T. 26. VIII. 1 – 4. Jesus: “One remaining problem that you have is that you think there is an interval between the time when you forgive, and when you will receive the benefits of wholly trusting in your brother.
This simply reflects that you would still keep a little ‘something’ between you and your brother, and he might still be ‘a little separate’ from you! For time and space are really one illusion, which merely appears as different forms. If it has been projected beyond your mind you think of it as ‘time.’ The nearer it is brought to where it is, the more you think of it in terms of space.
There is a ‘distance’ you would keep apart from your brother, and this space you perceive as time because you still believe you are external to him and him to you. Yet this makes real trust impossible! And so you cannot believe that simple trust would settle every problem now.
Yet ‘space’ between you and your brother is apparent only in the present, now, and cannot be perceived in future time. No more can it be overlooked except within the present.
There is a ‘distance’ you would keep apart from your brother, and this space you perceive as time because you still believe you are external to him and him to you. Yet this makes real trust impossible! And so you cannot believe that simple trust would settle every problem now.
Thus do you think it safer to remain a little careful and a little watchful of interests you have perceived as separate. From this sort of perception you cannot conceive of gaining what forgiveness offers you, in the instant you forgive, right now! The interval you think lies in between the giving and receiving of the gift seems to be one in which you would sacrifice something and suffer loss. You may see ‘eventual’ salvation, but not immediate results.
Yet salvation is immediate! Unless you so perceive it, you will be afraid of it, believing that the risk of loss is great between the time its purpose is made yours and its effects will come to you. In this form is the error that is the source of fear still obscured.
Yet salvation is immediate! Unless you so perceive it, you will be afraid of it, believing that the risk of loss is great between the time its purpose is made yours and its effects will come to you. In this form is the error that is the source of fear still obscured.
Salvation would wipe out the space you see between you still, and let you instantly become as one. And it is here you fear the loss would lie. Do not project this fear onto time, for ‘time’ is not the enemy that you perceive! Time is as neutral as the body is, except in terms of what you see it for. If you would keep a little space between you and your brother still, you then would want ‘a little time’ in which forgiveness is withheld a little while! And this makes the interval between the time in which you forgive and when forgiveness comes to you seem dangerous, with terror justified.
Yet ‘space’ between you and your brother is apparent only in the present, now, and cannot be perceived in future time. No more can it be overlooked except within the present.
Some ‘future loss’ is not your fear. It is but present joining that you dread! Who can feel desolation except now? A ‘future cause’ as yet has no effects. And therefore must it be that if you fear, there is a present cause. And it is this that needs correction through forgiveness, and not some future state!”