To Have Peace, Teach Peace to Learn It

Chapter 6.8
To Have Peace, Teach Peace to Learn It
 
All who believe in separation have a basic fear of retaliation and
abandonment. They believe in attack and rejection, so that is what they
perceive and teach and learn. These insane ideas are clearly the result of
dissociation and projection. What you teach you are, but it is quite apparent
that you can teach wrongly, and can therefore teach yourself wrong.
 
Many thought I was attacking them, even though it was apparent I was not. An
insane learner learns strange lessons. What you must recognize is that when
you do not share a thought system, you are weakening it. Those who believe
in it therefore perceive this as an attack on them. This is because everyone
identifies himself with his thought system, and every thought system centers
on what you believe you are. If the center of the thought system is true, only
truth extends from it. But if a lie is at its center, only deception proceeds
from it.
 
All good teachers realize that only fundamental change will last, but they do
not begin at that level. Strengthening motivation for change is their first and
foremost goal. It is also their last and final one. Increasing motivation for
change in the learner is all that a teacher need do to guarantee change.
Change in motivation is a change of mind, and this will inevitably produce
fundamental change because the mind is fundamental.
 
The first step in the reversal or undoing process is the undoing of the getting
concept. Accordingly, the Holy Spirit’s first lesson was “To have, give all to
all. “I said that this is apt to increase conflict temporarily, and we can clarify
this still further now. At this point, the equality of having and being is not
yet perceived. Until it is, having appears to be the opposite of giving.
 
Therefore, the first lesson seems to contain a contradiction, since it is being
learned by a conflicted mind. This means conflicting motivation, and so the
lesson cannot be learned consistently as yet. Further, the mind of the learner
projects its own conflict, and thus does not perceive consistency in the
minds of others, making him suspicious of their motivation.
 
This is the real reason why, in many respects, the first lesson is the hardest to learn. Still strongly aware of the ego in yourself, and responding primarily to the ego in
others, you are being taught to react to both as if what you do believe is not
true.
 
Upside down as always, the ego perceives the first lesson as insane. In fact,
this is its only alternative since the other possibility, which would be much
less acceptable to it, would obviously be that it is insane.
 
The ego’s judgment, here as always, is predetermined by what it is. The fundamental change will still occur with the change of mind in the thinker. Meanwhile, the increasing clarity of the Holy Spirit’s Voice makes it impossible for the learner not to listen. For a time, then, he is receiving conflicting messages
and accepting both.
 
The way out of conflict between two opposing thought systems is clearly to
choose one and relinquish the other. If you identify with your thought
system, and you cannot escape this, and if you accept two thought systems
which are in complete disagreement, peace of mind is impossible.
 
If you teach both, which you will surely do as long as you accept both, you are
teaching conflict and learning it. Yet you do want peace, or you would not
have called upon the Voice for peace to help you. Its lesson is not insane;
the conflict is.
 
There can be no conflict between sanity and insanity. Only one is true, and
therefore only one is real. The ego tries to persuade you that it is up to you
to decide which voice is true, but the Holy Spirit teaches you that truth was
created by God, and your decision cannot change it. As you begin to realize
the quiet power of the Holy Spirit’s Voice, and Its perfect consistency, it
must dawn on your mind that you are trying to undo a decision that was
irrevocably made for you. That is why I suggested before that you remind
yourself to allow the Holy Spirit to decide for God for you.
 
You are not asked to make insane decisions, although you can think you
are. It must, however, be insane to believe that it is up to you to decide what
God’s creations are. The Holy Spirit perceives the conflict exactly as it is.
Therefore, His second lesson is:
 
To have peace, teach peace to learn it.
 
This is still a preliminary step, since having and being are still not equated.
It is, however, more advanced than the first step, which is really only the
beginning of the thought reversal. The second step is a positive affirmation
of what you want. This, then, is a step in the direction out of conflict, since
it means that alternatives have been considered, and one has been chosen as
more desirable. Nevertheless, the term “more desirable” still implies that the
desirable has degrees.
 
Therefore, although this step is essential for the
ultimate decision, it is clearly not the final one. Lack of order of difficulty in
miracles has not yet been accepted, because nothing is difficult that is
wholly desired. To desire wholly is to create, and creating cannot be
difficult if God Himself created you as a creator.
 
The second step, then, is still perceptual, although it is a giant step toward
the unified perception that reflects God’s knowing. As you take this step and
hold this direction, you will be pushing toward the center of your thought
system, where the fundamental change will occur.
 
At the second step progress is intermittent, but the second step is easier than the first because it follows.
 
Realizing that it must follow is a demonstration of a growing
awareness that the Holy Spirit will lead you on.