T. 22. II. 1 – 4. Jesus: “The opposite of illusions is not ‘disillusionment,’ but truth! Only to the ego, to which truth is meaningless, do they appear to be the only alternatives, and to be different from each other. In truth they are the same, since both illusions and disillusionment bring misery to you, though each one seems to be the way to lose the misery the other brings.
Every illusion carries pain and suffering in the dark folds of the heavy garments in which it hides its nothingness! Yet by these dark and heavy garments is the awareness of those who seek illusions covered over, and thereby hidden from the joy of truth. Truth is the opposite of illusions because it offers joy!
What else but joy could be the opposite of misery? To leave one kind of misery and seek another is hardly an escape. To merely change from one illusion to another is to make no change at all!
The search for joy among illusions is senseless, for how could joy be found in misery? All that is possible in the ego’s dark world of misery is to select some aspects of it out, try to convince yourself that they are different, and interpret the difference as ‘happiness.’ Yet to perceive a difference where none exists is still illusory, and will surely fail to make a difference in how you feel!
To those who believe in illusions, they carry only guilt and suffering, sickness, misery and death! The form in which they are accepted is irrelevant! No form of misery in reason’s eyes can be confused with joy. Joy is eternal! You can be sure indeed that any seeming happiness that does not last is really fear disguised.
Joy does not turn back to sorrow, for the eternal cannot be changed. But sorrow can be turned to joy, for the illusion of time gives way to the truth of the eternal. Only the timeless must remain unchanged, but everything in time can change with time. Yet if the change be real and not imagined, illusions give way to truth, and not to other dreams that are but equally unreal. Such ‘change’ as that would make no difference!
Reason will tell you that the only way to escape from misery is to recognize its source, choose once again and let it fall away. Truth is the same and misery the same, but they are different from each other in every way, in every instance and without exception. To believe that one exception can exist is to confuse what is the same with what is different.
One illusion cherished and defended against the truth makes all truth meaningless to you, and all illusions real. Such is the power of belief. It cannot compromise! And your faith in ‘innocence,’ if the belief excludes one living thing and keeps it from forgiveness, is really faith in sin!”