Day 33
2 How do the open-minded forgive? They have let go all things that would prevent forgiveness. They have in truth abandoned the world, and let it be restored to them in newness and in joy so glorious they could never have conceived of such a change. Nothing is now as it was formerly. Nothing but sparkles now which seemed so dull and lifeless before. And above all are all things welcoming, for threat is gone. No clouds remain to hide the face of Christ. Now is the goal achieved. Forgiveness is the final goal of the curriculum. It paves the way for what goes far beyond all learning. The curriculum makes no effort to exceed its legitimate goal. Forgiveness is its single aim, at which all learning ultimately converges. It is indeed enough.
3 You may have noticed that the list of attributes of God’s teachers does not include things that are the Son of God’s inheritance. Terms like love, sinlessness, perfection, knowledge and eternal truth do not appear in this context. They would be most inappropriate here. What God has given is so far beyond our curriculum that learning but disappears in its presence. Yet while its presence is obscured, the focus properly belongs on the curriculum. It is the function of God’s teachers to bring true learning to the world. Properly speaking it is unlearning that they bring, for that is “true learning” in the world. It is given to the teachers of God to bring the glad tidings of complete forgiveness to the world. Blessed indeed are they, for they are the bringers of salvation.
What I understand from reading this is that I don’t have to strive for love, sinlessness, perfection and other attributes of God’s Teachers. These are not things I learn, but things I am. My only goal is to forgive. As I forgive, that is, as I undo what I think I am, these attributes will naturally come into my awareness. They have not gone anyplace, but have only been hidden by what I made to take their place.
What is it that must be undone? What immediately comes to me is that I have been created perfect and whole and that is what I am, but I have made a self that reflects the separation idea. So I see myself as imperfect and splintered into many parts. This is seen on every level, as I appear to take many forms. It also appears with the specific body/personality I claim as myself now, and within its life is contradicting and confusing layers of beliefs that I accept as reality.
Can there ever be peace and happiness in such a life? The mind that believes it can be conflicting things will be confused about its reality. It will believe that something must be chosen and something must be rejected and so it will always feel under attack and in defense, and the mind will be in a constant state of war.
The ego suggests we choose from among an endless array of options until we find the right one, and this is what we have done, but this will not ever bring us to peace. The Holy Spirit offers us a simple solution that undoes our confusion. Forgiveness is the one solution to all errors in the mind, because all errors are one error.
In the world, forgiveness looks like undoing, or unlearning. We did not come here to learn, but to unlearn. There is only one thought to forgive, but in our confused state this is not possible for us to grasp. So we begin the undoing process by noticing thoughts that do not bring us peace and then give our willingness to be corrected.
In this way we unlearn the error we taught ourselves when we chose to experience separation. When we have forgiven what seems like many different errors, transfer of learning will occur which will speed up the process. We are not left to do this alone, but all our efforts on behalf of this forgiving process are heavily reinforced. We can do this, and we will do this. I want to do it now because I am tired of the game. I realize that I am not really choosing between different options, but choosing the same thing over and over in different forms.
It reminds me of shopping for toothpaste at Walmart. There are so many of them you wonder which one to buy, but when you look at the ingredient list you discover that they are all basically the same toothpaste. The only difference is the shape of the tube or the phrasing in the labels.
I can choose to make the form of my life seem different, but in the end, its like the toothpaste options. Only the appearance of what is happening to me changes. And no matter how different the appearances are, I am still confused, fearful, guilty, ashamed, and uncertain. These are the attributes of the separated ones.
In the best of circumstances, these states are waiting on the sidelines and I know it, and dread their certain emergence. I am grateful to know that I have a true option. I can choose to forgive the whole thing, to undo the separation idea completely rather than choosing between flavors of separation, and I am learning to give my willingness to that.
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