Where am I on this path?

The section Development of Trust (ACIM:4.I.A) is extremely helpful and yet also confusing, and it is confusing mostly because we are so inclined to mis-use it by trying to determine just where we are in our process. To that question however, there is in reality only one answer:

You are at home in God, dreaming of exile but perfectly capable of awakening to reality. (ACIM:T-10.1.2:1)

As long as our minds are at all concerned about being somewhere where we think we are not, we are completely wrapped up in the illusion of time and space, and thus not dealing with reality.

It is for the same reason that the Course is so very clear that its goal is not knowledge, but rather peace. Neither is the goal of the Course enlightenment or awakening. To this point it says:

The journey to God is merely the reawakening of the knowledge of where you are always, and what you are forever. It is a journey without distance to a goal that has never changed. Truth can only be experienced. It cannot be described and it cannot be explained. I can make you aware of the conditions of truth, but the experience is of God. Together we can meet its conditions, but truth will dawn upon you of itself. (ACIM:T-8.VI.9:6-11)

In short, what we can learn is choosing peace, by learning to not choose the ego, simply because we don't want it anymore after looking at it honestly with Jesus. In the light of his truth it looses its charm, and thus we learn to un-choose it. Hence also the Course's notion of Atonement without sacrifice. Giving up nothing is not a sacrifice. And we are home because we never left.

Our job is merely to accept the atonement for ourselves, to accept that the ego did not happen, the rest will speak for itself. To put it differently our job is to get out of our own way, and to stop sabotaging ourselves. This is a critical part of the Course, since it takes away the notion of spiritual journeys, and investments of time. Only our fear is holding us back, and that we overcome gradually through the forgiveness process. But the truth is not a place you go to, you merely unlearn running away from it. For the same reason the discussion of enlightenment is also silly, since there is nobody to be enlightened in the first place, again, we merely need to give up pretending to be who we are not.

Copyright, © 2008 Rogier F. van Vlissingen. All rights reserved.