Today’s Workbook Lesson – particularly the latter part of the title – ” … in Him (Christ or Holy Spirit) is His Creator, as He is in me (ACIM, W-354) – reminded me of the metaphor of Russian Dolls, or perhaps a Venn Diagram, if you’re familiar with either of those. The way this is phrased evokes a visual of nesting Our Creator within the Christ Mind within Our Real Identity – the capital “S” eternally shared and infinitely inclusive Self. This seems to be the opposite order of how I think of myself typically as a tiny fragment of something much larger, in turn a part of something even further beyond human comprehension, with the “silly seemingly separate self” being a merely a “part” that I imagined went AWOL from the Christ Mind which is the metaphoric offspring of the Perfect Oneness that created Us.
Yet, perhaps this was intentional; to remind us that in pure non-duality – our happily inevitable destiny, there is no “other” and beyond the “top of the ladder” in our journey home (to where we never left) our identity must be identical as One Spirit to all, since there is no other. As Ken Wapnick reminds us, we can’t stray too far from the (pure non-dual) metaphysics of ACIM. So in Truth – above the line in Ken’s famous metaphysics chart – all placeholder words are equivalent, since there is only Perfect Oneness when we awaken from dualistic dreams. Whew! No need to get bogged down in the details of inside vs. outside when we are ALL INSIDE Perfect Oneness and our sameness brings us home through persistent true forgiveness practice.
Here are a few related quotes from the Course I find helpful with my boldface additions; I hope you find them helpful, too! We really can’t grok what Perfect Oneness means left to our own (ego) devices, but with Holy Spirit’s guidance, we are led inexorably back to that place in our mind that transcends all longing.
“Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.” (ACIM, Preface)“Oneness is simply the idea God is. ²And in His Being, He encompasses all things. ³No mind holds anything but Him. ⁴We say “God is,” and then we cease to speak, for in that knowledge words are meaningless. ⁵There are no lips to speak them, and no part of mind sufficiently distinct to feel that it is now aware of something not itself. ⁶It has united with its Source. ⁷And like its Source Itself, it merely is.” (ACIM, W-169.5:1-7)
“Heaven is not a place nor a condition. ⁶It is merely an awareness of perfect Oneness, and the knowledge that there is nothing else; nothing outside this Oneness, and nothing else within.’ (ACIM, T-18.VI.1:5-6)
“How else can you find joy in a joyless place except by realizing that you are not there? ²You cannot be anywhere God did not put you, and God created you as part of Him. ³That is both where you are and what you are. ⁴It is completely unalterable. ⁵It is total inclusion. ⁶You cannot change it now or ever. ⁷It is forever true. ⁸It is not a belief, but a Fact. ⁹Anything that God created is as true as He is. ¹⁰Its truth lies only in its perfect inclusion in Him Who alone is perfect. ¹¹To deny this is to deny yourself and Him, since it is impossible to accept one without the other.” (ACIM, T-6.II.6:1-11)
… and fitting for the season, we are asked to consider abandoning the belief in separation, which is the foundation for any sort of sacrifice we believe is possible:
“The sign of Christmas is a star, a light in darkness. ²See it not outside yourself, but shining in the Heaven within, and accept it as the sign the time of Christ has come. ³He comes demanding nothing. ⁴No sacrifice of any kind, of anyone, is asked by Him. ⁵In His Presence the whole idea of sacrifice loses all meaning.” (ACIM, T-15.XI.2:1-5)
