Do We Really Have Just One Problem?

. . . and why is our shared holiness always the solution?

A Course in Miracles says that the only problem we really and truly have is that we think we have problems (T-26.II.3:3). But what does this mean? What are we supposed to do with this information?

It's helpful to understand that there really is a problem for which we are at least partially responsible for solving, even if it will be ultimately revealed as an illusion. Whatever the solution is, we are going to have to bring it - or help others bring it - into application. We are going to have to do something in order to learn that we don't need to do anything at all (e.g., T-18.VII.5:5).

The suggestion is that this problem of thinking we have many problems is actually solely a problem of self-knowledge or identity. We don't know who and what we are and in our confusion project an illusory self that we think is our real self. We are identifying as something we are not; we are suffering a spiritual identity crisis.

This is the problem A Course in Miracles is given to help solve and does solve, albeit not through the Text, Workbook or Manual for Teachers. It heals, rather, through the relationships those wordy tomes make possible. In relationship, we learn of our potential for service, the blocks to that potential and, finally, that our happiness consists solely in living out that service.

Father, I give all that is mine today to Christ, to use in any way that best will serve the purpose that I share with Him. Nothing is mine alone, for He and I have joined in purpose . . . (W-pI.353.1:1-2, 5).

When I live that way - eyes, tongue, hands and feet given to Christ to teach the world that Love, not fear, is our shared inheritance - however imperfectly in the eyes of the world, I "lose myself in my Identity, and recognize that Christ is but my Self" (W-pI.353.1:5).

Christ is a relationship, a collective. It is the site where the illusion of separate interests is actively undone in our lives, body and mind. What remains in the glorious Light of undoing separation is our true self, which we share with each other.

Sometimes people hear that and say, but how?

In my experience, we have to become willing to see beyond each and every appearance of difference and distinction, asking of each what they are for. What is their function? What is the effect of their function? Who benefits? Who is made happy and who is left in pain and grief?

I really mean this - it is a very helpful practice. Give attention to the appearance of difference - different perspectives, different interests, different values and beliefs - and ask, what is the effect of these differences? Who benefits? What do they do to joy and peace?

I am a slow learner but in time that practice led me directly to the existentially Thetfordian cry for help: There must be another way.

And there was - there is always, thank Christ - another way.

In time, then, and in relationship, we learn that the divisions and boundaries by which the world appears and the laws by which it is goverened are artificial. They are constructions of the senses whose meaning is dictated by ego. Their function is to keep us trapped in the sleep of forgetfulness (T-16.VII.12:4) and its emphasis on conflict, division and chaos.

But there is another way to read the world, and our experience of it, and that way is to hear only the Holy Spirit, Whose sole function it to declare the simple truth of our shared identity as Christ and offer us the means to awaken, i.e., to remember it in a way that cannot be forgotten.

Behold your brothers in their freedom, and learn of them how to be free of darkness . . . God is everywhere, and His Son is in Him with everything. Can he sing the dirge of sorrow when this is true? (T-14.II.8:1, 7-8)

There is something in human experience that consistently bears witness to grace and love, friendship and prayer, rest and relaxation, and to our potential - everpresent and unconditionally given - to become holy. But this potential cannot be realized individually or personally.

Rather, it is given through a relationship which becomes holy by giving up any other goal or function than being holy. The way to "receive" God's free Gift of Love is to give that gift away, with reckless exuberant abandon, over and over and over. Holiness is contagious.

. . . ours is a shared identification. The Name of God’s Son is one, and you are enjoined to do the works of love because we share this Oneness (T-8.IX.7:2-3).

If you want to learn what you are in truth, then practice the Peace of Christ. Practice allowing peace to be at home in you, to have a place in you, to undo the blocks to love in you. Let peace, like water wearing down stone, shape and form you in an image of Love. This image will naturally reflect back to your brothers and sisters their inherent Creativity, Grace and Holiness.

What else could the one-becoming-Christ want?

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light (MT 11:28-30).

A Course in Miracles reframes "yoke" as "join together" and "burden" as "message" (T-5.II.11:3). Its revised invitation from Jesus reads "let us join together, for my message is light" (T-5.II.11:4). The hallmark of this relationship - whose function is to recognize the Light of Christ by extending the Light of Christ, and whose foundation in time and space undoes time and space - is joy. We have remembered what we are in truth, and we are home. What else but joy makes sense?

. . . God created you as part of Him. That is both where you are and what you are. It is completely unalterable. It is total inclusion. You cannot change it now or ever. It is forever true (T-6.II.6:1-7).

Don't worry is it right or true. Don't worry if you don't understand or wish it was easier or maybe you're on the wrong path or whatever. In this moment you know a way to love another the way God loves, and you know it because someone somewhere loved you that way. Give praise to the one who demonstrates God's Love for you, and then love others as they showed you.

Don't worry is the love reciprocated or accepted or even recognized. Simply give Love a home in you - undo all blocks to its free flow - so that we might remember, together, our home in Love.

~ Sean