T. 22. Intro. 1 – 3. Jesus: “Take pity on yourself, you who seem so long enslaved! Rejoice, that whom God hath joined have come together again and need no longer look on sin as if apart. No two who have joined in the Holy Spirit’s purpose can actually look on sin together, for they could never see it in the same place and time.
‘Sin’ is a strictly individual perception, seen in the other yet more deeply believed by each to be within himself! And each one seems to make a different error, and one the other cannot understand. Brother, it is the same mistake, made by the same mindset, and forgiven for its maker in just the same way!
The holiness of your relationship is what forgives you and your brother, undoing the effects of what you both believed apart, and each thought you saw in the other. And with their going is the need for sin gone with them.
Who has need for the belief in sin? Only those who would make themselves lonely and alone in separation, who see their brothers as different from themselves. It is this difference, seen but not real, that makes the need for the idea of sin, not real but seen, seem justified. And if sin were so, this difference would have to be real!
For an unholy, special relationship is based on differences, where each one thinks the other has what he has not. They come together, each to complete himself and ‘get from’ the other. They stay until they think that there is nothing left to steal, and then move on. And so they wander through a world of strangers, unlike themselves, perhaps living in their bodies under a common roof that shelters neither; in the same room and yet a world apart!
A holy relationship starts from a different premise. Each one has looked within and seen no lack. Accepting his completion, he would extend it by joining with another, whole as himself. He sees no difference between these selves, for differences are only of the body.”
Note: These excerpts, though not verbatim, are the product of my own continuing study which began in 1981. I read every word, then ponder, then ask for clarity in the ideas. I am given added words, punctuation and paragraph breaks to enhance my understanding, in language that works for me. I’m currently using http://www.circleofa.org/course_miracles/acim as my resource. Guidance says to share my homework, something I have previously cleared with FIP and FACIM. It was actually Ken Wapnick who put me onto using this methodical approach. The surprise was when I began hearing Guidance with it! At this point I have archived excerpts from all of the Text, Psych. P.P.P., and Song of Prayer for reference. Peace – Ron