Daily Inspiration

Finding Our Invulnerability

Forgiveness is the end of specialness. Only illusions can be forgiven, and then they disappear. Forgiveness is release from all illusions, and that is why it is impossible but partly to forgive. No one who clings to one illusion can see himself as sinless, for he holds one error to himself as lovely still. And so he calls it “unforgivable,” and makes it sin. How can he then give his forgiveness wholly, when he would not receive it for himself? For it is sure he would receive it wholly the instant that he gave it so. And thus his secret guilt would disappear, forgiven by himself.

Whatever form of specialness [separation, differences] you cherish, you have made sin. Inviolate [form] stands, strongly defended with all your puny might against the Will of God. And thus [specialness] stands against yourself; your enemy, not God’s. So does it seem to split you off from God, and make you separate from Him as its defender.

It is not you who are so vulnerable and open to attack that just a word, a little whisper that you do not like, a circumstance that suits you not, or an event that you did not anticipate upsets your world, and hurls it into chaos. Truth is not frail. Illusions leave it perfectly unmoved and undisturbed. But specialness is not the truth in you. It can be thrown off balance by anything. What rests on nothing never can be stable. (A Course in Miracles, T-24.III.1:1-2:4;3:1-6. See also ACIM Text Q & A.)

The perception of a world of form and differences reflects the belief in separation. Form is defined by differences. What is one can have no differences and therefore is formless. Love is one and has no form. It is uniformly the same and given to all equally.

The wish for specialness is the wish for differences. It is therefore a wish to have something other than Love. The only way to “have” special love is to make up illusions of differences. This is the world we experience with the body. Because it is all illusion, we feel vulnerable to change. There is a constant need to protect ourselves from perceived outside forces that would change the special image we have made of ourself. This need for defense is actually a defense against the Will of God. All defenses are an attempt to make separation real and are thus in opposition to the Will of God.

God Wills us all His Love, yet we fear It. We fear God because we believe that He asks us to sacrifice the image we have made of ourself. He does not oppose our wish but simply gives all of His Love without exception. We welcome His gift by forgiving ourselves for making a self-image that opposes God. As we let go of this false image with the Holy Spirit’s help, we experience the joy and peace of God’s Love.

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