Your creation by God is the only Foundation that
cannot be shaken, because the light is in it.
Your starting point is truth, and you must return to your
Beginning. Much has been seen since
then, but nothing has really happened.
Your Self is still in peace, even though your mind is in conflict. You have not yet gone back far enough, and
that is why you become so fearful. As
you approach the Beginning, you feel the fear of the destruction of your
thought system upon you as if it were the fear of death. There is no death, but there is a
belief in death (A Course in Miracles: T-3.VII.5.5-11).
“The disciples said to Jesus,
‘Tell us, how will our end come?’ Jesus
said, ‘Have you found the beginning then, that you are looking for the
end? You see, the end will be where the
beginning is. Congratulations to the one
who stands at the beginning; that one will know the end and will not taste
death’” (The Gospel of Thomas, Logion 18; Scholar’s Version).
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I have worked with many
clients who view themselves as flawed, broken, unworthy, even evil. They understand that they have good in them,
but they see this good as warring with an equally strong evil. For them God is at war with and in opposition
to the devil, and their life is seen as the battleground. Their life experiences have taught them they
are “bad.” Add to that a Christian
theology of “original sin” that has been preached to them since they were a
small child and the picture becomes bleak indeed.
How we answer the question of
whether or not we are inherently good
or evil will be determined by how we view our origins. It is a question of
fundamentals. We will need to focus on our beginning – the “starting point” of our creation
– in order to understand our essential
nature.
In the preceding paragraph
you will notice several words that are in italics. These words, in one way or another, refer to
our beginning. A Course in Miracles
often refers to our “inheritance.” This
is what we were given at our creation.
As we look at ourselves and the lives that we have been living, it might
seem as if we are the prodigal son who has squandered our inheritance. The truth is, however, that we cannot lose
what God has given us. If we could lose
it then it was never really given to begin with. What God gives to us is eternal.
As long as we focus on what
we have made of ourselves and on the particular circumstances of our birth and
upbringing in this world, we will see a picture of limitation, pain, suffering,
short-comings and countless mistakes – in a word, “sin.” It will seem as if our inheritance has been
wasted (the word “prodigal” means “wasteful”).
And, from the point of view of this world – the world as seen through
our limited and false perception – it does appear that we have lost our
way.
However, if we can return to
our beginning – to our creation by God – what will our experience of ourselves
be? Will we see the same picture? The question we can ask ourselves is, “Does
the spirit that God created have evil in it?”
We might
engage in evil actions in this world (“bodies behaving badly”). There is no denying that this occurs in the
world of form. The question, though, is:
“At the level of spirit – what we truly are – do we have evil in us? Can a totally good God create a spirit that
has evil in it? If so, wouldn’t that
imply that there is evil in God?” The
logic of the Course might go something like this: God is
only good. God created us (the spirit)
in His image and likeness (as an extension of Himself). Therefore, the spirit that we are is only
good.
That
which is wholly good creates only
that which is also wholly good – that which is love creates only love – that which is eternal
creates only that which is also
eternal. If we experience anything else
(either in ourselves or in the world) it must be a distortion of what God
created. God, who is perfect, pure, and
good cannot create anything that is imperfect, impure, and bad.
“Your
creation by God is the only Foundation that cannot be shaken, because the light
is in it. Your starting point is truth,
and you must return to your Beginning”
(T-3.VII.5.5-6). Our creation by God
is our Foundation. It is what is
fundamental. Everything is built on this
one Foundation. And, it is a Foundation
that nothing can shake – nothing we have done, nothing anyone can say, nothing
we might believe about ourselves, nothing at all. This is our starting point, and it is the
truth. Instead of focusing on who we
have become, we need to return to our Beginning – our starting point – our
Foundation.
“Much has
been seen since then, but nothing has really happened. Your Self is still in peace, even though your
mind is in conflict” (T-3.VII.5.7-8).
Through false perception we have seen much since our creation. But, thankfully, nothing has really
happened. The separation from God and the rest of creation is just a “tiny mad idea.”
It never really happened. Even
though we still might perceive falsely and even though our minds seem to be in
conflict, the Self that God created is still in peace. The only lesson that is repeated in the
Workbook of A Course in Miracles reads, “I am as God created me.” The Self that God created has not changed and
never will.
“You have
not yet gone back far enough, and that is why you become so fearful. As you approach the Beginning, you feel the
fear of the destruction of your thought system upon you as if it were the fear
of death. There is no death, but there is
a belief in death” (T-3.VII.5.9-11). When
we think of our beginnings, we typically think about our birth and our early
childhood experiences. The Course is
telling us that we have not gone back far enough. We are instructed to return to the
Beginning. As we approach the Beginning
– our Foundation – we will feel fear.
What we are afraid of is the destruction of the ego’s thought system and
all that we think we are. Because we
identify with the ego (the false self that we have made) we believe that its
death means our death. In reality there is no death. There is only the giving up of what is false
for what is true.
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