A Course in Miracles Text Made Simple

To gain the most from A Course in Miracles Text Made Simple, we recommend that
you read the corresponding chapter and section in the Text of the Second or
Third Edition of A Course in Miracles published by the Foundation for Inner Peace.

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Chapter 7: The Gifts of the Kingdom

Section I: The Last Step

Read ACIM Chapter 7, Section I (pages 112-114)

What is creation according to the ego?

In this world we think of ‘creation’ as having a beginning and an end. We think of creation in terms of form and time. We think of it as being in a state of constant change. In the ego’s world of time and space, things and people are born, have a period of existence, then decay and cease to exist. Because all these ‘created’ forms are based on the false belief in separation, they must be illusions and cannot be real.

What is Creation according to God?

In the Course, Love and creation are the same. Jesus tells us, “To create is to love.” (3:3) It is important to realize that creation has nothing to do with form. We can only co-create with God by extending Love as He does. Being formless, God does not co-create form with us in the world of form. Because God does not create form, form is unreal. What God does not create does not exist in reality.

In an early Workbook lesson exercise we are told to look at objects around the room and say for example, “God is in that table.” This is because God is everywhere, regardless of whatever form we may be perceiving. To know God, to know Love, we must learn to disregard the forms we see and let the vision of Christ show us only Love, because that is what is eternally there, for only Love is real.

To distinguish between the creation that is God’s extension of Love and the making up of forms of illusion in this world, the Course uses the term “make” when it refers to what we think of as ‘creation’ in the world of form. We make illusions in the thought system of separation. Since only Love is real, creation is the extension of Reality. Being eternal, creation cannot be limited by any form.

How does Jesus explain how Love is forever increasing and yet is eternally changeless?

“Eternity is the indelible stamp of creation.” (5:5) To the mind that thinks in terms of time, it is difficult to conceive of Love as forever increasing without perceiving it as changing. “What is timeless is always there, because its being is eternally changeless. It does not change by increase, because it was forever created to increase. If you perceive [Love] as not increasing you do not know what it is.” (7:9-11)

We cannot try to keep Love for ourselves alone or contain It any any way, for to do so would be to try to change Love. This is why to know Love we must extend it. We co-create with God by extending His Love. As we remember that we are only Love, we give only Love. As we give only Love, our joy increases forever. This is how we add to the Kingdom, though this addition has nothing to do with changing size. It is simply joining in the eternal extension of Love that is what Love is.

How do we claim the power of the Kingdom?

It is through being vigilant to see only Love everywhere that we can remember the Love that we are. “You claim [the power of the Kingdom] when you become vigilant only for God and His Kingdom. By accepting this power as yours you have learned to remember what you are.” (2:8-9)

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