It is only the awareness of the body that
makes love
seem limited. For the body is a limit on love. The belief in limited love was its origin, and it was made
to limit the unlimited. Think not that this is merely allegorical, for it was made to limit you. Can you who see yourself within a
body know yourself as an idea? Everything you recognize you identify with
externals, something outside itself. You cannot even think of God without a body, or in some form
you think you recognize.
Within this kingdom the ego rules, and
cruelly. And to defend this little speck of dust it bids you fight against the
universe. This
fragment of your mind is such a tiny part of it that, could you but appreciate
the whole, you would see instantly that it is like the smallest sunbeam to the sun, or like the faintest ripple on the
surface of the ocean. In
its amazing arrogance, this tiny sunbeam has decided it is the sun; this almost imperceptible ripple hails itself as the ocean. Think how alone and frightened is this little thought,
this infinitesimal illusion, holding itself apart against the universe. The sun becomes the sunbeam's "enemy" that would devour it, and the ocean terrifies the little ripple and wants to swallow it.
Yet neither
sun nor ocean is even aware of all this strange and meaningless activity.
They merely continue, unaware that they are feared and hated by a tiny segment
of themselves. Even that segment is not lost to them, for it could
not survive apart from them. And what it thinks it is in no way changes its
total dependence on them for its being. Its whole existence still remains in them. Without the
sun the sunbeam would be gone; the ripple without the ocean is inconceivable.
Such is the strange position in which
those in a world inhabited by bodies seem to be. Each body seems to house a
separate mind, a disconnected thought, living alone and in no way joined to the
Thought by which it was created. Each tiny fragment seems to be self-contained,
needing another for some things, but by no means totally dependent on its one
Creator for everything; needing the whole to give it any
meaning, for by itself it does mean nothing. Nor has it any life apart and by
itself.
Like to the
sun and ocean your Self continues, unmindful that this tiny part regards
itself as you. It is not missing; it could not exist if it were separate, nor
would the Whole be whole without it. It is not a separate kingdom, ruled by an
idea of separation from the rest. Nor does a fence surround it, preventing it
from joining with the rest, and keeping it apart from its Creator. This little aspect is no different from the whole, being continuous
with it and at one with it. It leads no separate life, because its life is the oneness in which its being was
created.
Do not accept this little, fenced-off
aspect as yourself. The sun
and ocean are as nothing beside what you
are. The sunbeam sparkles only in the sunlight,
and the ripple dances as it rests upon the ocean. Yet in neither sun nor
ocean is the power that rests in you. Would you remain within your tiny
kingdom, a sorry king, a bitter ruler of all that he surveys, who looks on
nothing yet who would still die to defend it? This little self is not your
kingdom. Arched high above it and surrounding it with love is the glorious whole, which
offers all its happiness and deep content to every part. The little aspect that
you think you set apart is no exception.
Love knows no bodies, and reaches to everything created like
itself. Its total lack of limit is its
meaning. It is completely impartial in its giving, encompassing only to
preserve and keep complete what it would give. In your tiny kingdom you have so
little! Should it not, then, be there that you would call on love to enter? Look at the desert--dry and unproductive, scorched
and joyless--that makes up your little kingdom. And realize the life and joy
that love
would bring to it from where
it comes, and where it would return with you.
The Thought of
God surrounds your little kingdom, waiting at the barrier you built to
come inside and shine upon the barren ground. See how life springs up
everywhere! The desert becomes a garden, green and deep and quiet, offering rest to those who lost
their way and wander in the dust. Give them a place of refuge, prepared by
love for them where once a desert was. And everyone you welcome will bring love with him from Heaven for you. They enter one by one into this holy
place, but they will not depart as they had come, alone. The love they brought with them will stay with them, as it will stay with you.
And under its beneficence your little garden will expand, and reach out to everyone
who thirsts for living water, but has grown too weary to go on alone.
Go out and find them, for they bring your
Self with them. And lead them gently to your quiet garden, and receive their blessing there. So
will it grow and stretch across the desert, leaving no lonely little kingdoms
locked away from love, and leaving you inside. And you will recognize yourself, and see
your little garden gently transformed into the Kingdom of Heaven, with
all the love
of its Creator shining upon it.
The holy instant is your invitation to love to enter into your bleak and joyless kingdom, and to
transform it into a garden of peace and welcome. Love's answer is inevitable. It will come because you came
without the body, and interposed no barriers to interfere with its glad coming.
In the holy instant, you ask of
love only what it offers everyone, neither less nor more. Asking for
everything, you will receive it. And your shining Self will lift the tiny
aspect that you tried to hide from Heaven straight to Heaven. No part of love calls on the whole in vain. No Son of God
remains outside his
Fatherhood.
Be sure of this;
love has entered your special relationship, and entered fully at your weak
request. You do not recognize that love has come, because you have not
yet let go of all the barriers you hold against your brother. And you will not
be able to give love welcome separately. You could no
more know God alone than he knows you without your brother. But
together you could no more be unaware of love
than love could know you not, or fail to recognize itself in you.
You have reached the end of an ancient
journey, not realizing yet that it is over. You are still worn and tired, and
the desert's dust still seems to cloud your eyes and keep you sightless. Yet he
whom you welcomed has come to you, and would welcome you. he has waited long to
give you this. Receive it now of him, for he would have you know him. Only a
little wall of dust still stands between you. Blow on it lightly and with happy
laughter, and it will fall away. And walk into the garden
love has prepared for both of you. ACiM - Text Chapter Eighteen
- The Passing of the Dream - Section 8 - The Little Garden
Guy Finley: During
these last three months of the year -- as we watch the life force of nature
withdraw itself -- we see fields of green turn from gold to brown. Leaves lose
their sheen and fall, without ceremony, to the earth that will consume them. [ Read More Let Go and Be at Peace ]
No comments:
Post a Comment