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Chapter 2: The Psychological Foundation of Miracles ²

10. Readiness, Mastery, and the Final Judgment

It has been clarified that the basic conflict is one between fear and Love, and that the proper organization of the psyche rests on a lack of level confusion, specifically a lack of confusion about the level in or on which true creative activity takes place, the superconscious, and that on which miscreation takes place, the unconscious. It would be well to read the previous section on psychic energy, the basic conflict, and the creative instinct very carefully, because these ideas are particularly likely to be misinterpreted until they are completely understood.

This Course has made clear that human beings cannot control fear, because they themselves bring fear into their experience through their belief in it. The content of the idea of fear, coupled with their belief in it, renders it out of their control by definition. For this reason, any attempt to resolve the basic conflict through the concept of mastery of fear is meaningless. In fact, such attempts assert the reality and power of fear by the simple assumption that it need be controlled or mastered at all. The essential resolution to fear is in not allowing fear to arise in the first place, and in recognizing its unreality when it does arise, both of which rest entirely on the mastery of Love, that is, the skill of presencing or attuning—of being aware that you are in the Presence of Love.

In the interim, i.e., while this skill is being mastered, conflict is inevitable. The reason for this is the strangely illogical position into which human beings have placed themselves, in which they have made up and believe in an idea – fear – that is entirely harmful to them. Since correction must be applied within the level that error occurs, it should be clear that the miracle must be illogical because its purpose is to correct the illogical – level confusion – and restore order in the mind.

Two concepts that are mutually exclusive and therefore cannot coexist are those of nothing and something, or everything. To whatever extent one is present, the other must be absent. In the basic conflict, fear is really nothing and Love is really everything. Because the presence of fear brings about the basic conflict, and because fear is nothing, the basic conflict between fear and Love doesn’t actually exist. This is the same as saying that wherever light is present, darkness by definition is absent. The unwillingness to let one’s darkness be seen, i.e., to submit error to Light, is a way of denying that the separation ever occurred. While temporarily resolving the problem of the discomfort that arises from the shame of error, it keeps the basic conflict from being resolved permanently. Like all pseudo-solutions, this kind of distorted thinking is very creative, being spuriously associated with active doing, but false.

The separation has occurred. To deny this is merely to misuse the legitimate psychic mechanism of denial. However, to concentrate on error is merely a further misuse of legitimate psychic mechanisms, those of possession and projection. The true corrective procedure, which has already been described as the proper use of the spiritual eye (or true perception), is to accept the error temporarily, but only as an indication that immediate correction is required. This establishes a state of mind in which the Correction offered by Atonement can be accepted without delay.

It is worth repeating that ultimately there is no compromise possible between everything and nothing. The true purpose of time is that it is essentially a device by which all compromise in this respect will be abolished. It seems to be abolished by degrees precisely because time itself involves a concept of intervals – the units of time – that do not really exist. The faulty use of creative abilities as miscreation made time necessary as a corrective device. This is a meaning of the biblical expression that the Divine loved the world so much that It gave the world the means of salvation, or awakening, so that whoever believes in, or uses, these means won’t perish but have eternal life, which can be re-expressed to be entirely meaningful in this context: The Divine loves Its Children so much that It gave them the proper use of time to remember true creation and enter again into Life, which is eternal.

The Divine created only one perfect Creation. If all of the minds that the Divine created are Its Children, and if the Creation is One, then every mind must be a Child of the Divine and an integral Part of the Creation. This Idea is as easy to understand as the concept that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The Creation in Its Oneness does transcend the Sum of Its Parts. However, It loses this unique State as long as any of Its Parts believe themselves to be missing. This is why the basic conflict, of which the separation is the result, cannot ultimately be resolved until all of the individual Children of the Divine have returned to the Wholeness of their true minds. Only then, in the true sense, can the Meaning of Wholeness be understood.

The concept of negative numbers is understood to be theoretical rather than corresponding with actual things. (This is a major limitation on applied mathematics as presently understood.) Because a negative thing (person, object, etc.) – or less than nothing of the thing – cannot exist, any statement about actual things that implies degrees of difference in negation is essentially meaningless. What can meaningfully replace this limitation in the application of the concept of the negative is the recognition of the fact that as long as one Part, or any number of Parts, of the Divine Family is missing (or negative), Creation is not complete. However, in the Divine Psyche, the Creator and the Holy Spirit are not incomplete at all. The individual Members of the Divine Family have the unique faculty of being able to believe in error, or incompleteness, if they choose to do so. However, it should be quite apparent that to elect to do so is to believe in the existence of nothingness. The Correction of this error is the Atonement.

This Course has already briefly touched on the idea of readiness. There are some additional awarenesses that might now be helpful. Readiness is nothing more than the prerequisite for accomplishment. The two should not be confused. As soon as a state of readiness occurs there is always some will to accomplish, but this doesn’t mean that this will to accomplish will be undivided. The state of readiness implies only the potential for a shift of will. Readiness does not mean mastery. Confidence cannot develop fully until mastery has been accomplished.

This section began with a reminder about the fundamental human error of belief that fear, once generated, can be controlled or mastered. We have explored this idea in detail in this chapter. The correction to this error is the understanding that only the skill of presencing Love can be mastered. The mastery of Love necessarily involves a much more complete confidence in the ability than you may have as yet attained. But believing that this mastery is possible is at least an indication of readiness. This is the beginning of confidence. In response to the concern that an enormous amount of time will be necessary between readiness and mastery, remember that time and space are under my control, and that the final Accomplishment is assured.

For those who have been exposed to the error of belief in the inevitability of doom that is expressed in such things as the eternal damnation and “hellfire” concepts, the idea of the “Final Judgment” may be one of the greatest threat concepts in their conception of the world, though its real meaning is as the final Accomplishment of the mastery of presencing Love. Experiencing threat in connection to this idea would only be a result of misunderstanding it. Judgment is not an Attribute of the Divine. The separated ones brought judgment into experience only because of the separation. The Divine is always the Source of Mercy. There was, however, a place for Justice in Spirit’s Response to the separation, as this was one of the many learning devices that had to be built into the overall Plan of Atonement.

True Justice or Judgment was noted in the last of the miracle principles as the bringing into the level of Divine Creation all human creative activity, integrating as true what is aligned with Creation, and returning what is out of accord or false and requiring correction or refinement where these would be meaningful. This Process is the Final Evaluation of all creative activity carried out with Spirit’s Guidance until every Part of Creation, i.e., every Child of the Divine and Member of the Divine Family, has been returned to the positive side of nothingness—returned to Love, and no longer believing themselves to be missing from the Divine Family. When completed, this is the Atonement, just as the process of getting there is the Process of Atonement. The Gift of Mercy from the Divine that this Process embodies is the Last Judgment.

Just as the process of the separation occurred over many millions of years, the Last Judgment – the completion of the Atonement in time – will extend over a similarly long period, and perhaps even longer. Its length depends, however, on the effectiveness of the present Celestial speedup. It has been frequently noted that the miracle is a device for shortening but not abolishing time. If a sufficient number of people become truly miracle-minded quickly, the shortening process of completing the Atonement in time can be almost immeasurable. But it is essential that these individuals free themselves from fear sooner than would ordinarily be the case through a natural trial and error process, because they must emerge from the basic conflict if they are to bring Peace to the minds of others through the correction of level confusion and the embracing of the Final Evaluation.

The Atonement as the completed Correction or Final Judgment is generally thought of as a procedure undertaken by the Divine. Actually, it will be undertaken solely by my sisters and brothers, with my help and Spirit’s. It is a final completion of healing rather than a meting out of punishment, however much anyone may think punishment is deserved. Punishment as a concept is in total opposition to right-mindedness, and the aim of the Final Judgment is to restore right-mindedness to human beings.

The Final Judgment is the completion of what may accurately be called a process of right evaluation. It simply means that finally all people must come to understand what is worthy and what is not. After this, their ability to choose can be reasonably guided. Unless this distinction has been made, the vacillations between forgiveness and fear, and free and imprisoned will, could only continue. The first step toward Freedom, then, must entail a loosening of what has become fixed and then a sorting out of the false from the true. This is a process of division only in the constructive sense, and reflects the true meaning of the apocalypse or end of the world. Everyone will ultimately see their own creative activity, and will intend as eternal only what is good – their true creations – just as the Divine Itself beheld what It had created and knew that It was Good. At that point, the mind will behold its creations purely with Love because of their pure Worthiness. Leading up to this Instant, the mind will inevitably have disowned all of its miscreations, and, having withdrawn belief from them, they will no longer exist.

The term “Final Judgment” may be frightening not only because it has been falsely projected onto the Divine, but also because of the association of “final” with death. This is an outstanding example of upside-down perception. Actually, if this experience is examined objectively, it is quite apparent that it is really the Doorway to Life. This is because no person who lives in fear is truly alive.

A person’s own final judgment or true Evaluation can only be directed to their own creative activity and not toward themself because they are not their own creation. They were created eternally perfect by the Divine, and that can never change or be judged. A person can and should apply their own “final judgment,” which is the Holy Spirit’s true Evaluation, meaningfully and at any time to everything they have ever created, and retain in their real Memory only what is good. This is what their own right-mindedness will always bring them to do. The purpose of time is solely to give them time to achieve this true Evaluation of all their creative activity. It is their own perfect Valuation of their own creations. When everything that a person retains is lovable, then there is no reason for any fear to remain in them. This is their part in the Atonement.