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2.2 The Atonement as Defense (view source)
Revision as of 17:00, 10 November 2014
, 17:00, 10 November 2014Created page with 'Image:lighterstill.jpgright|frame You can do anything I ask. I have asked you to perform miracles, and have made it clear that miracles are [...'
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You can do anything I ask. I have asked you to perform [[miracles]], and have made it [[clear]] that miracles are [[natural]], corrective, [[healing]] and [[universal]]. There is nothing they cannot do, but they cannot be performed in the spirit of [[doubt]] or [[fear]]. When you are afraid of anything, you are acknowledging its [[power]] to hurt you. [[Remember]] that where your [[heart]] is, there is your treasure also. You [[believe]] in what you [[value]]. If you are afraid you will [[inevitably]] value wrongly, and by endowing all [[thoughts]] with equal power will inevitably destroy [[peace]]. That is why the [[Bible]] speaks of "the peace of God which passeth understanding.[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=The_Letter_of_Paul_to_the_Philippians#The_Letter_of_Paul_to_the_Philippians.2C_IV] "This [[peace]] is totally incapable of being shaken by errors of any kind. It denies the [[ability]] of anything not of God to affect you. This is the proper use of [[denial]]. It is not used to hide anything, but to [[correct]] [[error]]. It brings all error into the [[light]], and since error and [[darkness]] are the same, it corrects error automatically.
True [[denial]] is a powerful protective device. You can and should deny any [[belief]] that error can hurt you. This kind of denial is not a concealment but a [[correction]]. Your right mind depends on it. Denial of [[error]] is a strong defense of [[truth]], but denial of truth results in miscreation, the projections of the ego. In the [[service]] of the right mind the denial of error [[frees]] the [[mind]], and re-establishes the freedom of the will. When the will is really free it cannot miscreate, because it recognizes only [[truth]].
You can [[defend]] [[truth]] as well as [[error]]. The means are easier to [[understand]] after the [[value]] of the goal is firmly established. It is a [[question]] of what it is for. Everyone defends his [[treasure]], and will do so automatically. The real questions are, what do you treasure, and how much do you treasure it? Once you have learned to [[consider]] these questions and to bring them into all your [[actions]], you will have little [[difficulty]] in clarifying the means. The means are available whenever you ask. You can, however, save [[time]] if you do not protract this [[step]] unduly. The correct [[focus]] will shorten it immeasurably.
The Atonement is the only defense that cannot be used destructively because it is not a device you made. The Atonement principle was in effect long before the Atonement began. The principle was love and the Atonement was an act of love. Acts were not necessary before the separation, because belief in space and time did not exist. It was only after the separation that the Atonement and the conditions necessary for its fulfillment were planned. Then a defense so splendid was needed that it could not be misused, although it could be refused. Refusal could not, however, turn it into a weapon of attack, which is the inherent characteristic of other defenses. The Atonement thus becomes the only defense that is not a two-edged sword. It can only heal.
The [[Atonement]] was built into the [[space-time]] [[belief]] to set a limit on the need for the belief itself, and [[ultimately]] to make learning complete. The Atonement is the final lesson. [[Learning]] itself, like the classrooms in which it occurs, is [[temporary]]. The ability to learn has no [[value]] when [[change]] is no longer [[necessary]]. Tarner. This will bring you into closer and closer accord with the Sonship; but the Sonship itself ihe eternally creative have nothing to learn. You can learn to improve your [[perceptions]], and can become a better and better les a perfect creation and perfection is not a matter of degree. Only while there is a belief in [[differences]] is learning meaningful.
[[Evolution]] is a process in which you seem to [[proceed]] from one degree to the next. You correct your previous missteps by stepping forward. This [[process]] is actually incomprehensible in temporal terms, because you return as you go forward. The Atonement is the device by which you can free yourself from the [[past]] as you go ahead. It undoes your past errors, thus making it unnecessary for you to keep retracing your [[steps]] without advancing to your return. In this sense the [[Atonement]] saves time, but like the [[miracle]] it serves, does not abolish it. As long as there is need for Atonement, there is need for time. But the Atonement as a completed plan has a unique [[relationship]] to [[time]]. Until the Atonement is complete, its various [[phases]] will proceed in time, but the whole Atonement stands at time's end. At that point the bridge of return has been built.
The [[Atonement]] is a total [[commitment]]. You may still think this is associated with loss, a mistake all the [[separated]] Sons of God make in one way or another. It is hard to believe a [[defense]] that cannot attack is the best defense. This is what is meant by "the meek shall inherit the earth. [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Gospel_of_Matthew#Chapter_5] "They will [[literally]] take it over because of their [[strength]]. A two-way defense is inherently [[weak]] precisely because it has two edges, and can be turned against you very unexpectedly. This [[possibility]] cannot be [[controlled]] except by [[miracles]]. The miracle turns the defense of [[Atonement]] to your real [[protection]], and as you [[become]] more and more secure you [[assume]] your natural [[talent]] of protecting others, knowing yourself as both a brother and a Son.
[[Category: Chapter 2 - The Separation and the Atonement]]
[[Category: Defenses]]
[[Category: Denial]]
You can do anything I ask. I have asked you to perform [[miracles]], and have made it [[clear]] that miracles are [[natural]], corrective, [[healing]] and [[universal]]. There is nothing they cannot do, but they cannot be performed in the spirit of [[doubt]] or [[fear]]. When you are afraid of anything, you are acknowledging its [[power]] to hurt you. [[Remember]] that where your [[heart]] is, there is your treasure also. You [[believe]] in what you [[value]]. If you are afraid you will [[inevitably]] value wrongly, and by endowing all [[thoughts]] with equal power will inevitably destroy [[peace]]. That is why the [[Bible]] speaks of "the peace of God which passeth understanding.[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=The_Letter_of_Paul_to_the_Philippians#The_Letter_of_Paul_to_the_Philippians.2C_IV] "This [[peace]] is totally incapable of being shaken by errors of any kind. It denies the [[ability]] of anything not of God to affect you. This is the proper use of [[denial]]. It is not used to hide anything, but to [[correct]] [[error]]. It brings all error into the [[light]], and since error and [[darkness]] are the same, it corrects error automatically.
True [[denial]] is a powerful protective device. You can and should deny any [[belief]] that error can hurt you. This kind of denial is not a concealment but a [[correction]]. Your right mind depends on it. Denial of [[error]] is a strong defense of [[truth]], but denial of truth results in miscreation, the projections of the ego. In the [[service]] of the right mind the denial of error [[frees]] the [[mind]], and re-establishes the freedom of the will. When the will is really free it cannot miscreate, because it recognizes only [[truth]].
You can [[defend]] [[truth]] as well as [[error]]. The means are easier to [[understand]] after the [[value]] of the goal is firmly established. It is a [[question]] of what it is for. Everyone defends his [[treasure]], and will do so automatically. The real questions are, what do you treasure, and how much do you treasure it? Once you have learned to [[consider]] these questions and to bring them into all your [[actions]], you will have little [[difficulty]] in clarifying the means. The means are available whenever you ask. You can, however, save [[time]] if you do not protract this [[step]] unduly. The correct [[focus]] will shorten it immeasurably.
The Atonement is the only defense that cannot be used destructively because it is not a device you made. The Atonement principle was in effect long before the Atonement began. The principle was love and the Atonement was an act of love. Acts were not necessary before the separation, because belief in space and time did not exist. It was only after the separation that the Atonement and the conditions necessary for its fulfillment were planned. Then a defense so splendid was needed that it could not be misused, although it could be refused. Refusal could not, however, turn it into a weapon of attack, which is the inherent characteristic of other defenses. The Atonement thus becomes the only defense that is not a two-edged sword. It can only heal.
The [[Atonement]] was built into the [[space-time]] [[belief]] to set a limit on the need for the belief itself, and [[ultimately]] to make learning complete. The Atonement is the final lesson. [[Learning]] itself, like the classrooms in which it occurs, is [[temporary]]. The ability to learn has no [[value]] when [[change]] is no longer [[necessary]]. Tarner. This will bring you into closer and closer accord with the Sonship; but the Sonship itself ihe eternally creative have nothing to learn. You can learn to improve your [[perceptions]], and can become a better and better les a perfect creation and perfection is not a matter of degree. Only while there is a belief in [[differences]] is learning meaningful.
[[Evolution]] is a process in which you seem to [[proceed]] from one degree to the next. You correct your previous missteps by stepping forward. This [[process]] is actually incomprehensible in temporal terms, because you return as you go forward. The Atonement is the device by which you can free yourself from the [[past]] as you go ahead. It undoes your past errors, thus making it unnecessary for you to keep retracing your [[steps]] without advancing to your return. In this sense the [[Atonement]] saves time, but like the [[miracle]] it serves, does not abolish it. As long as there is need for Atonement, there is need for time. But the Atonement as a completed plan has a unique [[relationship]] to [[time]]. Until the Atonement is complete, its various [[phases]] will proceed in time, but the whole Atonement stands at time's end. At that point the bridge of return has been built.
The [[Atonement]] is a total [[commitment]]. You may still think this is associated with loss, a mistake all the [[separated]] Sons of God make in one way or another. It is hard to believe a [[defense]] that cannot attack is the best defense. This is what is meant by "the meek shall inherit the earth. [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Gospel_of_Matthew#Chapter_5] "They will [[literally]] take it over because of their [[strength]]. A two-way defense is inherently [[weak]] precisely because it has two edges, and can be turned against you very unexpectedly. This [[possibility]] cannot be [[controlled]] except by [[miracles]]. The miracle turns the defense of [[Atonement]] to your real [[protection]], and as you [[become]] more and more secure you [[assume]] your natural [[talent]] of protecting others, knowing yourself as both a brother and a Son.
[[Category: Chapter 2 - The Separation and the Atonement]]
[[Category: Defenses]]
[[Category: Denial]]