Corresponding Text Section

Chapter 7: Healing and the Realm of Heaven Within

2. Applying All Abilities to One Goal

To heal is to liberate. One of this Course’s miracle principles states that everything that comes from Divine Love is a miracle, and its commentary clarifies that every expression of Love is maximal, which means that every miracle is as effective as is possible in each circumstance. This relates to the first miracle principle that there are no levels or orders of magnitude of difficulty in miracles. This principle has no range or spectrum at all. When something does not appear to be maximal with regard to a miracle it is because the circumstances or expectations connected to the miracle are being placed within a perceptual range. Ranges seem to be meaningful in order to measure something from a conceived maximum and identify its position by how much it is not there. With regard to miracles this does not mean anything.

This idea of ranges of the less than maximal is like the idea of negative numbers, in that the concept can be used theoretically but has no practical application. With negative numbers this is understood in the sense that quantities less than zero of actual things do not exist. It is true that if three apples were placed on a table and then taken away, the three apples would not be there. But it is not true that the table would then be minus three apples. If there is nothing on the table now, it does not matter what at one time was there in terms of amount. The “nothing” is neither greater nor less because of what is absent. And of course the idea of there being less than no apples on the table, i.e., a negative number of apples, makes no sense in actuality, though negative numbers in this sense are a major aspect of the concept of debt that is a foundation stone of the ego’s world.

The meaninglessness of range with regard to maximality is why the concepts of “all” and “nothing” are complete opposites and without a quantifiable range between them, because “all” if quantified would equate with infinity, and a range related to infinity would be unable to be measured. This is perfectly clear in tests of “maximal” performance, or what people are thought to be capable of doing, predicted only by their assumed ability if their motivation were maximal. It is clear that performance cannot be interpreted at all unless either maximal possible motivation or its complete absence are assumed. Only in these two conditions can responses be validly compared, and in this case maximal motivation and its resulting effort must be assumed, because if there were zero motivation, then the subject will not do anything. Given variable motivation the subject will theoretically do something, but what that is cannot be understood in ego terms.

The results of such tests are evaluated relatively, assuming maximal possible motivation. But this is because these tests are dealing with abilities, where degrees of development are meaningful. This does not mean that what the abilities are used for is necessarily either divided or limited. But one thing is certain: Abilities are potentials for learning, and you will apply them to what you want to learn. Learning is effort, and effort means will, or in this case motivation.

You will notice that the term “abilities” has been used here as a plural, which is correct. This is because abilities began with the ego, which perceived them as a potential for excelling. This is how the ego still perceives and uses them. It does not want to teach everyone all it has learned, because that would defeat its purpose in learning. Therefore, it does not really learn at all. The Holy Spirit teaches you to use the abilities that the ego has made, and with them teach the opposite of exclusivity, which is what the ego has learned through them. The kind of learning with regard to exclusivity is as irrelevant as is the particular ability that the ego applied to the learning.

There couldn’t be a better example of the Holy Spirit’s unified Purpose for learning than this Course. In teaching it to you, the Holy Spirit is taking very diversified areas of your past learning and applying them to a unified curriculum. The fact that this was not the ego’s reason for your learning in the past is totally irrelevant. You made the effort to learn in the past as you are making it now, and the Holy Spirit has a unified Goal for all effort. It adapts the ego’s potentials for exclusion and excelling to potentials for inclusion and equalizing. This makes these potentials useless for the ego’s purpose, but very useful for Spirit’s Purpose.

If different abilities are applied long enough to one goal, the abilities themselves become unified. This is because they are channeled in one direction, or in one way. Ultimately, then, they all contribute to one result, and by so doing their similarity rather than their differences is emphasized. You can excel in many different directions and ways, but you can include and equalize in only one direction and one way. Inclusion and equality, like maximality, are not variable states by definition. That is why your true functions in life will be easy to fulfill when you have learned this Course. To the ego there appears to be no connection, because the ego is discontinuous. But the Holy Spirit teaches one Lesson and applies it to all individuals in all situations. Being conflict-free, Spirit maximizes all efforts and all results. By teaching the Power of the Realm of the Divine Itself, It teaches you that all Power is yours. This Power’s specific 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, “Behold I am with you always,” I meant it literally. I am present with and available to everyone in every situation. Because I am always with you, you are the Way, the Truth, and the Light. 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. Perceiving It as exclusive would make It meaningless by eliminating or overlooking Its real and only Meaning.

The Divine’s Meaning waits in the Realm of Heaven because that is where the Divine placed It. It does not wait in time. It merely rests in the Realm because It belongs there, as you do. How can you, who are the Divine’s Meaning, perceive yourself as absent from It? You can perceive yourself as separated from your true meaning only by experiencing yourself as unreal. This is why the ego aspect or perspective of the mind is delusional. It teaches that you are not what you are. This is so contradictory that it is clearly impossible. It is therefore a lesson that cannot be learned, and therefore cannot be taught. But you are always teaching. You must, then, be teaching something other than delusion, even though the ego does not know what it is.

The ego, then, is naturally always being undone, and does suspect your motives. Your mind cannot be unified in allegiance to the ego, because the mind does not belong to it. But what is “treacherous” to the ego is faithful to Peace. What the ego considers its “enemy” is therefore your Friend. It was said before that the ego’s friend, the body, is not part of you, but that is because the ego perceives itself as at war and therefore in need of allies. You, who are not at war, must look for sisters and brothers and recognize everyone you perceive as sisters and brothers, because only equals are at peace.

Because the Divine’s equal Children have and share Everything equally, they cannot compete. But if they perceive any of their brothers or sisters as anything other than their perfect equals, then the idea of competition has entered their minds. Do not underestimate your need to be vigilant against this idea, because all your conflicts come from it. This is the belief that conflicting interests are possible, and therefore means that you have accepted the impossible as true. How is that different from saying that you are perceiving yourself as unreal?

To be in the Realm of the Divine is merely to focus your full attention on It. As long as you believe that you can attend to what is not true, you are accepting conflict as your choice. Is this really a choice? It seems to be, but seeming and Reality are hardly the same. You who are the Realm should not be concerned with seeming. Reality is yours because you are part of Reality. This is how having and being are ultimately reconciled, not in the Realm, where they were never separate, but in your mind. The Altar in your mind is the only Reality. It is perfectly clear in Its Thought because It reflects perfect Thought. It perceives only sisters and brothers because It sees only in Its Own Light.

The Divine has lit your mind Itself, and keeps your mind lit by Its Light because Its Light is what your mind is. This Truth is totally beyond question. And when you questioned It, you were answered. The Answer merely undoes the question by establishing the fact that to question Reality is to question meaninglessly. That is why the Holy Spirit never questions. Its sole Function is to undo the questionable, and thus lead to Certainty. The certain are perfectly calm because they are not in doubt. They do not raise questions because nothing questionable enters their minds. This holds them in perfect Serenity because this is what they share, knowing what they are.