OrEd-T-24.6-Resolution of the Dream.mp3

40. The Christ in me is very still. He looks on what He loves and knows it as Himself. And He rejoices at what He sees, because He knows that it is one with Him and with His Father. Specialness, too, takes joy in what it sees, although it is not true. Yet, what it seeks is a source of joy as I conceive joy. What I wish is true for me. It is not possible that I can wish for something, and lack faith that it is so. Wishing makes real, as surely as willing creates. The power of a wish upholds illusions, just as much as love extends itself, except that one deludes, and the other heals.

41. However lovely the dream may seem to be, however much it offers hope of peace, escape from pain, freedom from self condemnation, however hidden or disguised the form--there is no dream of specialness. In dreams, effect and cause are interchanged, for the maker of the dream believes that what he made is happening to him. He does not realize he picked a thread from here, a scrap from there, and wove a picture out of nothing. For the parts do not belong together, and the whole contributes nothing to the parts to give them meaning.

42. Where could my peace arise except in forgiveness? The Christ in me looks only on the truth and sees no condemnation that could need forgiveness. He is at peace, because He sees no sin. If I identify with Him, I have everything that He has. He is my eyes, my ears, my hands, my feet. How gentle are the sights He sees, the sounds He hears. How beautiful His hand that holds His brother's hand, and how lovingly Christ walks beside him, showing him what can be seen and heard, and where he will see nothing, and hear no sound.

43. Yet, if I let my specialness direct his way, I will follow. And we both will walk in danger, each intent to lead the other to a nameless precipice and hurl him over it, in the dark forest of the sightless, unlit except by tiny gleams from fireflies of sin that spark an instant and then go out. For specialness leads only to destruction, delights to kill and seeks the sight of death. However, specialness did not look on my brother first, hating him before it hated me. The sin its eyes beheld in him, it saw in me, and still looks on with joy. Yet, it is not joyful to look on decay and madness, and believe this crumbling thing is like myself, with flesh already loosened from the bone and sightless holes for eyes.

44. I rejoice that I have no eyes with which to see, no ears to listen, and no hands to hold nor feet to guide. I am glad that Christ can lend me His, while I have need of them. His are illusions, too, as well as mine. And yet they serve a very different purpose, and the strength of that purpose is given to them. And the perceptions Christ lends to me see, hear, hold, lead, and are given light, that I may lead as I was led.

45. The Christ in me is very still. He knows where I am going, and He leads me all the way in gentleness and blessing. His love for God replaces the fear I thought I saw in myself. Christ's holiness shows me Himself in my brother, whose hand I hold and lead to Christ. And what I see is like myself. For there is only Christ to see and hear, to love and follow home. He looked upon me first, and recognized that I was not complete. And so He sought for my completion in each living thing that He beholds and loves. And He seeks it still, that each might offer me the love of God.

*46. Christ is quiet, for He knows that love is in me now, safely held in me by the same hand that is holding my brother's hand. Christ's hand holds all His brothers in Himself. He gives them vision for their sightless eyes, and sings to them of Heaven, that their ears may hear no more the sounds of battle and of death. He reaches through them, holding out His hand that everyone may bless all living things and see their holiness. Christ offers me His perfect lack of specialness, and my forgiveness offers it to my Self, so I may save all living things from death, receiving from each one the gift of life. And He rejoices that these sights are mine to look upon with Him and share His joy. The sight of Christ is all there is to see. The song of Christ is all there is to hear. The hand of Christ is all there is to hold. The only journey is to walk with Him.

47. I, who would be content with specialness, and seek salvation in a war with love, must consider this: The holy Lord of Heaven Himself has come to offer to me my own completion. What is His is mine, because my completion is His Completion. God did not will to be without His Son, and He could never will that I be brotherless. And so, He gave to me a brother as perfect as myself, and just the same as Christ in holiness.

48. Before there can be conflict there must be doubt, and every doubt must be about myself. Christ has no doubt, and His quiet comes from His certainty. If I agree that our Oneness is within my grasp, timeless, endless, He will exchange His certainty for all my doubts. He walks before and beside me, leading the way that He must go to find Himself complete. He is within me. His quietness becomes my certainty, ending all doubt.