A Course in Miracles Text Made Simple

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Chapter 28: the Undoing of Fear

Section VII. The Ark of Safety

Read A Course in Miracles, Chapter 28, Section VII. (pages 604-605)

What is the promise between our Father and His Son?

Jesus has made it very clear, both in the last section and this section, that we (God’s one Son or Love’s extension) promised to our Father that we be one with Him eternally. We, as Love’s extension, have forgotten our promise when we think we are somewhere other than Heaven or entertain thoughts that we are different or separate from the Love of God. 

To correct this misperception, Jesus tells us: “A space where God is not, a gap between the Father and the Son is not the Will of Either, Who have promised to be one. God’s promise is a promise to Himself, and there is no one who could be untrue to what He wills as part of what He is. …What will can come between what must be one, and in Whose Wholeness there can be no gap?” (1:5-6, 8)

Can there be any exceptions to our oneness with God and every brother?

Every time we judge our brothers or think of them as separate from us, we are trying to make an exception to our oneness. An important part of our awakening process is to let ourselves become aware of when we are trying to make exceptions and hand these exceptions over to the Holy Spirit to let these false ideas be undone.

Jesus asks us to accept no compromises when it comes to returning to the truth of oneness with all that Is. He says: “What could correct for separation but its opposite? There is no middle ground in any aspect of salvation. You accept it wholly or accept it not. What is unseparated must be joined. And what is joined cannot be separate. … Either there is a gap between you and your brother, or you are as one. There is no in between, no other choice, and no allegiance to be split between the two.” (2:6-10, 3:1-2)

What does Jesus mean when he refers to building our home upon straw?

We can’t be faithful to both separation and to oneness at the same time. We will think of our home as either the ego’s world of separate bodies or identify with God’s universe of Love as our only Home. If we think of the body as our home, we will continue to feel unsafe, uncertain and fearful.

Jesus tells us, “A split allegiance is but faithlessness to both, and merely sets you spinning round, to grasp uncertainly at any straw that seems to hold some promise of relief. Yet who can build his home upon a straw, and count on it as shelter from the wind? The body can be made a home like this [a home of straw], because it lacks foundation in the truth.” (3:3-5)

In paragraph 6 he reinforces the idea that when we make the body our home, we look for safety only in shadows and weakness, not on the strength of our true Home in oneness. He tells us, “What is the sense in seeking to be safe in what was made for danger and for fear? …What can be safe that rests upon a shadow? Would you build your home upon what will collapse beneath a feather’s weight?” (6:1, 3-4)

How does Jesus describe the purpose we have given the world?

In paragraph 5 Jesus clearly states that the purpose of the world was to make it appear that we are separate and unique bodies that are apart and alone from everything around it. Jesus helps us understand that this purpose comes from a split mind that is sick and needs help from outside of its sick thought system. He tells us: “It is like the house set upon straw. It seems to be quite solid and substantial in itself. Yet its stability cannot be judged apart from its foundation. If it rests on straw, there is no need to bar the door and lock the windows and make fast the bolts. The wind will topple it, and rain will come and carry it into oblivion.” (5:7-11)

What purpose for the body induces healing?

The good news is that we are not lost forever as we come to recognize that we have built our home upon the straw of separation when we thought of the body as our home. With the help of the Holy Spirit, our true Self, we can give the body a new purpose that returns us to the awareness of our true Home in God’s oneness.

Jesus tells us: “And yet, because [the body] does [lack foundation in the truth, the body] can be seen as not your home, but merely as an aid to help you reach the Home where God abides. …With this as purpose is the body healed. It is not used to witness to the dream of separation and disease. Nor is [the body] idly blamed for what it did not do. [The body] serves to help the healing of God’s Son, and for this purpose it cannot be sick. It will not join a purpose not your own, and you have chosen that it not be sick. All miracles are based upon this choice, and given you the instant it is made.” (3:6, 4:1-6)

What is the ark of safety?

Even though we made a secret vow with our brothers to believe in and reinforce the separation stories we each have made, Jesus tells us that the Foundation of his Home in God is not compromised. He is still safe and connected in God, no matter what he dreams.

Jesus tells us, “No secret promise [with your brothers] you have made instead has shaken the Foundation of his Home. The winds will blow upon it and the rain will beat against it, but with no effect. The world will wash away and yet this House will stand forever, for its strength lies not within itself alone. It is an ark of safety, resting on God’s promise that His Son is safe forever in Himself. What gap can interpose itself between the safety of this shelter and its Source? From here the body can be seen as what it is, and neither less nor more in worth than the extent to which it can be used to liberate God’s Son unto his Home. And with this holy purpose is it made a home of holiness a little while, because it shares your Father’s Will with you.” (7:2-8 italics added)

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