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Chapter 7: The Gifts of the Kingdom

Section VII: The Totality of the Kingdom

Read ACIM Chapter 7, Section VII (pages 127-129)

How does God’s Law of ‘the totality of the Kingdom’ affect our life experience?

This section continues the Holy Spirit’s lessons about the power of our mind. “If you use [your mind] to deny reality, reality is gone for you.” (1:6) It also discusses the wholeness of the one Mind of God and the effects of denying the totality of God’s oneness. “Reality cannot be partly appreciated. That is why denying any part of it means you have lost the awareness of all of [reality].” (1:7-8) That is why when we do not extend Love (blessing) to one brother, we lose awareness of the Love we are. Denying a blessing to a brother means that we are separating ourselves from him. Thus we cannot know the Love in ourselves because we have made an exclusion. If Love is not total and all inclusive, it is not Love.

What is the basis for our perceiving attack and vulnerability?

The thought systems of the Holy Spirit and the ego are mutually exclusive, being complete opposites. Neither thought system can understand the other. Built upon the belief in separation, everything the ego perceives is separate. In this perception it is impossible to have everything because everything seems to be broken into individual parts. This necessarily leads to a perception of attack, incompletion and potential for loss or vulnerability. This is the world of the ego. It is impossible for the ego to feel complete because it is the idea of being incomplete, separated off from the whole.

How do we become aware that we dwell in a place of perfect safety and Love’s abundance?

The Holy Spirit knows only of our unity in Love. It remembers for us that we remain part of the Love that God Is and share all of His Love with all that Is. Sharing all with all, it is impossible to lack anything. Loss is impossible and only perfect safety is known. Because this oneness with Love is our true Self and our only reality, it is impossible that our Self can be changed. Through denial we can lose awareness of it, but we cannot change it.

Though we may actively deny Love, we cannot obliterate it, because only Love is real. It is forever calling to us in our minds and is the reason why everyone in this world is searching to find what they believe they have lost. In our searching, we may look where it cannot be found, which is how the ego will guide us, but search we must. The search will be over when we learn to follow the Holy Spirit with no reservation. The need to search stems from our innate desire to be our Self, at one with our Creator, at Home in Heaven.

We return to our Home in Heaven by appreciating all of Reality, appreciating the totality of the Kingdom. We cannot deny any part of the Kingdom and be aware of the Kingdom. In the service of the Holy Spirit, denial is used to recognize the wholeness of Spirit in every brother by denying that the ego’s images have any reality. When you see the wholeness in your brother, you are blessing him. “You need the blessing you can offer him. There is no way for you to have it except by giving it.” (2:2-3) You do not want to see the ego’s picture of your brother because that is the picture you will hold of yourself.

Until we are willing to let go of separation and accept the totality of the Kingdom or God’s oneness with the whole Sonship, we will not be aware of our true Identity as part of God. Choosing to make illusions real is not a way to dispel illusions. As long as we choose to focus on them, we will receive their effects and the truth will be lost to us. We will not be aware of the real life we live in God. It is only when we are willing to accept seeing everyone’s true life as being Love that we are able to remember reality again. “You cannot know your own perfection until you have honored all those who were created like you.” (6:6)

It is the Holy Spirit which is in every mind that teaches us to remember the truth. When we remember the truth, we are patient. We remember that every brother is an equal extension of God’s Love, no matter what illusions of scarcity they may be holding on to in their minds.

What must be in our minds in order to experience lack or deprivation?

If we meet attack with attack, we are not helping our brother or ourselves. When we understand that every attack comes from a belief in lack, then the truly helpful response would be to fill the lack. Lack or deprivation may appear in many forms, but they are all reflections of belief in lack of Love. Thus we can only fill the lack by extending Love. The Holy Spirit will guide us as to the form that will be most helpful in the moment.

When we feel lack or deprivation, it is helpful to remember that it is our own rejection the totality of God’s Kingdom that is the cause of our experience of lack. That is why forgiveness, or letting go of rejection, is the answer to every form of lack. That is why the Course tells us that forgiveness is the answer to every apprehension, every care and every form of suffering. “If you choose to separate yourself from God, that is what you will think others are doing to you.” (9:5)

When does the totality of the Kingdom become more obvious to us?

As we let go of denying what we are, the totality of the Kingdom will become more obvious to us. The Holy Spirit’s thoughts will become more clearly understood and accepted. “But the see the Love of God in you, and you will see it everywhere because it is everywhere. See His abundance in everyone, and you will know that you are in Him and with them. They are part of you, as you are part of God.” (10:4-6)

The whole awakening process centers around seeing the ego thought system as “wholly delusional and wholly undesirable” and accepting the Holy Spirit’s vision which will show us the totality of the Kingdom. We cannot hold awareness of both the ego and the Holy Spirit in our minds. As we withdraw investment from the ego, the Holy Spirit will be present, bringing us the awareness of the totality of the Kingdom. Only Love is real. Love is all there is.

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