Hi,
I'm Teresa Hubbard.
Welcome back to our continued reading of the text to A Course in Miracles.
We continue today in Chapter 14,
Teaching for Truth,
Section 1,
The Conditions of Learning.
To summarize my takeaways,
In Section 1 of Chapter 14,
We learn that if we offer a blessing,
It must have come to us first,
After having accepted it for ourselves.
For how else could we give it away?
This is why miracles offer us the testimony that we are blessed.
Yet we are reminded that this is an insane world and there is no area of our perception that is not touched.
This is why God placed the Holy Spirit in us,
Who introduces the simple truth into our thought system,
Which has become so twisted and complex that we cannot see that it means nothing.
This thought system deceives us,
Only because we choose to be deceived.
Yet the Holy Spirit looks at the foundation of our thought system and dismisses it.
I invite you to keep a few things in mind as you listen to the reading.
The Course uses male pronouns,
Yet this is simply a way of pointing to the spiritual being,
Having no gender.
The Course is written in first person,
And although not introduced directly to the reader,
It becomes clear that the words are from Jesus,
Often quoting from the Bible.
The Course uses traditional Christian terms in a non-traditional manner.
These words are simply pointers to truth,
Nothing more.
A few terms you will hear within this reading.
Miracle.
The change in mind that shifts our perception,
Transcending the laws of this world to reflect the laws of God.
The miracle provides the means to heal our own minds and the minds of others.
God.
The Creator.
The source of all being,
Or life.
God's essence is Spirit,
Which is shared with all creation.
Yet the word God can be limiting,
Since universal energy and life are infinitely vast and cannot be contained in a word.
Holy Spirit.
The communication link between God and us,
Bridging the gap between the mind of Christ and our human minds.
The voice for God.
And now,
On to the reading.
A Course in Miracles,
Chapter 14,
Teaching for Truth.
Section 1.
The Conditions of Learning.
If you are blessed and do not know it,
You need to learn it must be so.
The knowledge is not taught,
But its conditions must be acquired,
For it is they that have been thrown away.
You can learn to bless,
And cannot give what you have not.
If,
Then,
You offer blessing,
It must have come first to yourself,
And you must also have accepted it as yours,
For how else could you give it away?
This is why miracles offer you the testimony that you are blessed.
If what you offer is complete forgiveness,
You must have let guilt go,
Accepting the atonement for yourself and learning you are guiltless.
How could you learn what has been done for you,
Unknown to you,
Unless you do what you would have to do if it had been done for you?
Indirect proof of truth is needed in a world made of denial and without direction.
You will perceive the need for this if you realize that to deny is the decision not to know.
The logic of the world must therefore lead to nothing,
For its goal is nothing.
If you decide to have and give and be nothing except a dream,
You must direct your thoughts into oblivion.
And if you have and give and are everything,
And all this has been denied,
Your thought system is closed off and wholly separated from the truth.
This is an insane world,
And do not underestimate the extent of its insanity.
There is no area of your perception that it is not touched,
And your dream is sacred to you.
That is why God placed the Holy Spirit in you where you place the dream.
Seeing is always outward.
Were your thoughts wholly of you,
The thought system you made would be forever dark.
The thoughts the mind of God's Son projects or extends have all the power that He gives to them.
The thoughts He shares with God are beyond His belief,
But those He made are His beliefs.
And it is these,
And not the truth,
That He has chosen to defend and love.
They will not be taken from Him,
But they can be given up by Him,
For the source of their undoing is in Him.
There is nothing in the world to teach Him that the logic of the world is totally insane and leads to nothing.
Yet in Him,
Who made this insane logic,
There is One who knows it leads to nothing,
For He knows everything.
Any direction that would lead you where the Holy Spirit leads you not,
Goes nowhere.
Anything you deny that He knows to be true,
You have denied yourself,
And He must therefore teach you not to deny it.
Undoing is indirect as doing is.
You were created only to create,
Neither to see nor do.
These are but indirect expressions of the will to live,
Which has been blocked by the capricious and unholy whim of death and murder that your Father does not share with you.
You have set yourself the task of sharing what cannot be shared.
And while you think it possible to learn to do this,
You will not believe all that is possible to learn to do.
The Holy Spirit therefore must begin His teaching by showing you what you can never learn.
His message is not indirect,
But He must introduce the simple truth into a thought system which has become so twisted and so complex you cannot see that it means nothing.
He merely looks at its foundation and dismisses it.
But you,
Who cannot undo what you have made,
Nor escape the heavy burden of its dullness that lies upon your mind,
Cannot see through it.
It deceives you,
Because you chose to deceive yourself.
Those who choose to be deceived will merely attack direct approaches,
As they seem to encroach upon deception and strike at it.
