THE PURPOSE OF THE BODY ¹  and . . .

THE LITTLE GARDEN

I’m going to start out addressing this section as THE PURPOSE OF THE BODY.

Now remember, when we ended last week, it said:

. . . from this center, . .

. . . referring to the . . .

. . . quiet center, in which you do nothing, will remain with you, giving you rest in the midst of every busy doing on which you are sent.

Remember, when you take the time to become still, to stop thinking, to stop determining what the meaning of everything is and you say, “Father” or “Holy Spirit, what is the truth here?” and then you continue to be still . . . you will find yourself in-filled with the awareness of truth, with the Father’s Perspective on the Reality which you are confronted with but which you are misperceiving as long as you are identifying yourself as a body and as long as you are using your body as a means of control for securing your safety.

In the influx of clarity, it becomes inevitably obvious to you how to be in that moment—how to be in relationship to everything that you are seeing which is actually the Kingdom of Heaven.

And so, you will find yourself Knowing what to do.  You will find yourself Knowing what to be.

For from this center will you be directed how to use the body sinlessly.

You see?  It doesn’t say that when you get there, suddenly this illusion called a body will disappear.  No. You find yourself clearly aware of how to use this body sinlessly.  In other words, for a reason other than self-protection and control.  In other words, for the Father’s Reason . . . for the Holy Spirit’s reason.  You see?

This is very important.  It is that which triggers the Movement of Awakening—of transformation, regeneration and redemption.

Now, the new section:

THE PURPOSE OF THE BODY 

begins . . .

It is only the awareness of the body that makes love seem limited.  For the body IS a limit on love.

Now none of you actually want to be a defense mechanism.  None of you wants to stand at odds with the universal way things work.  And none of you want to experience the misery, the dissonance, the conflict that accompanies it.

Now . . .

It is only the awareness of the body . . .

. . . as you have imagined it and decided it is . . .

. . . that makes love seem limited.  For the body IS a limit on love. 

Now why suddenly are we talking about whether love is limited or unlimited?  It’s because the function of the body as that which the Father has created, is to be the evidence, expression and substance of Love Itself embodying and communicating the Father’s Intent.  You see?

And so, . .

It is only the awareness of the body . . .

. . . that you have made up . . .

. . . that makes . . .

. . . that makes love seem limited.  For the body . . .

. . . IS a limit on love.

The body is what you have shifted your identification to when you withdrew your identification from God—from your Father, from your Source.

Think not that this is merely allegorical, for it was made to limit YOU.

It was made to identify you as that which is not infinite, as that which has no infinite Source.  It was made to identify you as tiny, finite, vulnerable, and as a result of the intent to overcome the vulnerability, a defense mechanism.  We could be extreme and say, “a killing machine.”

Indeed, the end result of the definition that you have applied to the visibility and tangibility of your divine individuality does result in your death.  Because there is no way to avoid, I’m going to say, there’s no way to avoid having an experience which can illustrate the truth to you and give you the opportunity to abandon your commitment to your definition of yourself.  I say this because when death seems to occur to you, you immediately find yourself alive.  You immediately find yourself in an unbroken, uninterrupted experience of Being.  And the very thing that seemed to “kill” you, you realize didn’t have the power to kill you.

At this point you have the opportunity to abandon your commitment to your divorce.  Sometimes that commitment is abandoned.  Many times it is not because there is still a conscious intent to be in control, to be independent and make a success at it.

Can you who see yourselves within a body know yourself as . . .

. . . . what? . .

. . . an IDEA?

And yet, that is what you Are.  Because God—infinite Mind, the infinite conscious Awareness—Moved.  The Movement of Mind is the experience of consciousness—of being Aware.  And what is Mind aware of?  Ideas.  Complete ideas: Ideas with infinite Meaning, infinite texture, infinite tone, infinite Light, infinite color.  And all of these things are part of the Idea embodied through the action of the Mind of God Moving.

Everything you recognize you identify with externals, something outside itself.

You see?  Now what is it that happens when you do the two-step, when you become still and you say, “Father, what is the truth here?” “Holy Spirit, reveal to me the Father’s Perspective about what I’m experiencing.”  What happens there is, that you shift your focus from body identification to Mind identification.  And after all, the truth that Awakening reveals to you is that your whole dilemma had amounted to nothing more than identifying yourself with a specific idea that you called, “form,” and abandoned your divinely established Being as conscious Awareness without limit.  You made a shift from the infinite to the finite.

And suddenly, where you, as Mind, had experienced everything infinitely, in its infinite perfection and as the substance and Movement of Love that radiates and embraces everything, you interpreted not only yourself as an object, but all things of Creation as objects—private, separate.  And that’s what you will Awaken from.

Awakening is not a matter of improving the body that you define yourself as.  It constitutes a shift from a focus of your attention to this specific form, to the Mind in which this form exists to be experienced as what it divinely Is.  Since it is an Idea formed by God, by virtue by His Being the infinite Mind that Moves, that constitutes Creation.  You see?

Now you know the direction in which to give your attention.  It’s not a direction in terms of improving the body.  It’s a Movement in terms of abandoning the focus of attention on the body and bringing the attention into the quietness of the two-step, the place of shutting up and uttering a simple question and leaving it there: “Father what is the truth here?” and then inviting and being receptive to the answer.  Because the more I talk about it the clearer it becomes to you, that that shift is what constitutes the steps of Awakening.

You cannot even think of God . . .

 You cannot even think of God without a body, or some form you think you recognize.

Well, I’m going to reiterate that God is infinite, unlimited, in other words, Mind—that which when it Moves, is an unlimited Movement.  And the Movement is constituted of Ideas—divine, flawless Ideas—which in themselves are the embodiment of infinity, wholeness, all-inclusiveness, you might say, togetherness, but not of separated little individual parts, but rather, you might say, holograms of the whole.

The body . . .

. . . the one you made up . . .

. . . cannot KNOW.  And while you limit your awareness to its tiny senses, you will not see the grandeur which surrounds you.

You will not see the Kingdom of Heaven that all of this really Is.  And you will not see the divine one that you are as you really Are.

God cannot come into a body, . .

. . . God cannot come into your imaginative definitions as you have thought you could.  You confine yourself to the definitions you made up about the part of the Kingdom of Heaven that you now call your body.  You see?

God cannot come into a body, nor can you join Him there.

You see?  You can’t join the Father in your present definition of yourself. You have to be willing to abandon your present definition of yourself and that’s what the holy instant is for, that’s what the two-step accomplishes.  You see?  A withdrawal of your attention from body identification to the quiet stillness of mind in which you reach out to the infinite Mind which is God, so that you might be available for the influx of the Father’s Perspective—what the Father’s Meanings Are in everything He Created.  You are opening yourself to an entirely, for lack of better words, mental experience, an experience entirely constituted of Mind.  Because it is in this space that God’s laws prevail.  And it is in this space where the transformation, regeneration and redemption occurs that uncovers to you Reality as it is and you in your utter safety, security.

Limits on love will always seem to shut Him . . .

. . . the Father . . .

. . . out, and to keep you apart from Him. The body is a tiny fence . . .

. . . the one you’ve made up, the imaginative one that you hold and superimpose upon this visibility and tangibility of holiness thus blinding yourself  to the holiness of you.

[This] body is a tiny fence around a little part of a glorious and complete idea.

I’ve said before many times, that the ego is simply a small portion of the infinite Mind that you Are, that you have created a bubble around.  And so, there is an inside and an outside to the bubble.  But what’s on the inside is the same thing that’s on the outside.  And in fact, that which blinds you to your divinity and keeps you from Waking up, is the fact that you think the bubble is definite and solid when it is as flimsy as a soap bubble and will pop the moment you dare to seriously ask, “In spite of what I think all of this is, Father, what is it truly?  I want to experience Your Perspective.  Holy Spirit, I want to let You back in.”  You see?

The Holy Spirit is the All that’s on the outside of the bubble.  All of you that’s on the outside of the bubble that you’re keeping yourself separated from by means of the bubble, and giving yourself the “fright of your life” you might say, by believing you are only what is inside and therefore tiny and vulnerable and it causes you to believe that your destiny is to keep the bubble from popping!

The body is a tiny fence around a little part of a glorious and complete idea . . .

. . . the divine You, that at the moment is separated from the infinity of the divine You that’s on the outside of the bubble waiting for you to  rejoin It. 

It draws a circle, infinitely small, around a very little segment of . . .

. . . what? . .

. . . Heaven splintered from the whole, proclaiming that within it is your kingdom, where God can enter not.

It’s important to understand this.  What’s on the inside of the circle is a very little segment of Heaven.  It is not an alternate creation.  It is not something different from what God Acted upon and As.  It’s just that with a little circle drawn around it, it seems to be totally unlike what it is in its totality.  And when you believe that, you’re lost until you can break the mesmerism—the attachment to and the commitment to keeping that bubble from popping . . . you know, get a little bit more liquid, get a little more soap, keep that bubble from popping!

Within this kingdom . . .

. . . inside the circle . . .

. . . the ego rules, . .

. . . you see?  God’s laws don’t seem to be ultimate, actual, unchanging.  The keyword being, “seems” because God didn’t change.

Within this kingdom the ego rules, and cruelly.

That’s because in the constant state of defending itself to protect itself when it is utterly unchangeably safe, its actions are totally at odds with Reality.  And as a result, everything it does is a denial of Reality and in that, it is cruel.  Not only that, it’s part and parcel of a motivation to give you a “hit,” a hit of pleasure and satisfaction when you seem to be able to establish your safety, and you don’t want to give that up.

Within this kingdom the ego rules, and cruelly. And to defend this little speck of dust, it bids you fight against the universe.

You’re keeping this little bubble maintained, is defending what’s inside the bubble from all that is on the outside—infinity, the Kingdom of Heaven, Creation.  Amazing.  And the best news is, that none of this is working.  The best news is that nothing unlike God is being created and therefore there is nothing that you are guilty of because you haven’t been able to succeed at the impossible.

This fragment of your mind is such a tiny part of it that, could you but appreciate the whole, you would see instantly that it is like the smallest sunbeam to the sun, or like the faintest ripple on the surface of the ocean.

This little you inside the bubble, inside the circle, . .

. . . is like the smallest sunbeam to the sun, . .

. . . by comparison . . .

. . . or [like] the faintest ripple on the surface of the ocean. In its amazing arrogance, this tiny sunbeam has decided it IS the sun; this almost imperceptible ripple hails itself as the ocean.

Think how alone and frightened is this little thought, this infinitesimal illusion, holding itself apart against the universe.

See, you didn’t know you were doing this and it isn’t being brought up so that you can discover how destructive you’ve been and how un-God-like you’ve been, and therefore, how guilty you must be for standing over and against God.  That’s not the reason.  It’s so that you might find that this has happened, you have engaged in attempting this, but it’s impossible to succeed.  And therefore, you are not . . . you are not a sinner . . . you are not worthy of going to hell for eternity.  You are worthy of becoming clear about the fact that you can’t accomplish the impossible, and therefore, you are free to return to what is actual by simply giving up the struggle without having to pay a penalty.  You see?

What keeps you from approaching the Father and yielding to the Father is your very firm belief that you are guilty of an ultimate offense and therefore, you don’t dare to become vulnerable, to become still and to invite in the Father’s Perspective, which He will share with you unhesitatingly because He sees that you haven’t accomplished what you thought you had accomplished and you deserve nothing less than to have your mind purified by the truth.

Think how alone and frightened is this little thought, this infinitesimal illusion, holding itself apart against the universe. The sun becomes the sunbeam's "enemy" which would devour it, and the ocean terrifies the little ripple and wants to swallow it.

You see?  There is fear of your wholeness.  That’s all it is.  And it is the result of the intent to be independent and remain independent.  And that is all.  The minute that intent is abandoned, everything negative that accompanied it will disappear.  Why?  Because you are doing all of this in the middle of what I’m going to call an “ocean of Love,” the Father’s Love, which is what is embodied and is called Creation—the Kingdom of Heaven—and which is misidentified as a material world and universe. 

Yet neither sun nor ocean is even aware of all this strange and meaningless activity. They merely continue, unaware that they are feared and hated by a tiny segment of themselves.

You can see the foolishness, the meaninglessness of the fear and the anxiety and the guilt that occupies you.

Even that segment . . .

. . . the tiny segment of themselves . . .

Even that segment is not lost to them, for it could not survive APART from them.

The little wave on the ocean could not survive, couldn’t exist without the ocean.  The sunbeam couldn’t exist without the sun.  That which is actual is actualizing itself as the sunbeam and the wave, the ripple.  You see?  Your holiness is being you at this moment.

And what it thinks it is . . .

. . . the little ripple and the sunbeam . . .

. . . what it thinks it is in no way changes its total dependence on them . . .

. . . the sun and the ocean . . .

. . . for its being. Its whole existence still remains in them.

Your whole existence still remains in the Father.  You are still His Son.  You are still His Offspring.  You are still His eternal ongoing Expression.

Without the sun the sunbeam would be gone; the ripple without the ocean is inconceivable.

Such is the strange position in which those in a world inhabited by bodies seem to be.

You know, the made up bodies, the imagined ones, the definitions of this particular shape, that had nothing to do whatsoever with That which Created and maintains them.

Each body seems to house a separate mind, a disconnected thought, living alone and in no way joined to the Thought by which it was created. Each tiny fragment seems to be self-contained, needing each other for some things, but by no means . . . [totally dependent on their one Creator for everything, and] needing the whole to give them any meaning, for by themselves they DO mean nothing. Nor HAVE they any life apart and by themselves

The body doesn’t exist as that which you’ve defined it.  And all that you need to do in order to experience it as what it truly is, is to abandon your commitment to your definitions of it and be willing to step out into what to you feels like the unknown and abandon yourself to what you would call the unreasonable, unreasonable simply because what you let yourself go into isn’t something that you have created ahead of time by very orderly intelligent reasoned thought processes which you have determined gives you invulnerability.

Until you are willing to give up your control, you will never find that you are held absolutely . . . in absolute invulnerability, because your very Being is the Presence and  activity of God, that which is omnipotent, that which is omnipresent, that which is omniscient and that which you reflect in all respects.

Like to the sun and ocean your Self . . .

. . . the one you really Are, no matter what imaginations you’re employing.

Like to the sun and ocean your Self continues, unmindful that this tiny part regards itself AS you.

You see?  There it is . . . that which is on the outside of the bubble or the circle, you in your totality continue undisturbed by the little fantasies which occupy your attention one hundred percent and scare you to death and cause you to defend yourself by reinforcing the bubble ever harder.  You see?

[Sentence not read:] [It is not missing; it could not exist if it were separate, nor would the whole be whole without it.]
It is not a separate kingdom, ruled by an idea of separation from the rest.

Nor does a fence surround it, . .

. . . or a bubble . . .

. . . preventing it from joining with the rest, and keeping it apart from its Creator. This little aspect is no different from the whole, . .

. . . you are right now the holy Sons and Daughters of God, that’s why you must understand that you are at the point of perfection now, not moving toward it, not on a long journey.

This little aspect . . .

. . . inside the circle . . .

. . . is no different from the whole, . .

. . . you are the ultimate right now, except that you insist upon believing you are finite and you refuse to abandon yourself to the unknown, meaning that which you’re not in control of.  But here the truth is getting to you.  You are hearing it.  And as long as you listen you will continue to hear it until it no longer seems to be fabulous.  In other words: of the nature of fable.

This little aspect is no different from the whole, being continuous with it and at one with it. It leads no separate life because its life IS the oneness in which its being was created.

It . . .

. . . You . . .

. . . leads no separate life because its life IS the oneness in which its being was created . . .

. . . the universal Presence of Mind in which Mind moves, the movement of which is Creation, the Kingdom of Heaven.

Do not accept this little, fenced-off aspect as yourself.

Do not accept the definitions you’re using that say you don’t deserve perfection.  Do not accept them as yourself.  Begin to challenge them.  And how do you challenge them?  Not by force, but by the presence of curiosity to see the more of what you divinely Are than what you’re currently seeing.  You challenge it by bringing genuine curiosity into play.  And then you be quiet so that your great curiosity can be responded to.  It’s simple and it’s loving, the way Home is.

The sun and ocean are as nothing beside what you are.

That’s because we’re talking about objects, which you understand the meaning of while you’re still dreaming and using the body as your focus—your point of understanding things.

The sun and ocean are as nothing beside what you are. The sunbeam sparkles only in the sunlight, and the ripple dances as it rests upon the ocean. Yet in neither sun nor ocean is the power that rests in you.

This is because you are that unlimited, unbounded, conscious awareness of Being that the word “Mind” labels—gives meaning to.  In other words, you are like the space in Creation in which the planet and the sun and the sunbeams and the ripples have their Being.  They have it in you because you are Mind conscious of them, not as objects out there, but as ideas embraced within conscious Being.  You see how we’re shifting from body identification, thing identification, matter identification, to Mind Idea and divine order?

You see, Waking up is going to be a matter of a shift of perception.  The word “miracle” as the Course defines it is a “sudden shift of perception.” 

It’s a subtle shift.  And that’s why I don’t brow-beat everyone with it.  That’s why I don’t stand up and yell about it, because you need to be encouraged to let yourself into the experience of Reality willingly and without force—with embrace.

Would you remain within your tiny kingdom, . .

. . . of bodies . . .

. . . a sorry king, a bitter ruler of all he surveys, who looks on nothing, . .

. . . except his imaginations, which is why what he’s looking upon is nothing . . .

. . . yet who would still die to defend it? This little self is not your kingdom. Arched high above it and surrounding it with love is the glorious whole, . .

. . . around this bubble, infinitely forever . . .

. . . is the glorious whole, which offers all its happiness and deep content to every part. The little aspect which you think you set apart is no exception.

You cannot be excluded from the Love.  You cannot be excluded from the embrace and therefore you are not.  And if you are suffering, it’s because you’re insisting upon penalizing yourselves, not because God is penalizing you.  The Father, the Holy Spirit Know that what you are penalizing yourself for hasn’t happened, and you are innocent!

Abide with this.  Listen to what I have said over and over this week.  Find ways to be gently present as conscious awareness rather than a body with a brain, with electrical synapses occurring that approximate ideas and conscious awareness.

That isn’t what is happening.  Really become curious about what is actually happening.  And then be willing to have the Unreasonable reveal itself to you, so that you might find the encouragement to yield into it and abandon your fierce control.

A Course In Miracles (reference pages)
Chapter 18 – Section: THE PURPOSE OF THE BODY
¹ Sparkly Book – p.442  /  JCIM – p.184   /   CIMS – p.372
Chapter 18 – Section:  THE LITTLE GARDEN
First Edition  –  p. 364   /    Second Edition – p.390

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