The separated ones live by symbols. They have made up names for everything they perceive. Each thing becomes a separate entity, identified by its own name. By this process each thing has been carved out of Unity. By this each thing has been designated its special attributes, and set off from other things by the emphasis on specialness and the space surrounding it. This space has been laid between all things to which a different name has been given, all happenings in terms of place and time, all bodies that are greeted with a name.
This space you perceive that allows all things to be set apart, one from another, is the means by which the world’s perception is achieved. You thus perceive something – a space between all things, and between all things and you – where nothing is, and nothing where there is Unity. Thus do you think that you have given and been given life in separation. By this split between each perceived thing you think you are established as a distinct unity that functions with an independent will.
What are these names by which the world becomes a series of bodies kept apart and holding bits of mind as separate awarenesses, of things ununified, of discrete events? You gave or have accepted these names for them, establishing perception as you wished to have perception be. Nameless things were also given names, and seeming reality was thus given them as well. For what is named is given meaning by the namer and those who accept the name, and will then be perceived as meaningful, a cause of true effects, with consequence inherent in itself.
This is the way the world of illusions is made by partial perception, purposefully set against the Truth of Oneness given in Creation. The enemy of this partial perception is believed to be Wholeness. This perception conceives of little things and looks upon them. And a lack of space, a sense of unity, or perception that perceives differently become the threats that it must conflict with, overcome, and deny.
Yet does another way of perceiving still remain a natural direction for the mind to focus its perception. It is hard to teach the mind a thousand arbitrary names, and thousands more. Yet you may believe that this is what learning means, its one essential goal by which communication is achieved and concepts can be meaningfully shared. This is the sum of the inheritance the world bestows. And everyone who learns to think that it is so accepts the signs and symbols that assert the world looked upon is real. It is for this they stand. They leave no doubt that what is named is there. It can be perceived with the body’s senses, as anticipated. What denies that these bits and pieces and fragments of perception are true must be delusion, for this kind of perception is believed to be the ultimate reality. To accept its presence is the proof of sanity. To question it is madness.
Such is the teaching of the world. It is a phase of learning everyone who comes here must go through. But the sooner you perceive on what it rests, how questionable are its premises, and how doubtful its results, the sooner will you question its effects. Learning that stops with what the world would teach stops short of Meaning. In its proper place, the world’s learning serves merely as a starting point from which another kind of learning can begin, a new perception can be gained, and all the arbitrary names the world bestows can be withdrawn as their actual meaning is questioned.
Think not that the Real World is made by this naming process. Illusions, yes! But what is true in Earth and Heaven is beyond all naming. You still make appeal to your brother’s or sister’s body when you call to them. Their true Identity is hidden from you by what you thus believe they are. Their bodies make response to what you call their persons, for their minds consent to take the names that have been given them as their own. And therefore their Unity is twice denied, for you perceive them separate from you, and they accept this separateness as theirs.
It would indeed be counterproductive if you were asked to go beyond all symbols of the world, forgetting them forever, and at the same time were asked to accept a teaching function with your sisters and brothers. You have need to use the symbols of the world a while. But be you not deceived by them as well. They do not stand for anything real at all, and in your practicing it is this thought that will release you from them. They simply become means by which you can communicate in ways the world can understand, but which you recognize is not the Unity where true Communication can be found.
Thus what you need are intervals each day in which the learning of the world becomes a transitory phase, an enclosure that was once perceived as a prison, out of which you go into the sunlight and forget the darkness. In the Light you understand the Divine’s Word of Truth and Love, the Nature and Name that the Divine has given you like Its Own, the one Identity that all things share, the one Acknowledgment of what is true. And from these daily intervals of Light you will step back to darkness, not because you think it real, but only to proclaim its unreality in terms that still have meaning in the world that darkness seems to rule.
Use all the little names and symbols that delineate the world of darkness, yet accept them not as your reality. The Holy Spirit uses all of them, but It does not forget that Creation has only one Nature and Name, one Meaning, and a single Source that unifies all things within Itself. Use all the arbitrary names the world, simply for convenience, bestows on all things, yet remember that all created things share the Nature and Name of the Divine along with you.
The Divine has no name as the world understands this term, something that would divide it off from everything that isn’t this name. And yet Its Nature and Name become the final Lesson that all things are One, and with this Lesson learned does all learning end. All names are now unified; all space is filled with Truth’s Reflection. Every gap is closed, and separation healed. The Nature and Name of the Divine are the Inheritance It gives to those who once chose the teaching of the world to take the place of Heaven. In our practicing, our Purpose is to let our minds accept as fitting tribute to the Children the Divine loves what It has given as the Answer to the pitiful inheritance the separated ones sought to make.
Everyone must succeed who seeks the Meaning of the Nature and Name of the Divine. Experience will come to verify the Divine’s Word of Truth and Love. But preceding this, one Nature and Name for all Reality must be accepted, to realize that the many names you gave Its Aspects have distorted what you perceive, but have not interfered with Truth or Love at all. One Name we bring into our practicing to verify the Divine’s Word. One Name we use to unify our perception.
And though we use a different name for each awareness of an aspect of the Divine’s Children in this world, we understand that they have only one Nature and Name that their Creator has given them. It is this Nature and Name we use in practicing. And through Its use, all foolish separations that kept us blind disappear. And we are given Strength to see beyond them. Now our sight is blessed with blessings we can give as we receive.
Creator, our Nature and Name are Yours. In Them we are united with all that you created, and with You Who are our one Creator. What we made and call by many different names is only a shadow we have tried to cast across Your Own Reality. And we are glad and thankful we were wrong. All our mistakes we give to you that we may be freed of all effects our errors seemed to have. And we accept the Truth You give in place of every one of them. Your Nature and Name are our awakening and release from what we made. Your Nature and Name unite us in the Oneness that is our Inheritance and our Peace. Amen.