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SearchDoes God NOT know about my separated self? And if not, why pray?
Question:
There is a teaching in ACIM that I would like clarification on. It mentions several times that the concept of this world is alien to God. He did not create this world. He is not aware of our illusory dreams. That's disturbing to me. Because the script is written, we will all awaken. But who wrote the script? Our Real Self is already awake and whole. Our purpose is to come to this recognition and leave our ego's dream world. That's all great news, but why won't God recognize "mini me's" creation?
Why isn't there a definition of God included in the Clarification of Terms section of the Course? That may help me. "Mini me" likes to think that God is hearing my prayers. Why pray? What is the point of asking God to help the police find an abducted girl? To help my suffering friend to find peace within the midst of his pain? To help world leaders soften their hearts? To express gratitude for something or some event that I consider to be beautiful? Or just to help me awaken from the dream?
God is my creator. For some reason that I don't understand, I (?) have chosen to experiment with being separate from him. Why shouldn't God take an interest in what I (?) have created as part of this experiment? I thought that the "Jesus Story" dream would have been of particular interest to God since Jesus successfully awakened. What was the point of Jesus' prayer to God in Gethsemane? Please expound on what God is, why this world is alien to God, and why we pray?
Answer:
Thanks for writing and for all the sincere questions. God is Spirit. Spirit is not a concept or a belief. Spirit, being eternal, cannot be defined, explained, or described—only experienced. God simply Is. Christ simply Is. Forgiveness itself is an illusion, for in Heaven there is nothing to forgive. The experience of Spirit transcends the "highest" belief, which is forgiveness. Yet forgiveness is the gateway (or portal within) to the remembrance of God. Forgiveness is therefore the focus of all unlearning—a peeling away of the layers of false concept or belief. All the questions you have asked, reinterpreted by the Holy Spirit, point to acceptance of the Atonement or complete forgiveness of time.
The time-space world is a world made by the belief in separation from God. The world and the belief that made it, the ego, are one illusion. Illusion by definition means unreal or false. Illusion is make-believe, fantasy, or hallucination. Time is illusion. Space is illusion. Change is illusion. You asked why this world is alien to God. God knows not form. Truth knows not error or falsity. Reality knows not illusion. Eternity knows not time. Infinity knows not of the finite. Life knows not death. Limitlessness knows not of rules and conditions. Love knows no opposite. Joy knows not sorrow. Abstraction knows not specifics. God is One, and Oneness knows not of division or opposition or multiplicity.
"A Course In Miracles" is summarized as follows: "Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God." The Holy Spirit represents the Knowledge that destruction is impossible, for God creates only Spirit, Love creates only Love, and Eternity creates only the Eternal. Therefore the Holy Spirit, an eternal creation in Heaven and (seemingly) a symbol or representative of God's Love, corrected the ego and its make-believe cosmos the instant it seemed to arise. The Holy Spirit is the Memory of God, and functions as a gentle reminder that everything is Now perfect As Is. To fully accept the Holy Spirit is to fully release the belief in time. For time and Eternity do not co-exist. Eternity is real.
Prayer is a way of remembering Christ and God. In Heaven, prayer is formless and changeless, a Song of Eternal gratitude. In time, prayer seems to take the form in which it can be most helpful. Time and lack are the same belief—so in time, prayer takes the form of requests and answers for the sleeping mind, which is unaware of Heaven. Prayer is desire. The prayer of the heart is what is wanted or wished for. It does not matter what words or symbols are used in prayer, for the picture or perception the mind witnesses is exactly what was asked for or desired. “As you sow, so shall you reap” is a declaration of the power of mind and prayer. "Let thine eye be single" is a way of saying "let thy desire be single" or "let your prayer be one." A unified prayer is one, never split or splintered. "God, what is your will for me?" asks for Absolute, Eternal Happiness instead of fleeting and temporary illusions. For God's Will is for perfect Happiness. Any other use of prayer is a temporary ego "misuse" of prayer. Unified prayer is synonymous with creation, and creation, being everything, asks for nothing. The key to true prayer is to forget the things you think you need and empty the heart of false desires.
God Gives Christ Eternal Spirit and Life in Heaven. The time-space cosmos was the ego's attempt to "add to" Heavenly Perfection by being separate and different. Yet Christ remains as God created Christ, and Heaven exists forever as eternal Oneness. An ego idol is "more” of something, yet in Eternity there is no "more than" or "less than." True prayer, therefore,”asks" only that truth be true and accepts that Christ is still as God created Christ. This is true humility, for it is but ego arrogance to assume that time and lack are real and then ask that the script be "better" than it already is. To the Holy Spirit, everything is already in divine order right now in the Perspective of the forgiven world. Yet the Holy Spirit always Answers the sleeping mind in a way that is meaningful and helpful, no matter what the mind seems to believe. This is an expression of the mercy and kindness and compassion of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not destroy what the ego made. The Holy Spirit simply reinterprets what was made to the forgiving Perspective of wholeness.
In Answer to prayer, here are the answers to some of the questions you have asked:
"Who wrote the script?"
The ego. The Holy Spirit's Perspective, however, sees the script as whole, as one illusion, and this is the miracle of Atonement. What is the same cannot be different, and what is one cannot have separate parts. This is why there is no order of difficulty in miracles and no hierarchy of illusions.
"Why won't God recognize ‘mini me's’ creation?"
God creates Christ as Spirit. The ego was make-believe and cannot create. God recognizes Spirit, so God recognizes Christ. What was termed "mini me" and "mini me's creation" are not recognizable because only Spirit exists. "Mini me" has been reinterpreted into a forgiven world by the Holy Spirit. To accept the Holy Spirit's Perspective is the only goal worthy of attention and effort now.
"Why isn't there included in the Clarification of Terms section of the Course a definition of God?"
God is beyond definition. Love is beyond what can be taught or learned. What Is simply Is. The Course is a path in unlearning or undoing the ego—a path of removing the obstacles to the awareness of Love's Presence. Definitions are temporary unlearning aids, and in acceptance of Atonement the need for unlearning is done. Let the Holy Spirit direct your use of concepts and definitions, and lead you to the "leaping off point” of Atonement. The Holy Spirit's purpose is the only valuable use for temporary symbols.
"'Mini me' likes to 'think' that God is hearing my prayers. Why pray? What is the point of asking God to help the police find an abducted girl? To help my suffering friend to find peace within the midst of his pain? To help world leaders soften their hearts? To express gratitude for something or some event that I consider to be beautiful? Or just to help me awaken from the dream?"
Pray for help to Awaken from the dream. Pray for a shift in perspective and a change of perception—to look upon the world with the Holy Spirit and understand that the past is gone. Listen, learn, and do as the Holy Spirit directs. The Holy Spirit will Guide you very specifically as long as you believe in specifics. Open your heart and let your prayer be single.
"God is my creator. For some reason that I don't understand, I (?) have chosen to experiment with being separate from him. Why shouldn't God take an interest in what I (?) have created as part of this experiment?"
Peace and understanding go together and cannot be found apart. Identity cannot be "found" or "understood" except in the Mind of God. The Holy Spirit is our only valuable interest or Purpose for what the ego seemed to make. The forgiven world is the symbol of God's Love for a mind that sleeps and has not yet Awakened unto the Eternal Oneness of Heaven.
"I thought that the 'Jesus Story' dream would have been of particular interest to God since Jesus successfully awakened. What was the point of Jesus' prayer to God in Gethsemane?"
The "Jesus Story" and many of its seeming scenarios of time are very helpful learning aids in releasing the belief in time. The Holy Spirit uses the symbols of time to teach that there is no time (e.g.,”The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Before Abraham was, I am. Take no thought for the morrow.") Jesus is a great symbol of Awakening. To be identified as Christ is to Know ThySelf as Spirit. Yet a person does not awaken and an enlightened person is but a symbol or learning aid as well. The mind that believes in history and persons, places, and things is asleep. The Holy Spirit's Perspective is the Point of time (including Jesus' prayer to God in Gethsemane), so to speak. The Holy Spirit's Perspective reveals that history (the timeline) is the illusion and the Vision of Christ (Abstract Light) is revealed completely beyond the veil of images.
Awakening is the complete release of error (or ego). God Answers the prayer of the heart and you will find within in the Divine Silence what you are looking for. There comes a time when appearances and images are seen as false, and your identity is no longer sought in images. The dreamer of a world of dreams is quiet in the Still Perspective of the Holy Spirit. Dream softly of a world that is over and gone, for the past can cast no shadow on the present moment. Forgiveness sees the past as gone, and only a blessing remains.
I love You forever and ever Holy One!
Love,
David