Hi,
I'm Teresa Hubbard.
Welcome back to our continued reading of the text to A Course in Miracles.
We continue today in Chapter 6,
The Lessons of Love.
Section 5,
The Lessons of the Holy Spirit,
Subpart A,
To Have,
Give All,
To All.
To summarize my takeaways,
In Section 5,
Subpart A of Chapter 6,
We are offered the first of three lessons given to us by the Holy Spirit.
We learn here that the Holy Spirit reinterprets the body,
Which the ego uses as an argument for separation,
Into a demonstration against it.
If the mind can heal the body,
But the body cannot heal the mind,
Then the mind must be stronger than the body.
Everything is accomplished through life,
And life is of the mind and in the mind.
Every miracle demonstrates this.
While the ego uses the body for attack,
For pleasure,
And for pride,
The Holy Spirit uses the body only as a means of communication,
And because communication is sharing,
It becomes communion.
To the Holy Spirit,
There is no order of difficulty in miracles.
Although this is familiar to us by now,
It has not yet become believable to us.
Yet we are reminded that we cannot perform miracles without believing it because it is a belief in perfect equality.
Only one equal gift can be offered to the equal sons of God,
And that is full appreciation,
Nothing more and nothing less.
Without a range,
Order of difficulty is meaningless,
And there must be no range in what you offer to your brother.
We learn that this first lesson,
To have all,
Give all,
To all,
Is a very preliminary step and the only one we must thank ourselves.
We are told that this step may appear to exacerbate conflict rather than resolve it,
Because it is the beginning step in reversing our upside-down perception that we have not yet abandoned.
We are also cautioned that some of us may remain at this step for a long time,
Experiencing very acute conflict,
Perhaps even deciding to accept the conflict rather than taking the next step toward its resolution.
Yet we are lovingly reminded that simply making a decision to make that first step will offer us the help we need.
Once we make that decision,
We will see that we are no longer alone.
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 definitions of 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.
Holy Spirit,
The communication link between God and us,
Bridging the gap between the mind of Christ and our human minds.
And now,
On to the reading.
A Course in Miracles Chapter 6,
The Lessons of Love Section 5,
The Lessons of the Holy Spirit Subpart A,
To Have,
Give All to All When your body and your ego and your dreams are gone,
You will know that you will last forever.
Perhaps you think this is accomplished through death,
But nothing is accomplished through death because death is nothing.
Everything is accomplished through life,
And life is of the mind and in the mind.
The body neither lives nor dies,
Because it cannot contain you who are life.
If we share the same mind,
You can overcome death,
Because I did.
Death is an attempt to resolve conflict by not deciding at all.
Like any other impossible solution the ego attempts,
It will not work.
God did not make the body,
Because it is destructible and therefore not of the kingdom.
The body is the symbol of what you think you are.
It is clearly a separation device and therefore does not exist.
The Holy Spirit,
As always,
Takes what you have made and translates it into a learning device.
Again,
As always,
He reinterprets what the ego uses as an argument for separation into a demonstration against it.
If the mind can heal the body,
But the body cannot heal the mind,
Then the mind must be stronger than the body.
Every miracle demonstrates this.
I have said that the Holy Spirit is the motivation for miracles.
He always tells you that only the mind is real,
Because only the mind can be shared.
The body is separate and therefore cannot be part of you.
To be of one mind is meaningful,
But to be one body is meaningless.
By the laws of mind then,
The body is meaningless.
To the Holy Spirit,
There is no order of difficulty in miracles.
This is familiar enough to you by now,
But it has not yet become believable.
Therefore you do not understand it and cannot use it.
We have too much to accomplish on behalf of the kingdom to let this crucial concept slip away.
It is a real foundation stone of the thought system I teach and want you to teach.
You cannot perform miracles without believing it,
Because it is a belief in perfect equality.
Only one equal gift can be offered to the equal sons of God,
And that is full appreciation,
Nothing more and nothing less.
Without a range,
Order of difficulty is meaningless,
And there must be no range in what you offer to your brother.
The Holy Spirit,
Who leads to God,
Translates communication into being,
Just as he ultimately translates perception into knowledge.
You do not lose what you communicate.
The ego uses the body for attack,
For pleasure,
And for pride.
The insanity of this perception makes it a fearful one indeed.
The Holy Spirit sees the body only as a means of communication,
And because communicating is sharing,
It becomes communion.
Perhaps you think that fear,
As well as love,
Can be communicated,
And therefore can be shared.
Yet this is not so real as it may appear.
Egoes who communicate fear are promoting attack,
And attack always breaks communication,
Making it impossible.
Egoes do join together in temporary allegiance,
But always for what each other can get separately.
The Holy Spirit communicates only what each one can give to all.
He never takes anything back,
Because he wants you to keep it.
Therefore his teaching begins with this lesson,
To have,
Give all to all.
This is a very preliminary step,
And the only one you must take for yourself.
It is not even necessary that you complete this step yourself,
But it is necessary that you turn in that direction.
Having chosen to go that way,
You place yourself in charge of the journey,
Where you and only you must remain.
This step may appear to exacerbate conflict rather than resolve it,
Because it is the beginning step in reversing your perception and turning it right side up.
This conflicts with the upside down perception you have not yet abandoned,
Or the change in direction would not have been necessary.
Some remain at this step for a long time,
Experiencing very acute conflict.
At this point,
They may try to accept the conflict,
Rather than take the next step toward its resolution.
Having taken the first step,
However,
They will be helped.
Once they have chosen what they cannot complete alone,
They are no longer alone.
