Chapter 15 – 9. The Holy Instant and the Attraction of God
As the ego would limit your perception of your brothers to the body, so
would the Holy Spirit release your vision and let you see the Great Rays
shining from them, so unlimited that they reach to God. It is this shift to
vision that is accomplished in the holy instant. Yet it is needful for you to
learn just what this shift entails, so you will become willing to make it
permanent. Given this willingness it will not leave you, for it is permanent.
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Once you have accepted it as the only perception you want, it is translated
into knowledge by the part that God Himself plays in the Atonement, for it
is the only step in it He understands. Therefore, in this there will be no
delay when you are ready for it. God is ready now, but you are not.
Â
Our task is but to continue, as fast as possible, the necessary process of
looking straight at all the interference and seeing it exactly as it is. For it is
impossible to recognize as wholly without gratification what you think you
want. The body is the symbol of the ego, as the ego is the symbol of the
separation. And both are nothing more than attempts to limit
communication, and thereby to make it impossible. For communication
must be unlimited in order to have meaning, and deprived of meaning, it
will not satisfy you completely. Yet it remains the only means by which you
can establish real relationships, which have no limits, having been
established by God.
Â
In the holy instant, where the Great Rays replace the body in awareness, the
recognition of relationships without limits is given you. But in order to see
this, it is necessary to give up every use the ego has for the body, and to
accept the fact that the ego has no purpose you would share with it. For the
ego would limit everyone to a body for its own purposes, and while you
think it has a purpose, you will choose to utilize the means by which it tries
to turn its purpose into accomplishment. This will never be accomplished.
Â
Yet you have surely recognized that the ego, whose goals are altogether
unattainable, will strive for them with all its might, and will do so with the
strength that you have given it.
Â
It is impossible to divide your strength between Heaven and hell, God and
the ego, and release your power to creation, which is the only purpose for
which it was given you. Love would always give increase. Limits are
demanded by the ego, and represent its demands to make little and
ineffectual. Limit your sight of a brother to his body, which you will do as
long as you would not release him from it, and you have denied his gift to
you. His body cannot give it. And seek it not through yours. Yet your minds
are already continuous, and their union need only be accepted and the
loneliness in Heaven is gone.
Â
If you would but let the Holy Spirit tell you of the Love of God for you, and
the need your creations have to be with you forever, you would experience
the attraction of the eternal. No one can hear Him speak of this and long
remain willing to linger here. For it is your will to be in Heaven, where you
are complete and quiet, in such sure and loving relationships that any limit
is impossible. Would you not exchange your little relationships for this? For
the body is little and limited, and only those whom you would see without
the limits the ego would impose on them can offer you the gift of freedom.
Â
You have no conception of the limits you have placed on your perception,
and no idea of all the loveliness that you could see. But this you must
remember; the attraction of guilt opposes the attraction of God. His
attraction for you remains unlimited, but because your power, being His, is
as great as His, you can turn away from love. What you invest in guilt you
withdraw from God. And your sight grows weak and dim and limited, for
you have attempted to separate the Father from the Son, and limit their
communication. Seek not Atonement in further separation. And limit not
your vision of God’s Son to what interferes with his release, and what the
Holy Spirit must undo to set him free. For his belief in limits has
imprisoned him.
Â
When the body ceases to attract you, and when you place no value on it as a
means of getting anything, then there will be no interference in
communication and your thoughts will be as free as God’s. As you let the
Holy Spirit teach you how to use the body only for purposes of
communication, and renounce its use for separation and attack which the
ego sees in it, you will learn you have no need of a body at all. In the holy
instant there are no bodies, and you experience only the attraction of God.
Accepting it as undivided you join him wholly, in an instant. The reality of
this relationship becomes the only truth that you could ever want. All truth
is here.
As the ego would limit your perception of your brothers to the body, so
would the Holy Spirit release your vision and let you see the Great Rays
shining from them, so unlimited that they reach to God. It is this shift to
vision that is accomplished in the holy instant. Yet it is needful for you to
learn just what this shift entails, so you will become willing to make it
permanent. Given this willingness it will not leave you, for it is permanent.
Â
Once you have accepted it as the only perception you want, it is translated
into knowledge by the part that God Himself plays in the Atonement, for it
is the only step in it He understands. Therefore, in this there will be no
delay when you are ready for it. God is ready now, but you are not.
Â
Our task is but to continue, as fast as possible, the necessary process of
looking straight at all the interference and seeing it exactly as it is. For it is
impossible to recognize as wholly without gratification what you think you
want. The body is the symbol of the ego, as the ego is the symbol of the
separation. And both are nothing more than attempts to limit
communication, and thereby to make it impossible. For communication
must be unlimited in order to have meaning, and deprived of meaning, it
will not satisfy you completely. Yet it remains the only means by which you
can establish real relationships, which have no limits, having been
established by God.
Â
In the holy instant, where the Great Rays replace the body in awareness, the
recognition of relationships without limits is given you. But in order to see
this, it is necessary to give up every use the ego has for the body, and to
accept the fact that the ego has no purpose you would share with it. For the
ego would limit everyone to a body for its own purposes, and while you
think it has a purpose, you will choose to utilize the means by which it tries
to turn its purpose into accomplishment. This will never be accomplished.
Â
Yet you have surely recognized that the ego, whose goals are altogether
unattainable, will strive for them with all its might, and will do so with the
strength that you have given it.
Â
It is impossible to divide your strength between Heaven and hell, God and
the ego, and release your power to creation, which is the only purpose for
which it was given you. Love would always give increase. Limits are
demanded by the ego, and represent its demands to make little and
ineffectual. Limit your sight of a brother to his body, which you will do as
long as you would not release him from it, and you have denied his gift to
you. His body cannot give it. And seek it not through yours. Yet your minds
are already continuous, and their union need only be accepted and the
loneliness in Heaven is gone.
Â
If you would but let the Holy Spirit tell you of the Love of God for you, and
the need your creations have to be with you forever, you would experience
the attraction of the eternal. No one can hear Him speak of this and long
remain willing to linger here. For it is your will to be in Heaven, where you
are complete and quiet, in such sure and loving relationships that any limit
is impossible. Would you not exchange your little relationships for this? For
the body is little and limited, and only those whom you would see without
the limits the ego would impose on them can offer you the gift of freedom.
Â
You have no conception of the limits you have placed on your perception,
and no idea of all the loveliness that you could see. But this you must
remember; the attraction of guilt opposes the attraction of God. His
attraction for you remains unlimited, but because your power, being His, is
as great as His, you can turn away from love. What you invest in guilt you
withdraw from God. And your sight grows weak and dim and limited, for
you have attempted to separate the Father from the Son, and limit their
communication. Seek not Atonement in further separation. And limit not
your vision of God’s Son to what interferes with his release, and what the
Holy Spirit must undo to set him free. For his belief in limits has
imprisoned him.
Â
When the body ceases to attract you, and when you place no value on it as a
means of getting anything, then there will be no interference in
communication and your thoughts will be as free as God’s. As you let the
Holy Spirit teach you how to use the body only for purposes of
communication, and renounce its use for separation and attack which the
ego sees in it, you will learn you have no need of a body at all. In the holy
instant there are no bodies, and you experience only the attraction of God.
Accepting it as undivided you join him wholly, in an instant. The reality of
this relationship becomes the only truth that you could ever want. All truth
is here.