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A Course In Miracles

CHAPTER 20: THE VISION OF HOLINESS

I. Holy Week

“This is Palm Sunday, the celebration of victory and the acceptance of the truth. Let us not spend this holy week brooding on the crucifixion of God’s Son, but happily in the celebration of his release. For Easter is the sign of peace, not pain.” (1:1-3)

“Let no dark sign of crucifixion intervene between the journey and its purpose; between the acceptance of the truth and its expression. This week we celebrate life, not death.” (2:2-3)

“You stand beside your brother, thorns in one hand and lilies in the other, uncertain which to give. Join now with me and throw away the thorns, offering the lilies to replace them. This Easter I would have the gift of your forgiveness offered by you to me, and returned by me to you.” (2:6-8)

“A week is short, and yet this holy week is the symbol of the whole journey the Son of God has undertaken.” (3:1)

“Easter is not the celebration of the cost of sin, but of its end.” (4:1)

“I was a stranger and you took me in, not knowing who I was.” (4:3)

“In your forgiveness of this stranger, alien to you and yet your ancient Friend, lies his release and your redemption with him.” (4:5)

“For Easter is the time of your salvation, along with mine.” (4:8)

In summary, section 1: “Holy Week” is saying:

Here we are being called by Christ to make every week a “holy week.” We are asked not to look upon His death as a time of accusation, fear and hatred towards anything that happened to Him during His time of crucifixion. It is our tendency to lay blame when faced with atrocities and we take sides against one another. Let us not see the dark side of what has been done to our Lord and God. Rather, let us remember it is our only task to forgive everything we see or remember in this world, knowing it is not our true reality and neither is it Christ’s. Let us remember that regardless of what we do to one another here in this illusion, we will go in God’s glory, as powerful and complete as we were created. Nothing can stop our resurrection. Make every week a holy week through seeing only the Light of Christ in your fellow people, knowing they are not strangers, but your dear Friend whom you have temporarily forgotten and thought you could crucify. In this remembrance lies your salvation along with Christ’s each week you make holy.

II. The Gift of Lilies

“Look upon all the trinkets made to hang upon the body, or to cover it or for its use. See all the useless things made for its eyes to see.” (1:1-2)

“Gifts are not made through bodies, if they be truly given and received.” (2:1)

“Only the mind can value, and only the mind decides on what it would receive and give. And every gift it offers depends on what it wants.” (2:3-4)

“Each gift is an evaluation of the receiver and the giver. No one but sees his chosen home as an altar to himself.” (3:1-2)

“Here is the value that you lay upon your brother and on yourself. Here is your gift to both; your judgment on the Son of God for what he is.” (3:5-6)

“Offer him thorns and you are crucified. Offer him lilies and it is yourself you free.” (3:8-9)

“I have a great need for lilies, for the Son of God has not forgiven me.” (4:1)

“You look still with the body’s eyes, and they can see but thorns. Yet you have asked for and received another sight. Those who accept the Holy Spirit’s purpose as their own share also His vision.” (5:1-3)

“This Easter, look with different eyes upon your brother. You have forgiven me.” (6:1-2)

“The Holy Spirit’s vision is no idle gift, no plaything to be tossed about a while and laid aside.” (6:5)

“You have the vision now to look past all illusions.” (7:1)

“Who is afraid to look upon illusions, knowing his savior stands beside him? With him, your vision has become the greatest power for the undoing of illusion that God Himself could give.” (7:4-5)

“Your chosen home is on the other side, beyond the veil.” (8:1)

“You will not see it with the body’s eyes.” (8:3)

“Would you not have your holy brother lead you there?” (9:1)

“Let him be to you the savior from illusions, and look on him with the new vision that looks upon the lilies and brings you joy.” (9:3)

“This is the way to Heaven and to the peace of Easter, in which we join in glad awareness that the Son of God is risen from the past, and has awakened to the present.” (10:1)

“Here is your savior and your friend, released from crucifixion through your vision, and free to lead you now where he would be.” (11:1)

“The lamp is lit in you for your brother. And by the hands that gave it to him shall you be led past fear to love.” (11:6-7)

In summary, section 2: “The Gift of Lilies” is saying:

Lilies here, represent the correct vision of our brothers – the pureness of sight that sees past the body and all its adornments – those things we dress it up with to please ourself and seek approval from others. The Holy Spirit sees none of this. He sees only our Oneness and our Light. And thus, He sees only through the eyes of forgiveness. Let us then, see each other only this way, and when we do, we are seeing only the Christ in one another. This vision is the way beyond the veil, to Heaven and the peace of Easter. The peace of Easter is our resurrection as we join Christ in His way of seeing us. The lamp in one another is lit, and as we see only this light, we will be led by it from fear to love. The gift of lilies, the vision of Christ, is the only gift we need to give to see as the Holy Spirit sees.

III. Sin as an Adjustment

“The belief in sin is an adjustment. And an adjustment is a change; a shift in perception, or a belief that what was so before has been made different.” (1:1-2)

“Adjustments of any kind are of the ego.” (2:1)

“The holy do not interfere with truth. They are not afraid of it, for it is within the truth they recognize their holiness, and rejoice at what they see. They look on it directly, without attempting to adjust themselves to it, or it to them.” (3:1-3)

“A simple question yet remains, and needs an answer. Do you like what you have made? – a world of murder and attack, through which you thread your timid way through constant dangers, alone and frightened, hoping at most that death will wait a little longer before it overtakes you and you disappear. You made this up.” (4:1-3)

“All these are but fearful thoughts of those who would adjust themselves to a world made fearful by their adjustments.” (4:6)

“Have you not wondered what the world is really like; how it would look through happy eyes? The world you see is but a judgment on yourself. It is not there at all. Yet judgment lays a sentence on it, justifies it and makes it real.” (5:1-4)

“And to this world must you adjust as long as you believe this picture is outside, and has you at its mercy.” (5:7)

“Seek not to make the Son of God adjust to his insanity.” (7:1)

“And of the one blind thing in all the seeing universe of truth you ask, “How shall I look upon the Son of God?”” (7:10)

“Does one ask judgment of what is totally bereft of judgment?” (8:1)

“You asked this puff of madness for the meaning of your unholy relationship, and adjusted it according to its insane answer. How happy did it make you?” (8:4-5)

“Did you see the holiness that shone in both you and your brother, to bless the other? That is the purpose of your holy relationship.” (8:8-9)

“Such is my will for you and your brother, and for each of you for one another and for himself.” (10:1)

“For what is Heaven but union, direct and perfect, and without the veil of fear upon it? Here are we one, looking with perfect gentleness upon each other and on ourselves.” (10:3-4)

“You and your brother now will lead the other to the Father as surely as God created His Son holy, and kept him so. In your brother is the light of God’s eternal promise of your immortality. See him as sinless, and there can be no fear in you.” (11:7-9)

In summary, section 3: “Sin as an Adjustment” is saying:

When we accepted the ego’s view of ourselves as separate bodies, we made an “adjustment” to our seeing. We changed our self-perception from the truth of our eternal Oneness, to something we are not. Such false seeing was then labeled as a “sin” or wrong viewpoint – an error in judgement. And now we must ask ourselves, “Do we like what we see?” Adjustments of any kind are of the ego. Because of this, we are now blind, and do not see our reality as it is in truth. We cannot ask the ego to look upon the world and each other, for we will only see sin, error and a falsehood. We must refuse to accept this ego-viewpoint and look with our inner eyes to behold the truth: The light of Christ within one another, uniting us in God. When we “readjust” our mind to see only this, the adjustments we made through the ego will disappear. The world and everyone one in it will be transformed into the truth. The “sin of adjustment” will be healed.

IV. Entering the Ark

“Nothing can hurt you unless you give it the power to do so.” (1:1)

“Power is of God, given by Him and reawakened by the Holy Spirit, Who knows that as you give you gain. He gives no power to sin, and therefore it has none; nor to its results as this world sees them, - sickness and death and misery and pain. These things have not occurred because the Holy Spirit sees them not, and gives no power to their seeming source.” (1:4-6)

“Sin has no place in Heaven, where its results are alien and can no more enter than can their source. And therein lies your need to see your brother sinless. In him is Heaven.” (2:1-3)

“But see him as he is, and what is yours shines from him to you.” (2:5)

“Salvation is a lesson in giving, as the Holy Spirit interprets it.” (2:9)

“Those who choose freedom will experience only its results. Their power is of God, and they will give it only to what God has given, to share with them.” (4:1-2)

“The sinless give as they received. See, then, the power of sinlessness within your brother, and share with him the power of the release from sin you offered him.” (5:1-2)

“And each one finds his savior when he is ready to look upon the face of Christ, and see Him sinless.” (5:6)

“The plan is not of you, nor need you be concerned with anything except the part that has been given you to learn.” (6:1)

“The ark of peace is entered two by two, yet the beginning of another world goes with them. Each holy relationship must enter here, to learn its special function in the Holy Spirit’s plan, now that it shares His purpose.” (6:5-6)

“This is the purpose given you. Think not that your forgiveness of your brother serves but you two alone. For the whole new world rests in the hands of every two who enter here to rest.” (7:1-3)

“You may wonder how you can be at peace when, while you are in time, there is so much that must be done before the way to peace is open. Perhaps this seems impossible to you. But ask yourself if it is possible that God would have a plan for your salvation that does not work. Once you accept His plan as the one function that you would fulfill, there will be nothing else the Holy Spirit will not arrange for you without your effort. He will go before you making straight your path, and leaving in your way no stones to trip on, and no obstacles to bar your way. Nothing you need will be denied you. Not one seeming difficulty but will melt away before you reach it. You need take thought for nothing, careless of everything except the only purpose that you would fulfill.” (8:1-8)

In summary, section 4: “Entering the Ark” is saying:

Here the process of “entering the ark” is a metaphor for entering the state of mind that brings us God’s peace. To do this, we must first recognize our God-given power. We have the power to overcome all forms of suffering, because all suffering is experienced in our minds only. Have we not each experienced the truth of this? Have we not gone through seeming tribulations and yet survived them unscathed? And at other times, small upsets seem to bring more upheaval than they should. All this variation is due to our inner perception of what’s happening to us – the power we give to what is nothing. Here we are told that the Ark of Peace is entered through establishing peace in our unholy relationships. We enter two by two as we establish peace with each one. We need but see each person as they are in truth – to look upon the face of Christ within them and see Him sinless; not as a body, but as God’s loving Light. To do this, is to forgive. And when we make seeing this way our only purpose, there is nothing God will deny us in order to fulfill our holy purpose here – we will enter the ark of peace.

V. Heralds of Eternity

“In this world, God’s Son comes closest to himself in a holy relationship.” (1:1)

“Each miracle of joining is a mighty herald of eternity.” (1:6)

“No one who shares his purpose with him can not be one with him.” (1:8)

“Each herald of eternity sings of the end of sin and fear. Each speaks in time of what is far beyond it.” (2:1-2)

“Peace to your holy relationship, which has the power to hold the unity of the Son of God together.” (2:5)

“Do you recognize the fear that rises from the meaningless attempt to judge what lies so far beyond your judgment you cannot even see it? Judge not what is invisible to you or you will never see it, but wait in patience for its coming. It will be given you to see your brother’s worth when all you want for him is peace.” (3:4-6)

“Your brother’s body is as little use to you as it is to him.” (5:1)

“For minds need not the body to communicate.” (5:3)

“Here is the perfect faith that you will one day offer to your brother already offered you; and here the limitless forgiveness you will give him already given, the face of Christ you yet will look upon already seen.” (6:7)

“And through His vision will you see it, and through His understanding recognize it and love it as your own.” (7:10)

“Be comforted, and feel the Holy Spirit watching over you in love and perfect confidence in what He sees.” (8:1)

In summary, section 5: “Heralds of Eternity” is saying:

It is a miracle to see beyond the body and look upon one another through our inner eyes, seeing only the Light of Christ within. The choice to see in this way, is a miraculous herald of the eternal truth within us. It means we have chosen a holy relationship with them. To be in a holy relationship, is to see yourself and another as One in God’s Love. To see in this way, is the end of fear, for who could fear oneself? To see in this way is to bring peace to your relationship, for who could be in conflict with oneself? We do not recognize that the body is not needed at all in order for us to see each other in this way. The mind does not need a body to know Itself. To see beyond the body may seem impossible at times, and yet, be comforted in knowing this: The Holy Spirit will be with us, supporting us, and thus ensuring our success each time we make the choice to extend a miracle; a mighty herald proclaiming our eternal truth within.

VI. The Temple of the Holy Spirit

“The meaning of the Son of God lies solely in his relationship with his Creator.” (1:1)

“And this is wholly loving and forever. Yet the Son of God invented an unholy relationship between him and his Father. His real relationship is one of perfect union and unbroken continuity.” (1:3-5)

“Nothing can show the contrast better than the experience of both a holy and an unholy relationship. The first is based on love, and rests on it serene and undisturbed. The body does not intrude upon it. Any relationship in which the body enters is based not on love, but on idolatry.” (2:1-4)

“The Holy Spirit’s temple is not a body, but a relationship.” (5:1)

“You cannot make the body the Holy Spirit’s temple, and it will never be the seat of love.” (6:1)

“This is the temple dedicated to no relationships and no return. Here is the “mystery” of separation perceived in awe and held in reverence.” (6:5-6)

“Idolaters will always be afraid of love, for nothing so severely threatens them as love’s approach. Let love draw near them and overlook the body, as it will surely do, and they retreat in fear, feeling the seeming firm foundation of their temple begin to shake and loosen.” (7:1-2)

“An unholy relationship is no relationship. It is a state of isolation, which seems to be what it is not. Not more than that.” (8:3-5)

“The holy relationship reflects the true relationship the Son of God has with his Father in reality. The Holy Spirit rests within it in the certainty it will endure forever.” (10:1-2)

“The body is the ego’s idol; the belief in sin made flesh and then projected outward. This produces what seems to be a wall of flesh around the mind, keeping it prisoner in a tiny spot of space and time, beholden unto death, and given but an instant in which to sigh and grieve and die in honor of its master. And this unholy instant seems to be life; an instant of despair, a tiny island of dry sand, bereft of water and set uncertainly upon oblivion.” (11:1-3)

“This is no time for sadness.” (12:3)

“You have a real relationship, and it has meaning.” (12:5)

“Idolatry is past and meaningless.” (12:7)

“Yet what is that to those who have been given one true relationship beyond the body? Can they be long held back from looking on the face of Christ?” (12:9-10)

In summary, section 6: “The Temple of the Holy Spirit” is saying:

The body can never be a worthy temple unto that which is our eternal Self. The body is a false manifestation of our idea to be separate from God, and so it lessens our experience of Oneness with Him. A temple is a place that enhances what it holds; not impeding it but magnifying it. The body impedes our glory; it dims the light within us by covering our holiness in pain and suffering. The only true temple worthy of the Holy Spirit lies in our holy relationships with one another – the only place God’s Love can be magnified. Our holy relationships rest not on what the body can give us, but rather on what the light within us can share. Therefore, let love draw near to your heart in every encounter you have and overlook the bodies you see. Then watch the ego disappear as you enter the temple of the Holy Spirit through your holy relationship with them.

VII. The Consistency of Means and End

“We have said much about discrepancies of means and end, and how these must be brought in line before your holy relationship can bring you only joy.” (1:1)

“The period of discomfort that follows the sudden change in a relationship from sin to holiness may now be almost over. To the extent you still experience it, you are refusing to leave the means to Him Who changed the purpose. You recognize you want the goal. Are you not also willing to accept the means?” (2:1-4)

“How can one be sincere and say, “I want this above all else, and yet I do not want the means to get it?””

“To obtain the goal, the Holy Spirit indeed asks little.” (3:1)

“It is impossible to see your brother as sinless and yet to look upon him as a body. Is this not perfectly consistent with the goal of holiness? For holiness is merely the result of letting the effects of sin be lifted, so what was always true is recognized.” (4:1-3)

“The body is the means by which the ego tries to make the unholy relationship seem real.” (5:1)

“Who sees a brother’s body has laid a judgment on him, and sees him not.” (6:1)

“And here, in darkness, is your brother’s reality imagined as a body, in unholy relationship with other bodies, serving the cause of sin an instant before he dies.” (6:7)

“The body cannot be looked upon except through judgment. To see the body is the sign that you lack vision, and have denied the means the Holy Spirit offers you to serve His purpose.” (8:1-2)

“Your question should not be, “How can I see my brother without a body?” Ask only, “Do I really wish to see him sinless?” And as you ask, forget not that his sinlessness is your escape from fear. Salvation is the Holy Spirit’s goal. The means is vision.” (9:1-5)

In summary, section 7: “The Consistency of Means and End” is saying:

We want to be healed of all pain and suffering, and yet, are we willing to do what it takes to experience this? All that is being asked here, is that we do not believe the body is our true identity. We may agree with this wholeheartedly, and yet the fact we continue to suffer from bodily effects is evidence we do not. Do not forget that to see someone as “sinless” is to see them as “bodiless.” How badly do we want the inner peace and endless joy of Heaven, now, here on earth while we still walk it within these bodies? For this indeed is possible. Not only possible, but inevitable once we learn to look upon all as eternal expressions of God’s Holy Love – and sincerely treat them thus, through the fullness of our hearts. Then will we be acting consistently, and the means will bring us the end we truly desire.

VIII. The Vision of Sinlessness

“Vision will come to you at first in glimpses, but they will be enough to show you what is given you who see your brother sinless. Truth is restored to you through your desire, as it was lost to you through your desire for something else.” (1:1-2)

“Desire now its whole undoing, and it is done for you.” (1:6)

“Do you not want to know your own Identity?” (2:1)

“Would you not willingly be free of misery, and learn again of joy? Your holy relationship offers all this to you.” (2:3-4)

“All this is given you who would but see your brother sinless.” (2:8)

“Your brother’s sinlessness is given you in shining light, to look on with the Holy Spirit’s vision and to rejoice in along with Him.” (3:1)

“Be willing, then, to see your brother sinless, that Christ may rise before your vision and give you joy. And place no value on your brother’s body, which holds him to illusions of what he is.” (3:3-4)

“You have the vision that enables you to see the body not.” (4:3)

“There is no problem, no event or situation, no perplexity that vision will not solve. All is redeemed when looked upon with vision. For this is not your sight, and brings with it the laws beloved of Him Whose sight it is.” (5:7-9)

“Everything looked upon with vision falls gently into place, according to the laws brought to it by His calm and certain sight.” (6:1)

“Hallucinations disappear when they are recognized for what they are. This is the healing and the remedy. Believe them not and they are gone. And all you need to do is recognize that you did this. Once you accept this simple fact and take unto yourself the power you gave them you are released from them.” (8:1-5)

“Vision is the means by which the Holy Spirit translates your nightmares into happy dreams; your wild hallucinations that show you all the fearful outcomes of imagined sin into the calm and reassuring sights with which He would replace them.” (10:4)

“When you have looked on what seemed terrifying, and seen it change to sights of loveliness and peace; when you have looked on scenes of violence and death, and watched them change to quiet views of gardens under open skies, with clear, life-giving water running happily beside them in dancing brooks that never waste away; who need persuade you to accept the gift of vision?” (11:1)

“Think but an instant just on this; you can behold the holiness God gave His Son. And never need you think that there is something else for you to see.” (11:3-4)

In summary, section 8: “The Vision of Sinlessness” is saying:

It may seem confusing to our mind to look at a body and not “see” it. What should we “see” instead? How do we “see” someone without the body’s eyes? And yet, we are promised this is something we can do; in fact, we must do it for our salvation depends on learning how to use our gift of vision. Therefore, place no value on what someone says or does with their body. This identity is not who they are in truth. It is not who you are in truth. Let this hallucination disappear from your mind, even if only during meditation and you will engage in vision with your holy sight. You need not try to imagine how you should see them without their body, for that, as yet, you cannot conceive of. Simply allow your mind to rest with the knowledge that all you see now is not true. And do not forget; to see with the vision of sinlessness, you must see all as bodiless. This then, is the vision of holiness.

This concludes CHAPTER 20: THE VISION OF HOLINESS

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A Course In Miracles: CHAPTER 20: THE VISION OF HOLINESS