VII. The Condition of Reality, P 4
4 The perception of goodness is not knowledge, but the denial of the opposite of goodness enables you to recognize a condition in which opposites do not exist. And this is the condition of knowledge. Without this awareness you have not met its conditions, and until you do you will not know it is yours already. You have made many ideas that you have placed between yourself and your Creator, and these beliefs are the world as you perceive it. Truth is not absent here, but it is obscure. You do not know the difference between what you have made and what God created, and so you do not know the difference between what you have made and what you have created. To believe that you can perceive the real world is to believe that you can know yourself. You can know God because it is His Will to be known. The real world is all that the Holy Spirit has saved for you out of what you have made, and to perceive only this is salvation, because it is the recognition that reality is only what is true.
Journal
How I see the world depends on whether I am looking at what God created and what I created, or if I am looking at what I made. I cannot perceive the real world if I look at the illusory world. To be free of the illusion I must no longer desire it. I must desire only what is real. From that desire I am led to release to the Holy Spirit all that is not truth. He remembers the truth for me and will show it to me when that becomes what I want. The real world is all that the Holy Spirit has saved for me out of what I made. Salvation is the willingness to perceive only this.
I was reading in the paper this morning some comments people made about the refugees being placed in our towns. I see that some people have so much fear they cannot conceive of allowing these people into their states. It seems insane to them to even consider it. Their fear is all that drives them and so the world they see is a frightening place in need of constant defense. Their fear will not let them see how their Christian values such as “what you do for the least of my brothers you do for me” and “do unto your neighbors as you would have them do unto you” apply here.
Then there are some who seem to know that they should be generous and provide refuge, but who are afraid to do so. They justify the fear they feel by saying things like, “We don’t hate the ones that would come, but love those who are here.” It is still fear driven thoughts and behavior, but there is also a glimmer of truth in their minds. They know on some level that love is important but fear is still too strong in their minds to choose only love.
Then there were comments from those who spoke from reason. These people are in need, they have been vetted, and we should open our hearts to them. It is the right thing to do and the American way. I have been looking within my own heart. What do I feel? I know that what is fear is not God and not the real world. Fear is always the ego mind and the ego world. Which one will I choose to perceive? It matters, because the choice I make determines my happiness and either pulls us all more deeply into the illusion or lifts us all a little more into the Kingdom.
The words I say about this, knowing how I should feel, are not the same as believing them so I choose to be honest and from that honesty allow healing of all that is not truth. I feel like we should accept these people and give them comfort and help to make a new life. I also feel trepidation. I feel afraid. What if one of them is a terrorist plant that evaded the scrutiny of the government and in inviting them in, I have invited the wolf to take refuge among the sheep.
The fear in my heart is the illusion I made. It is the ego. It is also the veil that keeps me from seeing the real world and from returning my mind to God. I cannot enter His presence if I attack His Son, and these refugees are His Son. Looking at them in fear is an attack. What do I do with the fear thoughts that are blocking love?
I made fear and so I believe in it, and as Jesus tells us in the Course, what we believe in is true for us. That is why I cannot undo fear in my mind. I can see the fear and recognize the harm it does. I can know that fear blocks all that is true and good and that it keeps me in the dark. I can know that I cannot have both fear and joy and that I must choose what it is I really want. But I cannot destroy or change what I believe to be true.
The solution is to turn to the Holy Spirit who is in my mind for that purpose. It is His function to undo for me what I no longer want to believe. I give Him the fear in my mind. I put it on the altar within; all the fearful thoughts, all the justifications, all the judgments about this issue. I ask for the Atonement as I set it all next to Him. I trust in His power to undo what I have done in making a world unlike Heaven.
There. I have done my part and now I wait in trust for the Holy Spirit to do His. The ego mind argues against this and tries to show that there is no way to see this differently. It argues for common sense. It argues for separation, at least in this case. I am willing to perceive only the truth. I don’t have to figure out what that looks like or how it could work. I only need to put my trust in God rather than the ego. The real world is all that the Holy Spirit has saved for me out of what I made. Salvation is the willingness to perceive only this. I am willing.
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