You and Your Holiness

Sinlessness is the light that leads us home

A Course in Miracles suggests that whatever we point to when we use the word "God" is not subject to interpretation. It's not one thing for me and another for you. Nor does it evolve. It does not have a form. The words we use will change - the rituals we enact will change - but the Source Itself does not.

Joy is eternal. You can be sure indeed that any seeming happiness that does not last is really fear. Joy does not turn to sorrow, for the eternal cannot change (T-22.II.3:4-6).

This is not a new idea. As Swami Tyagananda points out in Knowing the Knower, in Advaita Vedanta the Ātman (the true or eternal Self) exists outside of time and is not subject to change.

If something is real, it is eternal and unchanging . . . if something is real for only a limited time or only under specific conditions, then it is better described as an illusion or a dream . . . Whatever changes or disappears periodically may be an apparition but it's not really real (11 - 12).

Most of our happiness is fleeting and conditional. It's an effect of external circumstances conforming to personal expectation of safety, comfort, satisfaction, et cetera. We find the perfect parking space, our child comes home to visit, the doctor says the cancer is gone.

It's not that we're bad ACIM students for being happy in those ways. It's just that those happinesses are not the eternal joy to which our study and practice are directed.

. . . sorrow can be turned to joy, for time gives way to the eternal . . . illusions must give way to truth, and not to other dreams that are but equally unreal (T-22.II.3:7, 9).

In other words, "to perceive a difference where none exists will surely fail to make a difference" (T-22.II.2:7). We don’t need to fix or amend anything with respect to the external. We just need to see that it is not itself the source of the joy and peace which surpass understanding.

Of course, these are abstract ideas. They are fun and interesting to talk about. But often - I speak from experience - we can confuse our handiness with ideas for the Truth to which they point. So the real question is, how do we apply those ideas? In the context of separation - which is the context of time and change - how do we undo separation?

In A Course in Miracles, we do it by giving careful and sustained attention to the ways in which we judge our brothers and sisters. We see the way in which we project onto them responsibility for our happiness and inner peace, effectively rendering them bit players in our spiritual drama of enlightenment. We see ourselves doing this and then resolve to no longer do it. No longer doing it becomes our practice. We devote ourselves to the undoing of projection.

. . . there is no middle ground where you can pause uncertainly, waiting to choose between the joy of Heaven and the misery of hell. Until you choose Heaven, you are in hell and misery (T-22.II.7:7-8).

The “choice” to which the course refers here is our decision for salvation, which is the decision to seek only the eternal, and not what shifts and changes. Nor we do we decide - nor choose nor seek - for ourselves alone (T-22.II.7:2). Truly we are in this together.

Forsake not now your brother . . . Either you give each other life or death; either you are each other's savior or his judge, offering him sanctuary or condemnation (T-22.II.7:1, 3).

Again, what does this look like in practice?

It looks like being in relationship without deciding in advance what the relationship is for. It looks like being in relationship in full awareness of our tendency to make everything about us and then actively choosing to make it instead about the other.

It looks like the gentle kindness of an open mind endlessly willing to choose again in favor of Love.

This openness - this intentional vulnerability - applies to all relationships, from folks on the street we will never meet again, to casual acquaintances and co-workers, and to our gurus, lovers and soulmates. In all relationship, we seek only the Love that does not change, the Innocence that cannot be marred by guilt, and the Holiness that is not partial nor capable of division. Learning and practicing this is our only function.

Remember there is no second to [God]. There cannot, therefore, be anyone without His Holiness, nor anyone unworthy of His perfect Love. Fail not in your function of loving in a loveless place made out of darkness and deceit, for thus are darkness and deceit undone. Fail not yourself, but instead offer to God and you His blameless Son. For this small gift of appreciation for His Love, God will Himself exchange your gift for His (T-14.IV.4:8-12).

In mundane terms, we practice being the saint we both secretly long to be and secretly despise ourselves for not already being. It’s easier than we think. Resolve to take the tiniest step in the direction of Heaven and learn instantly that all of Heaven is given this very instant to you and your brothers and sisters. The gift is the relationship, "beloved of God Himself" (T-22.II.12:1).

Heaven is the home of perfect purity, and God created it for you. Look on your holy brother, sinless as yourself, and let him lead you there (T-22.II.13:6-7).

Thank you as always for sharing this path with me, and for allowing me to remember with you the joy and peace that does not change or leave.

Love,
Sean