III. The Reality of the Kingdom
1 The Holy Spirit teaches one lesson, and applies it to all individuals in all situations. Being conflict-free, He maximises all efforts and all results. By teaching the power of the Kingdom of God Himself, He teaches you that all power is yours. Its application does not matter. It is always maximal. Your vigilance does not establish it as yours, but it does enable you to use it always and in all ways. When I said “I am with you always,” I meant it literally. I am not absent to anyone in any situation. Because I am always with you, you are the way, the truth and the life. You did not make this power, any more than I did. It was created to be shared, and therefore cannot be meaningfully perceived as belonging to anyone at the expense of another. Such a perception makes it meaningless by eliminating or overlooking its real and only meaning.
I want to look at this paragraph carefully. Here is what I understand.
1. The Holy Spirit teaches one lesson. In studying the Course with its many words, I can easily lose track of this. I am always learning one thing only, that I am one with God, a part of God, in Him and never any place else. Nothing that is not true of God can be true of me. Everything that is true of God is true of me. Because the Holy Spirit teaches only this one thing, there is no conflict and so it applies to everyone and everything and the teaching is therefore, maximized.
2. The Holy Spirit is teaching me that I am powerful. No, that is not right. He is teaching me that all power is mine. All power. The power of God, is mine. Its application does not matter. The power of God is mine to use regardless of how I choose to use it. I am using the power of God to make up a world that could never be and that is why it seems so real. The implication, of course, is that this same power can easily dispel the illusion according to my desire to be free of it.
3. My vigilance does not establish it as mine. I talk about vigilance all the time. I am vigilant for my thoughts and vigilant for God. Vigilance has gotten me where I am now. But all the vigilance in the world, the most perfect vigilance imaginable does not establish the power of God as mine. Lack of vigilance cannot undo this power which is mine. What vigilance does do, is make this power available to me.
In making the illusory world we blocked out reality, and now we must unblock it. I imagine it as a wall that we made to keep the truth out, and now, block by block I must remove the wall in order to become aware of what is there, always has been there, and will forever be there. It is for this work, the undoing of the ego wall, that I am vigilant. I watch closely for any remaining blocks to the awareness of loves presence.
4. Here is my favorite sentence, maybe my favorite in the whole book. When I said “I am with you always,” I meant it literally. I am not absent to anyone in any situation. I take great comfort in knowing that I am not alone, and since the beginning of my study of the Course I have come to love and trust my elder brother absolutely. What a relief to know that he does not abandon me in any situation I might put myself in.
It is also a comfort to be reminded that we are one. We cannot be separate. Jesus and I and you are all one mind. We are not any of us absent to each other. In this illusion of separation it is hard to know this and so I remind myself often in many ways. When I become discouraged, afraid, angry, even when I am only sad or lethargic, any feeling that is not reflective of God, I have tried to become absent to myself.
This is not possible, but if I believe I can do this, then it will feel as if I have abandoned myself. Any time I feel any of these ungodly things about anyone else, I have tried to abandon them. Even though I cannot do that either, the power that is mine to use in any way I choose will create an illusion so real that I will think I have succeeded, and I will be flooded by guilt for my imagined sin.
I am greatly relieved to know that nothing has actually happened. Jesus is never absent from me and all power is shared equally by all of God’s Son, I am not ever truly absent to myself or to anyone. I have not sinned and I can forgive the idea that sin is possible. We are One. We are God’s Son. We are powerful in our Oneness. What is true is always true, and nothing can change that.
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