|
|
|||||||||
A Course in Miracles The Crucifixion For teaching purposes, let us consider the crucifixion again. We have not dwelt on it before, because of its fearful connotations. The only emphasis we laid upon it was that it was not a form of punishment. Nothing, however, can be really explained in negative terms only. There is a positive interpretation of the crucifixion which is wholly 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, lies solely in the kind of learning it facilitates. It can be, and has been, isunderstood. This is only because the fearful are apt to perceive fearfully. I have already told you that you can always call on me to share my decision and thus make it stronger. I also told you that the crucifixion was the last foolish journey that the Sonship need take, and that it should mean release from fear to anyone who understands it. Your Role as Teachers While we emphasized only the resurrection before, the purpose of the crucifixion and how it actually led to the resurrection was not clarified at that time. Nevertheless, it has a definite contribution to make to your own lives, and if you will consider it without fear, it will help you understand your own role as teachers. You have reacted for years as if you were being crucified. This is a marked tendency of the separated ones, who always refuse to consider what they have done to themselves. Projection (of responsibility)...
The
real meaning of the crucifixion lies in the apparent
intensity of the assault of some of the Sons of God
upon another. This (assault), of course, is impossible
(in Reality), and must be fully understood as
an impossibility. In fact, unless it is fully understood
as only that, I cannot serve as a real model for learning.
Assault can ultimately be made only on the body. There is little doubt that one body can assault another, and can even destroy it. Yet if destruction itself is impossible (in Reality), then anything that is destructible cannot be real. Therefore, its destruction does not justify anger. To
the extent to which you believe that it does (justify
anger), you must be accepting false
premises and teaching them to others.
You Cannot Be Persecuted The message which the crucifixion was intended to teach was that it is not necessary to perceive any form of assault in persecution, because (in Reality) you cannot be persecuted. If you respond with anger, you must be equating yourself with the destructible (the body), and are therefore regarding yourself insanely. I have made it perfectly clear that I am like you, and you are like me, but our fundamental equality can be demonstrated only through joint decision. You are free to perceive yourselves as persecuted if you choose. You might remember, however, when you do choose to react that way, that I was persecuted as the world judges, and did not share this evaluation for myself. And because I did not share it, I did not strengthen it. I therefore offered a different interpretation of attack, and one which I do want to share with you.
We
have said before, “As you teach so shall you learn.”
If you react as if you are persecuted, you are teaching persecution. This is not a lesson which the Sons of God should want to teach, if they are to realize their own salvation. Rather teach your own perfect immunity, which is the truth in you, and know that it cannot be assailed. Do not protect it yourselves, or you have believed that it is assailable. You are not asked to be crucified, which 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. There can be no justification for the unjustifiable (anger & assualt). Do not believe there is, and do not teach that there is. Remember always that what you believe, you will teach.
I am the model for rebirth, but rebirth itself is merely the dawning on your minds of what is already in them. God placed it there Himself, and so it is true forever. I believed in it, and therefore made it forever true for me. Help me to teach it to our brothers in the name of the Kingdom of God, but first believe that it is true for you, or you will teach amiss. |
You Cannot Hurt or Be Hurt When you hear only One Voice you are never called on to sacrifice. On the contrary, by enabling yourselves to hear the Holy Spirit in others, you can learn from their experiences, and gain from them without experiencing them yourselves. That is because the Holy Spirit is one, and anyone who listens is inevitably led to demonstrate His way for all. You
are not persecuted, nor was I.
You are not asked to repeat my experiences because the Holy Spirit, Whom we share, makes this unnecessary. To use my experiences constructively, however, you must still follow my example in how to perceive them. My
brothers and yours are constantly engaged
in justifying the unjustifiable (anger
& assualt).
My one lesson, which I must teach as I learned it, is that no perception which is out of accord with the judgment of the Holy Spirit can be justified. I undertook to show this was true in a very extreme case merely because it would serve as a good teaching aid to those whose temptations to give in to anger and assault would not be so extreme. I
will, with God, that none of His Sons
should suffer.
Remember that the Holy Spirit is the communication link between God the Father and His separated Sons. If you will listen to His Voice, you will know that you cannot
and
that many need your blessing to help them
hear this for themselves.
When you perceive only this need in them and do not respond to any other, you will have learned of me, and will be as eager to share your learning as I am. |
||||||||
|
|
