Corresponding Text Section

 

Chapter 5: Understanding the Holy Spirit’s Purpose

 

10. The Crucial Lesson of the Crucifixion

This Course has touched only lightly on the idea of the crucifixion because of its fearful connotations. The only emphasis laid upon it has been that it was not a form of punishment. But we know that nothing can really be explained only in negative terms. There is a positive interpretation of the crucifixion that is entirely devoid of fear, and therefore wholly benign in what it teaches if it is properly understood. The crucifixion is nothing more than an extreme example. Its value, like the value of any teaching device, is solely in the kind of learning it facilitates. It can be, and has been, terribly misunderstood. But this is only because the fearful are apt to perceive fearfully.

I told you before that you can always call on me to share my decision not to attack under any circumstances, and thus make this decision stronger. I also told you that the crucifixion was the last foolish or meaningless journey that the Divine Family ever need take, and that it means release from fear to anyone who really understands it. While this Course did emphasize the Resurrection previously, the purpose of the crucifixion and how it actually led to the Resurrection was not clarified at that time. Nevertheless, the crucifixion has a definite contribution to make to the lives of those who consider it without fear, and if you will consider it without fear, it will help you understand your own role as a teacher in the context of the Atonement.

It is typical for the separated ones to react as if they were being attacked and even crucified. This is a marked tendency of the separated ones, namely, to refuse to consider what they have done to themselves. Mis-projection results in anger, anger fosters attack or assault, and assault promotes fear. The real meaning of the crucifixion is in the apparent intensity of the assault of some of the Children of the Divine upon a brother. If this interpretation is considered carefully, it will be seen to be impossible, and must be fully understood as impossible if I am to serve as a real model for learning awakening.

Considering this interpretation carefully, assault can ultimately be made only on the body. There is little doubt that one mind can attack another mind, even if just in thought, and also that this kind of mental attack does constitute a proportion of thought activity for many separated ones. But no mind could attack another unless it were attached to a body, and the mind being attacked in this manner would have no conception of the attack if it weren’t also attached to a body. It is undeniable that one body can assault another body, and can even destroy it. But if destruction itself is impossible in Reality, then anything that is destructible cannot be real. Therefore, its destruction does not justify mis-projection, anger, counterattack, or fear. To the extent to which you believe it does, you must be accepting false premises and teaching them to others.

The message that the crucifixion was intended to teach is that it is not necessary to perceive any form of attack or assault as persecution, because you cannot be persecuted. If you respond with anger to what you perceive as persecution, you must be equating yourself with the destructible, and are therefore regarding yourself erroneously. I have made it perfectly clear that I am like you and that you are like me. But our fundamental Equality can be demonstrated only through joint decision. You are of course free to perceive yourself as persecuted if you choose. But you can remember when you do choose to react that way that I was persecuted as the world judges, and did not share this interpretation myself. And because I did not share it, I did not strengthen it. I therefore offered a different interpretation of attack, and one that I want to share with you. If you will decide to believe it, you will strengthen it and help me teach it.

This Course has stated that “as you teach so shall you learn.” If you react as if you are persecuted, you are teaching persecution. This is not a lesson that the Children of the Divine should want to teach if they are to realize their own awakening. Rather teach your own perfect Invulnerability, which is the Truth in you, and know that It cannot be assailed. Do not try to protect the truth of your Invulnerability yourself, or you will have believed that it is assailable. You will not be asked to be crucified, because that was part of my own teaching contribution. You are merely asked to follow my example in the face of much less extreme temptations to misperceive, and not to accept them falsely as justifications for anger and attack.

There can be no justification for the unjustifiable. Do not believe that there is, and do not teach that there is. Remember always that what you believe you will teach. Believe with me and we will become equal as teachers. Your awakening is your resurrection. I am the model for resurrection or rebirth, but rebirth itself is merely the dawning on your mind of what is already in it. The Divine placed it there Itself, and so it is true forever. I believed in it and therefore made it forever true for myself. Help me to teach it to our sisters and brothers in the Name of the Realm of Heaven. But first believe that it is true for yourself, or you will teach amiss.

My brothers slept during my so-called “agony in the garden,” but I could not be angry with them because I had learned I could not be abandoned. Peter swore he would never deny me, but he did so three times that night. It should be noted that he did offer to defend me with the sword, which I naturally refused, not being at all in need of bodily protection.

I do feel sorrow when my brothers or sisters do not share my decision to hear only one Voice, and through this to be One, because it weakens them as teachers and learners. Yet I know that they cannot really betray themselves or me, and that it is still with all of us that the House of the Divine, a reflection here of the Realm of Heaven, must be built. There is no choice in this, because only we can be the foundation of the House of the Divine.

A House of the Divine is where an Altar is, and the presence of the Altar is what makes It a House of the Divine. Any House of the Divine that does not inspire Love has a hidden altar that is not serving the Purpose for which Spirit intended It. If you choose to accept and follow me as a model for learning, then we are able to found Spirit’s House of the Divine together. My disciples of old made this choice, as do my companions now. For all those considering who or what to follow: if the model for learning has chosen to save them pain in all respects, they are probably wise to follow it.

I elected, both for the sake of all my sisters and brothers and my own, to demonstrate that the most outrageous assault, as judged by the ego, did not matter. As the world judges these things, but not as the Divine knows them, I was betrayed, abandoned, beaten, torn, and finally killed. It was perfectly clear that this was only because of the mis-projection of others onto me, because I had not harmed anyone and had healed many. We are still equal as learners, even though we need not have equal experiences. The Holy Spirit is glad when you can learn enough from my experiences and the true lessons of all sisters and brothers in all times and places to be awakened by these lessons. That is their only Purpose, and that is the only way in which the Way, the Truth, and the Light can be perceived.

When you hear only one Voice you will know you are never called on to sacrifice. On the contrary, by enabling yourself to hear the Holy Spirit in others, you can learn from their experiences and gain from them without experiencing them directly yourself. That is because the Holy Spirit is One, and anyone who listens to It is inevitably led to demonstrate Its Way for all. You are not and cannot be persecuted, nor was I. You are not and will not be asked to repeat my crucifixion experience because the Holy Spirit, which we share, makes that unnecessary. But to use my experience constructively for yourself you must still follow my example in how to perceive it.

The separated ones are constantly engaged in attempting to justify the unjustifiable. My crucifixion lesson, which I must teach as I learned, is that no perception that is out of accord with the Interpretation and Evaluation of the Holy Spirit can be justified. I undertook to show this was true in a very extreme case merely because this would serve as an unassailable teaching aid to those whose temptation to give in to anger and assault would not be as extreme. I will, with Spirit Itself, that none of the Children of the Divine ever suffer. Remember that the Holy Spirit is the Communication Link between the Creator and Its Children, including those who currently believe themselves to be separated. If you will listen to Its Voice, you will know that you can neither hurt or be hurt, and that many need your blessing to help them hear this for themselves in the face of their temptation also to misperceive and attack. When you perceive only this need in them, and do not respond to any others, you will have learned the crucifixion lesson of me, and will be as eager to share your learning as I am.

The crucifixion cannot be shared because it is the symbol of mis-projection. But the Resurrection is the symbol of sharing, because the awakening of every Child of the Divine is necessary to enable the Divine Family to know its Wholeness. Only this is Knowledge. The true message of the crucifixion is therefore very simple and perfectly clear:

 

Teach only Love, for that is what you are.

 

If you interpret the crucifixion in any other way, you will be using it as a justification and weapon for assault rather than as the Call to Peace for which it was intended.

My disciples of old often misunderstood the crucifixion, and always for the same reason that causes anyone to misunderstand anything: their own imperfect love made them vulnerable to mis-projection. And out of their own fear they spoke of the “wrath of the Divine” as the Divine’s supposed retaliatory weapon. They also could not speak of the crucifixion entirely without anger, because their own sense of guilt had made them angry. These are two glaring examples of upside-down thinking in the New Testament account of their learning process, the whole gospel or good news of which is only the Message of Love. Because I had learned the Atonement prayer, that is, dedicating myself to fulfilling my sole responsibility of accepting Atonement for myself with conviction, and through this knowing that all mistakes given to Atonement are already corrected, the several slips into impatience that I was still capable of making then did not result in my engaging in upside-down thinking myself, i.e., of mis-projection, anger, attack, and fear.

If my disciples of old had not felt guilty about much that happened during our time together then, and the intense mis-projections being directed toward me, they would not have been able to interpret me as making statements reflecting upside-down thinking, such as, “I come not to bring peace but a sword,” which is clearly the exact opposite of everything I taught. Nor, if they had really understood me then, could my response to the intense fear of my brother Judas Iscariot have been described as it came to be by one who recorded my response as, “Do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?,” which is a meaningless statement unless I believed in betrayal. The entire message of the crucifixion was simply that I did not. The “punishment” that I was said to have called forth upon Judas was a similar reversal of meaning. Judas was my brother and a Child of the Divine, as much a Part of the Divine Family as myself. Would it have had meaning for me to condemn him when my life was a demonstration that condemnation is impossible and meaningless?

I am eternally grateful to my disciples of old for their bringing forward with me the good news of Love, and was and always will be fully aware of the extent of their devotion to me, as they are of mine to them. But as you read some of the statements recorded in the account of their learning process, remember that I told them myself that there was much they would only understand later because they were not ready to follow me wholly at the time. I emphasize this now only because I want you to be free of all fear as you learn the thought system toward which I am guiding you, including the real lesson of the crucifixion. Atonement calls for miracle workers and teachers, but never for martyrs.

Many in their confusion still believe that their function in the world is a form of martyrdom. This is because they still carry the deep fear that fully engaging in the world will lead to some form of crucifixion rather than to awakening, or that crucifixion is required to get to awakening. The upside-down nature of this association should become obvious when it is understood that it could only be made as a result of a person feeling guilty. No one is punished for their “sins” (which, as has been discussed, are merely mistakes), and no Child of the Divine is or ever could be a “sinner.” Any concept of punishment involves the projection of blame, and reinforces the idea that blame is justified. The behavior that results will be a lesson in blame, because all behavior teaches the beliefs that motivate it.

The event of the crucifixion was the result of a complex of behaviors arising out of clearly opposed thought systems. In fact, it is the perfect symbol of the conflict between the ego and the spirit, which is a one-way conflict. It was at the time as much a symbol of the basic conflict within the mind as of what appeared to be the externalization of this between people. The basic conflict and its externalization still offer their awakening lesson. Understanding this lesson and learning it now is essential for all who will to follow me wholly.