Corresponding Text Section
Chapter 24: Escaping the War against Yourself
1. Finding Glory in Innocence
Is it humbleness to think that the Will of the Divine is powerless? Or only arrogance that would deny the Power of your will? You do not yet perceive that every weakness and every condemnation that you perceive and justify is an attack upon your Creator. And because it is an attack on the Creator, it has not happened, nor could it be real. You do not perceive that weakness and condemnation come from you to your sisters and brothers and to yourself because you think the Creator and Its Children are separate. And you must think that they are separate because of fear. For it seems safer to attack another or yourself than to attack the great Creator of the Universe, Whose Power you know.
You do not perceive what this belief in separation has done. You perceive yourself as vulnerable, frail, and easily destroyed, at the mercy of countless attackers, each more powerful than you. Let us observe clearly how this error came about, for here lies buried the heavy anchor that seems to keep the fear of the Divine in place, unmovable and solid as a rock. While this error remains, so will this fear seem to be.
Who can attack the Children of the Divine and not attack their Creator? How can the Divine’s Children be weak and frail and easily destroyed unless their Creator is as well?
If you are One with your Creator, and recognize this Oneness, then you know that Its Power is yours. But you will not remember this while you believe attack of any kind means anything. It is unjustified in any form because it has no Meaning. The only way it could be justified would be if each of the Divine’s Children were separate from the other, and all were separate from their Creator. For only then would it be possible to attack a Part of the Creation without attacking the Whole, to attack the Children without attacking the Creator, to attack another without attacking yourself, or to hurt yourself without all others feeling pain. And this belief you have wanted. Yet wherein lies its value in your mind except in the desire to attack in safety?
Attack is neither safe nor dangerous. It is impossible in truth. And this is so because the infinite and eternal Universe is One. You chose attack on the Universe’s Reality because it was only through attack that you could perceive the Universe as separate from Its Creator. And thus it seemed as if love could attack and become fearful.
Only the different can attack, so the split mind concluded that because you can attack you must be different. Yet does the Holy Spirit see this another way: Because in Reality you are not different, in truth you cannot attack. Either position is a logical conclusion, if it is true that only the different can attack. Either position could be maintained, but never both. The only question to be answered to decide which conclusion must be true is whether you are different.
From the position of what you understand, you seem to be different from your sisters and brothers, and therefore you can attack. Of the two alternatives, this seems more natural, and more in line with your experience. And therefore it is necessary that you have other experiences, in line with Truth, to teach you what is true and natural.
This is the function of your holy relationship. For in this relationship, what one thinks and feels, the other will experience with them. What can this mean except that your minds and hearts are joined? Accept this happy fact with Joy, realizing that it lifts a heavy burden from you. For when you have accepted it with gladness, you will realize that your relationship is a reflection of the Union of the Creator and Its Children. In loving minds there is no separation. And every true thought in one brings gladness to the other because they are the same. Joy is unlimited because each radiant Thought of Love extends Its Being, and creates more of Itself. There is no difference anywhere within It. For every Thought is like Itself.
The Light that joins you shines throughout the Universe. And because It joins you, It makes you One with your Creator. And in It is all Creation joined. Would you regret that you cannot fear alone, when your relationship can also teach you that the Power of Love is there, which makes all fear impossible? Do not attempt to keep a little of the ego with this Gift. For It was given to be used, and not obscured. What teaches you that you cannot separate or be separate also denies the ego. Let Truth decide if you and your sisters and brothers are different or the same, and whether illusions are different from each other or the same as you, and teach you which is true.
Do you see that the opposite of frailty and weakness is Innocence? Innocence is Strength, and nothing else is strong. The innocent cannot fear, and fear of any kind is weakness. The show of strength that attack would use to cover frailty conceals it not. For how can the unreal be hidden? Anyone who believes they have an enemy is weak, and no one can attack unless they believe they have an enemy. Belief in enemies is therefore the belief in weakness, and weakness is not the Will of the Divine. Being in opposition to It, weakness believes the Divine is its “enemy.” And the Divine is feared as an opposing will.
How strange indeed becomes this war against your Self! As you associate yourself with the ego you will believe that everything you use erroneously can hurt you and become your enemy. And you will fight against this perceived enemy and try to weaken it because you believe it can hurt you. And you will think that you succeeded, and will attack again. It is as certain that you will fear what you attack as it is sure that you will love what you perceive as innocent.
They walk in Peace who journey without attack along the Way Love shows them. For Love walks with them there, protecting them from fear. And they will see only the innocent, who cannot attack. Walk you in Glory, with your head held high, and fear no evil. The innocent are safe because they share their Innocence. Nothing they see is harmful, for their awareness of the Truth releases everything from the illusion of harmfulness. And what seemed harmful now stands shining in their Innocence, released from attack and fear, and happily returned to Love. They share the Strength of Love because they behold Innocence. And every error disappears because they see beyond it.
They who seek the Divine’s Glory find It where It is. Where could It be but in the innocent? Let not the little distractors or interferers pull you into littleness. There can be no attraction of guilt in Innocence. Think what a happy world you walk with Truth beside you! Do not give up this world of Freedom for a little sigh of seeming sin, nor for a tiny stirring of guilt’s attraction. Would you, for all these meaningless distractions, lay Heaven aside? Your Destiny and Purpose are far beyond them, in the perfect Peace where littleness does not exist.
Your Purpose is at variance with littleness of any kind. And so It is at variance with the belief in flaw, unholiness and unworthiness. Let us not let littleness lead the Divine’s Children into the temptation to forget their Purpose. Their Glory is far beyond littleness and error. It is as measureless and timeless as Eternity.
Do not let time intrude upon your vision of your sisters and brothers. Leave them not frightened and alone in their dreams of littleness and the temptation to mis-project, but help them rise above these, and perceive the Light of which they are a Part. Your Innocence will light the Way to theirs, and so is yours protected, and kept in your awareness. For who can know their Creator’s Glory and still perceive the little and the weak around them? Who can realize that Heaven’s Glory shines in them, and still walk trembling in a fearful world?
Everything around you is part of you. Behold it lovingly, and see the Light of Heaven in it. So will you come to understand all that is given you. In kind forgiveness will the world sparkle and shine, and everything you once thought separate and flawed now will be reinterpreted as Part of Heaven. How beautiful it is to walk liberated and clear and happy through a world in bitter need of the awakening that your Innocence bestows upon it! What could be valued more than this? For here is your awakening and your Freedom. And these must be complete if you would recognize them.
