We discuss “The Attraction of Love for Love” (T-12.VIII)” and how ego vigorously defends against any semblance of awareness of true (unchanging, all-encompassing, all-inclusive, eternally shared, non-dual, unchangeable) love in this video recording (of a class facilitated by Bruce Rawles as part of the School For A Course In Miracles (SFACIM) curriculum hosted by Lyn Corona and Tim Wise.) we started with ACIM’s Workbook Lesson 35: My mind is part of God’s. I am very holy. (ACIM, W-35) as an introduction and meditation. As is so often the case in A Course In Miracles, we’re guided to look at the blocks to the awareness of Love’s Presence in our mind, since eternal Love doesn’t require our “help” to be what it forever is. Yet gentle, patient, persistent vigilance is required to reveal our resistance to experience that Love. Here are some of these blocks and ego doesn’t care if these are differences that make us “better” or “worse” as long as there are differences that reinforce duality and separation:
“I see myself as imposed on.
I see myself as depressed.
I see myself as failing.
I see myself as endangered.
I see myself as helpless.
I see myself as victorious.
I see myself as losing out.
I see myself as charitable.
I see myself as virtuous.” (W-35.6:2-10)
For the ego to maintain its tyrannical stronghold over our mind, it must blind us to the Real Alternative – represented by the Holy Spirit’s message of all-inclusive, eternal innocence and the forgiveness needed to restore that vision to our mind. The border between the insanity of the ego’s blind thought system and the sanity of the Holy Spirit’s All-seeing thought system is like a one-way mirror:
The ego can’t see into the Holy Spirit’s mind, because it was made to “see” differences, separation, duality, and conflict (to enable projection, even though that has never worked) and NOT see sameness, innocence, and peace. On the ego side of the one-way mirror, its darkness is reflected back to itself, since it wants to hide from the metaphoric light.
From the other side, the Holy Spirit, having nothing to hide or resist, looks at the silly nothingness of ego’s boring, depressing frightening nightmare and reports that “nothing happened” since a causeless cause can have no effects; seeing nothing looking through the glass lightly at ego’s darkness, it finds nothing to condemn but only the opportunity for forgiveness. “The Holy Spirit sees the body only as a means of communication, and because communicating is sharing it becomes communion.” (T-6.V-A.5:5)
Holy Spirit sees ego’s darkness as a forgivable nothing; ego can’t see Holy Spirit’s light but is threatened by the idea that there COULD be light!The word “invisible” (or variations thereof) appear 22 times in ACIM.
Here are the first 3 paragraphs of “The Attraction of Love for Love” (ACIM, T-12.VIII)”:
“1. Do you really believe that you can kill the Son of God? The Father has hidden His Son safely within Himself, and kept him far away from your destructive thoughts, but you know neither the Father nor the Son because of them. You attack the real world every day and every hour and every minute, and yet you are surprised that you cannot see it. If you seek love in order to attack it, you will never find it. For if love is sharing, how can you find it except through itself? Offer it and it will come to you, because it is drawn to itself. But offer attack and love will remain hidden, for it can live only in peace.
2. God’s Son is as safe as his Father, for the Son knows his Father’s protection and cannot fear. His Father’s Love holds him in perfect peace, and needing nothing, he asks for nothing. Yet he is far from you whose Self he is, for you chose to attack him and he disappeared from your sight into his Father. He did not change, but you did. For a split mind and all its works were not created by the Father, and could not live in the knowledge of Him.
3. When you made visible what is not true, what is true became invisible to you. Yet it cannot be invisible in itself, for the Holy Spirit sees it with perfect clarity. It is invisible to you because you are looking at something else. Yet it is no more up to you to decide what is visible and what is invisible, than it is up to you to decide what reality is. What can be seen is what the Holy Spirit sees. The definition of reality is God’s, not yours. He created it, and He knows what it is. You who knew have forgotten, and unless He had given you a way to remember you would have condemned yourself to oblivion.” (T-12.VIII.1:1–3:8)
Trust in the Holy Spirit’s reassuring forgiveness curriculum is essential as we look without condemnation at the abhorrent, yet ineffectual (in Truth) thoughts the ego holds about everyone and everything; we must look at our investment in its insane and hateful thought system of sin, guilt, fear and mindless oblivion.
We also read – a superb exposé of the silliness of special love which blinds us to the forgiving path to peace:
Sonnet 138: When my love swears that she is made of truth
“BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
When my love swears that she is made of truth,
I do believe her, though I know she lies,
That she might think me some untutored youth,
Unlearnèd in the world’s false subtleties.
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
Although she knows my days are past the best,
Simply I credit her false-speaking tongue:
On both sides thus is simple truth suppressed.
But wherefore says she not she is unjust?
And wherefore say not I that I am old?
Oh, love’s best habit is in seeming trust,
And age in love loves not to have years told.
Therefore I lie with her and she with me,
And in our faults by lies we flattered be.”
This reassuring excerpt from “The Bridge to the Real World” reminds us that at the end of our forgiveness curriculum, we will see that we have only sacrificed the idea of sacrifice (and all variations of its insane imprisoning belief system of sinfulness, guiltiness, and fearfulness). Here is a description of what awaits us when we accept our Inner Kindness Teacher’s promptings to reconsider the necessity of self-martyrdom, victimhood, and crucifixion:
“Be glad you have escaped the mockery of salvation the ego offered you, and look not back with longing on the travesty it made of your relationships. ²Now no one need suffer, for you have come too far to yield to the illusion of the beauty and holiness of guilt. ³Only the wholly insane could look on death and suffering, sickness and despair, and see it thus. ⁴What guilt has wrought is ugly, fearful and very dangerous. ⁵See no illusion of truth and beauty there. ⁶And be you thankful that there is a place where truth and beauty wait for you. ⁷Go on to meet them gladly, and learn how much awaits you for the simple willingness to give up nothing because it is nothing.
The new perspective you will gain from crossing over will be the understanding of where Heaven is.²From this side, it seems to be outside and across the bridge.³Yet as you cross to join it, it will join with you and become one with you.⁴And you will think, in glad astonishment, that for all this you gave up nothing!⁵The joy of Heaven, which has no limit, is increased with each light that returns to take its rightful place within it.⁶Wait no longer, for the Love of God and you.⁷And may the holy instant speed you on the way, as it will surely do if you but let it come to you.” (T-16.VI.10:1–11:7)
We can afford to be truly glad that: “The word ‘inevitable’ is fearful to the ego, but joyous to the spirit.” (T-4.I.9:10)
To summarize:
Insanity (ego) is attracted to failure, guilt, pain, and death… yet afraid of redemption. “What if you looked within and saw no sin? (T-21.IV.3:1)
Sanity (guided by our Inner Kindness Teacher, a.k.a. Holy Spirit) is attracted to Love, eternally held in safe-keeping from what duality would destroy … if it could.
(This YouTube video recording was made on February 4, 2024.)
Here’s a little PhotoShop modification of the original “Invisible Man” movie poster:
