren’t extending in the present.” But the past goes beyond what happened in high school or when we were 6, or what happened when our parents were kids that set the stage for a perpetuating cycle. The past also means 10 seconds ago. When a person cuts you off in traffic next, or your boss has some unpleasant thoughts to communicate with you, in an argument with your partner or family member, change the expletive you may reach for to “Child of God” and see how quickly you re-cognize the situation. Forgiveness is the act of extending miracles to others and to ourselves. It doesn’t take two. The person who hurt you doesn’t even need to know you’ve forgiven them, because the real them has done nothing you need to forgive. And the real you cannot be hurt by what another’s ego does. “Nothing real can be threatened.” Forgiveness is accepting the Christ in them and the Christ in you. Namaste, some people say.

One of these days I’ll link the parable of the Little Soul and the Sun, which details forgiveness at great length. There will probably be a multi-page essay to follow that.

Now that I’ve elaborated on these themes and terms, I don’t plan to redefine them at every instance in which they come up. You can always refer back to this essay down the road for reminders of what I’m going on about.

As before, comment and share if you’re so inclined. I’m appreciating and am profoundly moved by the feedback I’ve seen thus far.

“For love is the kingdom.”