ARCIM

Daily Lesson 128 ~
May 8

A world that can be looked upon [a world of illusions] holds nothing that I want.

The world that you look upon – the world of illusions – offers nothing that you truly need, nothing that you can truly use in any way, nor anything at all that serves to give you Joy. Believe this thought and you are saved from years of countless disappointments and hopes that turn to bitter ashes of despair. Everyone must accept this thought as true if they would transcend this world of lack, limits, judgment and fear and soar beyond its petty scope and little ways.

Each thing you value here is merely a chain that binds you to the world, and it will serve no other end but this. For everything must serve the purpose you have given it until you perceive a different purpose there. The only purpose worthy of your mind that this world contains is that you release it, without delaying to look upon some hope where there is none, some toy or trinket that catches your eye and entices you to forget once more. Be you deceived no more. A world that can be looked upon has nothing that you want.

Release today the chains you placed upon your mind when you perceived value in this world woven from dreams of fear. For what you value you make part of you, as you perceive yourself. All things that you seek in order to make your value greater in your self-image limit you further, hide your real Worth from you, and add another shadow bar across the door that leads to true awareness of your holy Self. Let nothing that relates to self-images or to looking through the body’s eyes delay your progress to awakening, nor permit to hold you back any temptation to believe the world has anything new to offer or anything you truly desire. Nothing is here to cherish because nothing is truly here. Thus nothing here is worth one instant of delay or pain, one moment of uncertainty and doubt. Certainty of worth cannot be found in worthlessness. The worthless offers nothing.

Today we practice letting go all thought of values we have given to the world. We leave it free of purposes we gave its aspects and its phases and its dreams. We hold it purposeless within our minds, and loosen it from all we wish it were. Thus do we remove the paper chains that seem to bar the Door to Freedom from the world, as we go beyond all little values and diminished goals.

Be still a little while in Peace and see how far you rise above the world when you release your mind from the fear you laid on it, and let it seek the Realm where it finds itself at home. Your mind will be grateful to soar free. It knows where it belongs. Just free its wings and it will fly in Sureness and in Joy to join its holy Purpose. Let it rest in its Creator, there to be restored to Sanity, to Freedom, and to Love.

Give your mind ten minutes rest three times today. And when your eyes are opened afterward, you will not value anything you perceive as much as when you looked on it before. Your entire perspective on the world will shift by just a little every time you release your mind from the illusions you have laid on it. The world has become stuck and not where it now should be. And you are where it should be and where it goes when you release it of your judgments. Your Guide is sure. Open your mind to It. Be still and rest.

Protect your mind throughout the day as well. And when you think you perceive some value in an aspect or an image of the world, refuse to lay this burden upon your mind, and tell yourself with quiet certainty:

“This will not tempt me to delay myself. A world that can be looked upon holds nothing that I want.”

 

Corresponding Text Section

 

Chapter 10: Idols, Gods, or the Divine

 

4. Giving Up the God of Sickness

A sick god must be an idol, made in the image of what its maker thinks its self is. And that is exactly what the ego aspect of the split mind does think about its self, and then mis-projects this distorted self-image onto a perfect Child of the Divine: a sick god, self-created, self-sufficient, very vicious, and very vulnerable. Is this idol the thing that you would worship or honor? Is this image what you would be vigilant to protect? Are you really afraid of losing this?

Calmly consider the logical conclusion of the ego’s thought system, and assess whether its offering is really what you want, for this idol is what it offers you. To obtain this, you have been willing to dismiss the holiness of your sisters and brothers, and thus lose sight of yours. And you have been willing to keep your holiness hidden to protect this idol, thinking that this will protect you from dangers that the idol itself stands for, but which do not exist.

There are no idols or idolaters in the Realm of Heaven, but there is great appreciation for every spirit that the Divine created, because of the calm Knowledge that each one is Part of It. The Divine’s Children can know no idols, but they do know their Creator.

Health in this world – which is of the mind only and then manifest in the body and the world that is perceived – is the counterpart of Value in Heaven. It is not my merit that I contribute to you, but my love, for you do not yet value yourself wholly. When you do not value yourself wholly you become sick, but my value of you can heal you, because the Value of the Divine’s Children is One.

When I said, “My peace I give unto you,” I meant it quite literally. I am One with the Divine’s Peace and it is my Joy to give It to you. Peace is of the holy Self we share and so is for you when you invite It. When a brother or sister is sick, it is because they have forgotten to invite Peace, and therefore don’t know they have It. The acceptance of Peace is the right denial of illusion, and sickness is an illusion. All Children of the Divine have the Power to deny illusions anywhere in the world, merely by denying them completely in themselves.

I can heal you because I know you. I know your Value for you, and it is this Value that renders you whole. A whole mind is in the Realm of Heaven and therefore not idolatrous, and does not know of conflicting laws. I will heal you merely because I have only one Message, and It is true. Your faith in It will make you whole, when you have faith in me. I bring the Divine’s Message without deception, and you will learn this as you learn that you always receive as much as you accept. You could accept Peace now for everyone you meet, and offer them perfect freedom from all illusions, because you heard this Message. But have no gods or idols in place of the Divine, or you will not hear.

The Divine is not jealous of the gods or idols you make, but you are. You would protect them and serve them because you unconsciously believe that they made you. You think they are your maker because you are projecting onto them the fearful fact that you made them to replace the Divine as your Creator. (Recall our discussion about the Authority problem.) But when they seem to speak to you, remember that nothing can replace the Divine, and whatever replacements you have attempted are nothing. Very simply, then, you may believe that you are afraid of nothingness, but what you are really afraid of is not there, and therefore is nothing. And in that awareness you are healed.

You will heed the gods or idols you honor and listen to. You made the god of sickness, and by making it, you made yourself able to honor and listen to it. But you did not create it, because it is not the Will of the Creator, and therefore could not be created. It is therefore not eternal, and will be undone for you the Instant you signify your willingness to accept only the Eternal. If the Divine has only one Creation, then there is only one Creator. You share Reality with It because Reality is not divided. To accept gods or idols in place of the Divine is to accept images in place of yourself. You do not realize how much you honor and listen to your gods and idols, and how vigilant you have been on their behalf. But they exist only because you honor and listen to them.

Place honor where it is due, and Peace will be yours. It is your Inheritance from your Creator as it is mine, and thus free for both of us to give. You cannot make your Creator, and the “maker” you made did not make you. Honor is not illusions’ due, for to honor them is to honor nothing, and to listen to them is to hear nothing. But fear is not due them either, for nothing cannot be fearful. You have chosen to fear Love because of Its perfect Harmlessness. And because of this fear, you have been willing to give up your own perfect Helpfulness, and your own perfect Help. Only at the Altar of the Divine will you find Peace, and this Altar is in you, because the Divine put It there. Its Voice still calls you to return, and It will be heard when you place no gods or idols before It.

You can give up the god of sickness for your sisters and brothers. In fact, you will automatically do so if you give it up for yourself. For if you perceive this false god anywhere, you are accepting it. And if you accept it, you will honor and listen to it, because it was made as the Divine’s replacement. This “god” is the belief that you can choose which creator is real. Although it is perfectly clear that this has nothing to do with Reality, it is equally clear that it has everything to do with reality as the separated ones perceive it.

All belief in enchantment magic (the belief in a will other than the Divine’s) is a form of attempting to reconcile the irreconcilable. All true religion – “binding yourself again to the Divine” – is the recognition that the irreconcilable cannot be reconciled—that what is false cannot be bound again or ever to the Truth. Perfection and sickness are irreconcilable. If the Divine created you perfect, then you are perfect. If you believe you can be sick, then you have placed another god in place of the Divine. The Divine is not at war with the god of sickness that you made, but you are. It is the symbol of willing against the Divine, and you are afraid of it because it cannot be reconciled with the Divine’s Will. If you join battle against it to oppose it, you will make it real to yourself. But if you refuse to honor and listen to it, in whatever form it may appear to you, and wherever you think you perceive it, it will disappear into the nothingness from which it appeared.