Prayer is a ladder reaching up to Heaven. At the top there is a transformation much like your own, for prayer is part of you. The things of earth are left behind, all unremembered. There is no asking, for there is no lack. Identity in Christ is fully recognized as set forever, beyond all change and incorruptible. The light no longer flickers, and will never go out. Now, without needs of any kind, and clad forever in the pure sinlessness that is the gift of God to you, His Son, prayer can again become what it was meant to be. For now it rises as a song of thanks to your Creator, sung without words, or thoughts, or vain desires, unneedful now of anything at all. So it extends, as it was meant to do. And for this giving God Himself gives thanks.
God is the goal of every prayer, giving it timelessness instead of end. Nor has it a beginning, because the goal has never changed. Prayer in its earlier forms is an illusion, because there is no need for a ladder to reach what one has never left. Yet prayer is part of forgiveness as long as forgiveness, itself an illusion, remains unattained. Prayer is tied up with learning until the goal of learning has been reached. And then all things will be transformed together, and returned unblemished into the Mind of God. Being beyond learning, this state cannot be described. The stages necessary to its attainment, however, need to be understood, if peace is to be restored to God’s Son, who lives now with the illusion of death and the fear of God. (A Course in Miracles, S-1.II.7-8)
The ego is terrified of Love (God). The acceptance of Love’s oneness would drive the ego’s belief in separation from our holy minds. The seeming split caused by the ego’s denial of God’s Love would disappear and our perception of the dream of separation would dissolve into the experience of the peace and joy of God’s unified, eternal Love. This is the replacement of the lies of the ego with the eternal Truth that has never changed. It is our return Home to Love.
While we remain engaged in the dream world, we need a path that leads us out of our mistaken beliefs. Prayer is a means for asking for help to let go of our belief in what could never be true. When we ask for help to see with Christ’s vision, we are asking for forgiveness. We are asking for release from judgment and guilt. Each circumstance, relationship or perception that we bring to our true Self, the Christ in us, with willingness to change our perception, is a step toward true forgiveness. The separate identity we believe we are cannot help us find the way. True prayer expresses our willingness to see beyond our divided perceptions and see the innocent face of Christ instead.
This is a journey of daily practice, for we have spent our lives trying to hide from our guilt and fear. Each time we practice the prayer of joining in Christ, another layer of self-condemnation is released. That release may appear to be forgiveness of what someone else is believed to have done. Or it may be recognized as forgiveness of our own mistaken belief. These two are in fact the same. When we join with the Christ in our brother, we are accepting the one Mind that joins us in Love. This is the Holy Spirit’s use of time.
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