Chapter 19 – 11. The Fourth Obstacle: The Fear of God
What would you see without the fear of death? What would you feel and
think if death held no attraction for you? Very simply, you would remember
your Father. The Creator of life, the Source of everything that lives, the
Father of the universe and of the universe of universes, and of everything
that lies even beyond them would you remember. And as this memory rises
in your mind, peace must still surmount a final obstacle, after which is
salvation completed, and the Son of God entirely restored to sanity. For here
your world does end.
Â
The fourth obstacle to be surmounted hangs like a heavy veil before the face
of Christ. as his face rises beyond it, shining with joy because he is in his
Father’s Love, peace will lightly brush the veil aside and run to meet him,
and to join with him at last. For this dark veil, which seems to make the face
of Christ himself like to a leper’s, and the bright Rays of his Father’s love
that light his face with glory appear as streams of blood, fades in the blazing
light beyond it when the fear of death is gone.
Â
This is the darkest veil, upheld by the belief in death and protected by its
attraction. The dedication to death and to its sovereignty is but the solemn
vow, the promise made in secret to the ego never to lift this veil, not to
approach it, nor even to suspect that it is there. This is the secret bargain
made with the ego to keep what lies beyond the veil forever blotted out and
unremembered. Here is your promise never to allow union to call you out of
separation; the great amnesia in which the memory of God seems quite
forgotten; the cleavage of your Self from you… the fear of God , the final
step in your dissociation.
Â
See how the belief in death would seem to “save” you. For if this were
gone, what could you fear but life? It is the attraction of death that makes
life seem to be ugly, cruel and tyrannical. You are no more afraid of death
than of the ego. These are your chosen friends. For in your secret alliance
with them you have agreed never to let the fear of God be lifted, so you
could look upon the face of Christ and join him in his Father.
Â
Every obstacle that peace must flow across is surmounted in just the same
way; the fear that raised it yields to the love beyond, and so the fear is gone.
Â
And so it is with this. The desire to get rid of peace and drive the Holy
Spirit from you fades in the presence of the quiet recognition that you love
him. The exaltation of the body is given up in favor of the spirit, which you
love as you could never love the body. And the appeal of death is lost
forever as love’s attraction stirs and calls to you. From beyond each of the
obstacles to love, Love Itself has called. And each has been surmounted by
the power of the attraction of what lies beyond. Your wanting fear seemed
to be holding them in place. Yet when you heard the Voice of Love beyond
them, you answered and they disappeared.
Â
And now you stand in terror before what you swore never to look upon.
Â
Your eyes look down, remembering your promise to your “friends. “The
“loveliness” of sin, the delicate appeal of guilt, the “holy” waxen image of
death, and the fear of vengeance of the ego you swore in blood not to desert,
all rise and bid you not to raise your eyes. For you realize that if you look
on this and let the veil be lifted, they will be gone forever. All of your
“friends,” your “protectors” and your “home” will vanish. Nothing that you
remember now will you remember.
Â
It seems to you the world will utterly abandon you if you but raise your
eyes. Yet all that will occur is you will leave the world forever. This is the
re-establishment of your will. Look upon it, open-eyed, and you will
nevermore believe that you are at the mercy of things beyond you, forces
you cannot control, and thoughts that come to you against your will. It is
your will to look on this. No mad desire, no trivial impulse to forget again,
no stab of fear nor the cold sweat of seeming death can stand against your
will. For what attracts you from beyond the veil is also deep within you,
unseparated from it and completely one.
What would you see without the fear of death? What would you feel and
think if death held no attraction for you? Very simply, you would remember
your Father. The Creator of life, the Source of everything that lives, the
Father of the universe and of the universe of universes, and of everything
that lies even beyond them would you remember. And as this memory rises
in your mind, peace must still surmount a final obstacle, after which is
salvation completed, and the Son of God entirely restored to sanity. For here
your world does end.
Â
The fourth obstacle to be surmounted hangs like a heavy veil before the face
of Christ. as his face rises beyond it, shining with joy because he is in his
Father’s Love, peace will lightly brush the veil aside and run to meet him,
and to join with him at last. For this dark veil, which seems to make the face
of Christ himself like to a leper’s, and the bright Rays of his Father’s love
that light his face with glory appear as streams of blood, fades in the blazing
light beyond it when the fear of death is gone.
Â
This is the darkest veil, upheld by the belief in death and protected by its
attraction. The dedication to death and to its sovereignty is but the solemn
vow, the promise made in secret to the ego never to lift this veil, not to
approach it, nor even to suspect that it is there. This is the secret bargain
made with the ego to keep what lies beyond the veil forever blotted out and
unremembered. Here is your promise never to allow union to call you out of
separation; the great amnesia in which the memory of God seems quite
forgotten; the cleavage of your Self from you… the fear of God , the final
step in your dissociation.
Â
See how the belief in death would seem to “save” you. For if this were
gone, what could you fear but life? It is the attraction of death that makes
life seem to be ugly, cruel and tyrannical. You are no more afraid of death
than of the ego. These are your chosen friends. For in your secret alliance
with them you have agreed never to let the fear of God be lifted, so you
could look upon the face of Christ and join him in his Father.
Â
Every obstacle that peace must flow across is surmounted in just the same
way; the fear that raised it yields to the love beyond, and so the fear is gone.
Â
And so it is with this. The desire to get rid of peace and drive the Holy
Spirit from you fades in the presence of the quiet recognition that you love
him. The exaltation of the body is given up in favor of the spirit, which you
love as you could never love the body. And the appeal of death is lost
forever as love’s attraction stirs and calls to you. From beyond each of the
obstacles to love, Love Itself has called. And each has been surmounted by
the power of the attraction of what lies beyond. Your wanting fear seemed
to be holding them in place. Yet when you heard the Voice of Love beyond
them, you answered and they disappeared.
Â
And now you stand in terror before what you swore never to look upon.
Â
Your eyes look down, remembering your promise to your “friends. “The
“loveliness” of sin, the delicate appeal of guilt, the “holy” waxen image of
death, and the fear of vengeance of the ego you swore in blood not to desert,
all rise and bid you not to raise your eyes. For you realize that if you look
on this and let the veil be lifted, they will be gone forever. All of your
“friends,” your “protectors” and your “home” will vanish. Nothing that you
remember now will you remember.
Â
It seems to you the world will utterly abandon you if you but raise your
eyes. Yet all that will occur is you will leave the world forever. This is the
re-establishment of your will. Look upon it, open-eyed, and you will
nevermore believe that you are at the mercy of things beyond you, forces
you cannot control, and thoughts that come to you against your will. It is
your will to look on this. No mad desire, no trivial impulse to forget again,
no stab of fear nor the cold sweat of seeming death can stand against your
will. For what attracts you from beyond the veil is also deep within you,
unseparated from it and completely one.