III. The Reality of the Kingdom, Paragraph 3
3 I said before that the ego’s friend is not part of you, because the ego perceives itself at war and therefore in need of allies. You who are not at war must look for brothers and recognize all whom you see as brothers, because only equals are at peace. Because God’s equal Sons have everything, they cannot compete. Yet if they perceive any of their brothers as anything other than their perfect equals, the idea of competition has entered their minds. Do not underestimate your need to be vigilant against this idea, because all your conflicts come from it. It is the belief that conflicting interests are possible, and therefore you have accepted the impossible as true. Is that different from saying you perceive yourself as unreal?
We are told to be vigilant against the idea of competition, and that all our conflicts come from it. I’m happy to be vigilant for these thoughts because I know they are not true. I am one with every living thing. Because all are one, all are equal. Because we are all equal, we have no reason or desire to compete. What would we compete for? Equal brothers have all there is to have.
To feel a sense of competition is to feel separate. It is only in being separate from each other that we could conceive of the idea of being or having less than another. This, I think, is the reason I need to be vigilant for these beliefs that I am in competition. They indicate that I have fallen back into the belief that I am something I am not, or as Jesus puts it here in this paragraph, I perceive myself as unreal.
My peace of mind is dependent on realizing that we are equal Sons of God, that there is no lack in the Kingdom and therefore no need to strive. And certainly, there is no need to compete for anything. Only in the illusion of separation is there any possibility that one brother could have and another could lack. Of course in the illusion we don’t recognize our brotherhood.
As long as I believe in the separation idea, and support it through competition, I will continue to believe that this is where I am and that the illusion is real. To be in the Kingdom I must turn my attention from the illusion. I must walk away from it and choose to see the alternative. I cannot live in both the illusion and the Kingdom at the same time. Through being vigilant for belief in competition, I am alert to opportunities to turn from the illusion and toward God.
Here is a competitive thought my vigilance has shown me.
I am a heck of a good sales person. The implication in my mind is that others are not so good at this and that makes me the winner. Of course, this thought comes with its opposite and that is the fear that I am not good enough, that someone else is a better sales person. This person could take my job, or if he works for someone else, could take my customer.
With this idea of a good sales person in place, I now have something to defend and so I must have an attack plan in case someone threatens my position as good sales person. I no longer have brothers, but competitors. We have conflicting interests. We are at war and there is no peace in war. I have left the Kingdom so that I can be a winner in hell. Maybe I better rethink this.
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