This course is not beyond immediate learning, unless you believe that what God wills takes time. And this means only that you would rather delay the recognition that His Will is so. The holy instant is this instant and every instant. The one you want it to be it is. The one you would not have it be is lost to you. You must decide when it is. Delay it not. For beyond the past and future, where you will not find [the holy instant], it stands in shimmering readiness for your acceptance. Yet you cannot bring it into glad awareness while you do not want it, for it holds the whole release from littleness.
Your practice must therefore rest upon your willingness to let all littleness go. The instant in which magnitude dawns upon you is but as far away as your desire for it. As long as you desire it not and cherish littleness instead, by so much is it far from you. By so much as you want it will you bring it nearer. Think not that you can find salvation in your own way and have it. Give over every plan you have made for your salvation in exchange for God’s. His will content you, and nothing else can bring you peace. For peace is of God, and no one beside Him.
Be humble before Him, and yet great in Him. And value no plan of the ego before the plan of God. For you leave empty your place in His plan, which you must fill if you would join with me, by your decision to join in any plan but His. I call you to fulfill your holy part in the plan that He has given to the world for its release from littleness. God would have His host abide in perfect freedom. Every allegiance to a plan of salvation apart from Him diminishes the value of His Will for you in your own mind. And yet it is your mind that is the host to Him. (A Course in Miracles, T-15.IV.1-3. See also ACIM Text Q & A.)
A central purpose of A Course in Miracles is to help us be willing to accept God’s plan for our happiness, which is our salvation. The fact that we are experiencing a dream of separation demonstrates that we believe that separation, having a kingdom we call our own, is our salvation, what will make us happy. If we look honestly at our experience in the dream, can we say we have found perfect happiness and peace that cannot be disturbed? Answered honestly, we have to admit that no circumstance, situation or relationship has ever satisfied us. We are on a constant quest for something better.
We really want to know God’s Love. We really want peace that cannot be disturbed. We really want to be happy. All this God has already given us. To experience it, we need to release the barriers we have made against it.
The curriculum of ACIM teaches us that our plans for happiness and peace do not work. The Holy Spirit, through His teaching, helps us recognize the uselessness of our plans. Once recognized, we easily let them go. This is how we welcome the holy instant, which brings us the Love, peace and happiness we seek. It strengthens our willingness to accept God’s plan in place of our own.
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