ACIM Text Made Simple
Chapter 22, Section I: The Message of the Holy Relationship

Read ACIM Chapter 22, Section I (pages 468-71)

What is really going on when we judge or get angry with anyone?

In answer to this Jesus says, "If you attack whom God would heal and hate the one He loves, then you and your Creator have a different will. Yet if you are His Will, what you must then believe is that you are not yourself. You can indeed believe this, and you do." (1:2-4) So when we judge or get angry with anyone, we are disagreeing with God regarding our brother's Identity, and therefore are believing we are not one Self, as God created us. We are wandering away from our Identity and therefore feel lost and alone. "And where, you wonder, does your strange uneasiness, your sense of being disconnected, and your haunting fear of lack of meaning in yourself arise? It is as though you wandered in without a plan of any kind except to wander off, for only that seems certain." (1:6-7)

What will we understand about ourselves as we listen to Holy Spirit's reasoning?

As we open our minds to Holy Spirit's perspective, we open to knowing wholeness rather than believing in separation and seeing it through the body's eyes. We open to seeing the denial of oneness for the false perception it is and refuse to believe that it is our reality. We open to Christ's vision, which sees wholeness — our one true Identity. Through Christ's vision, we see every brother as part of our one Self.

Jesus tells us, "Reason would tell you that the world you see through eyes that are not yours must make no sense to you. To whom would seeing such as this send back its messages? Surely not you, whose sight is wholly independent of the eyes that look upon the world. If this is not your vision, what can it show to you? The brain cannot interpret what your vision sees. This you would understand." (2:3-8)

As we listen to reason, separate bodies with separate minds would make no sense to us. Through reason we do not identify with the false world of separate bodies. We see that it is alien to the one Love we all are. As we relate to our true Self, separate bodies are not what we choose to see. We would identify with God's Will rather than a separate will that is not our own.

Why does Jesus say that we have secrets and how do these secret, fearful thoughts relate to our belief in sin and guilt?

Jesus tells us, "What could your secrets be except another 'will' that is your own, apart from His? Reason would tell you that this is no secret that need be hidden as a sin. But a mistake indeed! Let not your fear of sin protect it from correction, for the attraction of guilt is only fear. Here is the one emotion that you made, whatever it may seem to be. This [fear] is the emotion of secrecy, of private thoughts and of the body. [Fear] is the one emotion that opposes Love, and always leads to sight of differences and loss of sameness. [Fear] is the one emotion that keeps you blind, dependent on the self you think you made to lead you through the world [fear] made for you." (4:3-10, italics added)

What does what we see reveal to us?

Jesus tells us that, "everyone sees only what he thinks he is." (5:2) This means that if we see separate bodies, we think that we are a separate body. The thought system we join with is what we will think we are.

As we learn from the Course to see that the thought system we have joined with is false, we will be open to a new kind of seeing — Christ's vision. It is in this way that we return to our true Identity. Jesus tells us, "Of all the messages you have received and failed to understand, this course alone is open to your understanding and can be understood. This is your language." (6:1-2) Here we see that the Course shows up in our dream of separation because we are asking for a better way. The Course shows us that we have been hiding from our Self and that we can choose differently. As we choose differently, a new perception from the Holy Spirit comes into our mind. This new perception comes because we want it and ask for it.

Why does Jesus refer to the holy relationship, seen through Christ's vision, as a newborn babe that must be given a home?

Because the holy relationship seems new to us because we have focused on its opposite, Jesus refers to our experience of the holy (one, whole) relationship as a like a newborn babe that we must protect and nurture for it to live in us. Jesus tells us, "Where Christ has entered no one is alone, for never could He find a home in separate ones. Yet must He be reborn into His ancient home, so seeming new and yet as old as He, a tiny newcomer, dependent on the holiness of your relationship to let Him live." (8:6-7)

As we become willing to see holiness (wholeness, unity) where we once saw separation (division, differences), we are giving Christ's vision a home. We are nurturing and protecting the newborn babe — the holy relationship — and letting it's remembrance of oneness be reborn in us. "So in each holy relationship is the ability to communicate instead of separate, reborn. Yet a holy relationship, so recently reborn itself from an unholy relationship, and yet more ancient than the old illusion it has replaced, is like a baby now in its rebirth. Still in this infant is your vision returned to you, and he will speak the language you can understand." (7:1-3)

What is the message of the holy relationship?

The holy relationship communicates the message of union through Christ's vision. Jesus tells us, "For no two brothers can unite except through Christ, Whose vision sees them one. (7:6) This communication of unity comes to us naturally as we make room in our mind for Christ's vision. "Communication must have been restored to those who join, for this they could not do through bodies. What, then, has joined them? Reason will tell you that they must have seen each other through a vision not of the body, and communicated in a language the body does not speak. Nor could it be a fearful sight or sound that drew them gently into one. Rather, in each the other saw a perfect shelter where his Self could be reborn in safety and in peace." (9:4-8)

What calls on truth and shows us that fear is meaningless?

Christ's vision shows us that illusions are nothing and nowhere. To ask for Christ's vision demonstrates a willingness to make way for the holy instant by allowing illusions to be replaced with truth. Jesus tells us, "Think what that instant brought; the recognition that the "something else" you thought was you is an illusion. And truth came instantly, to show you where your Self must be. It is denial of illusions that calls on truth, for to deny illusions is to recognize that fear is meaningless. Into the holy home where fear is powerless Love enters thankfully, grateful that It is one with you who joined to let It enter." (10:4-7, italics added)

Why is opening to Christ's vision the same as accepting the holy relationship?

To see every brother through Christ's vision is our Father's Will for us. This is how we awaken from illusions of differences. As we build the habit of asking for and accepting Christ's vision, we see that every relationship is a holy relationship. We are shown that every brother is part of our one Self. We are shown that illusions of bodies are meaningless and we can quit giving meaning to them. Jesus tells us, "Christ comes to what is like Himself; the same, not different. For He is always drawn unto Himself. What is as like Him as a holy relationship? And what draws you and your brother together draws Him to you." (11:1-4)

Seeing the Christ in every brother becomes our one focus. Seeing the Christ in every brother makes every relationship holy. Jesus closes this section with, "This is your Father's Will for you, and [your will] with His. And who is drawn to Christ is drawn to God as surely as Both are drawn to every holy relationship, the home prepared for Them as earth is turned to Heaven." (11:8-9)

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