I. The Judgment of the Holy Spirit, P 3
3 There is but one interpretation of motivation that makes any sense. And because it is the Holy Spirit’s judgment it requires no effort at all on your part. Every loving thought is true. Everything else is an appeal for healing and help, regardless of the form it takes. Can anyone be justified in responding with anger to a brother’s plea for help? No response can be appropriate except the willingness to give it to him, for this and only this is what he is asking for. Offer him anything else, and you are assuming the right to attack his reality by interpreting it as you see fit. Perhaps the danger of this to your own mind is not yet fully apparent. If you believe that an appeal for help is something else you will react to something else. Your response will therefore be inappropriate to reality as it is, but not to your perception of it.
Journal
This is one of my favorite paragraphs in the Text. I felt the truth in it from my first reading, though I did not understand or accept it to the degree that I do now. “Every loving thought is true. Everything else is an appeal for healing and help, regardless of the form it takes.” These are words to live by, and truly, I do try to live by them. I don’t always succeed at first, but I always get there eventually.
I want to see my brother as Christ. I want to recognize that his behavior is not a reflection of who he is, but only a reflection of the confusion in his mind. I want always to recognize that bad behavior is a call for love and that is all the meaning I want to give it. Like me, this brother of mine longs for love, but doesn’t really remember how to get it or even that this is his goal. To the degree I can remember my purpose, I can remember for him, and so offer him the miracle of healing.
“No response can be appropriate except the willingness to give it to him, for this and only this is what he is asking for.” No matter what his seeming offense, the request is for love and love is the only appropriate response. It helps to remember that there are only two emotions, love and fear. So when someone is rude or insulting, when they seem to betray, or act in hateful ways, they are only expressing the fear they feel, and they feel fear because they don’t know they are loved. Love is what they are asking for and so how could I offer them anything else?
If I react in defense of myself it is only because I have forgotten that I am loved, and my defense is a call for love. I don’t have to wait for someone to recognize it as such and give me the love I am calling for. I can accept the healing the Holy Spirit holds out to me and know myself as the Love I am. Today’s lesson says “Behold his sinlessness, and be you healed.” If I react to my brother’s error, I will be as confused as he. But, as I see my brother sinless, I will be healed.
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