Well, we’re reading from a Chapter entitled, “Forgiveness and Healing.”  And we’ve been talking for a few weeks about what you might call radical healing, haven’t we?—the changing of apparently dangerous elements into benign but still functioning elements.

The healing of damage, whether from injury or from germs or from radioactive isotopes—radioactivity—whether it’s the changing of water which has become impure, we’ve talked about the expectation of correction of illusions, not as a pleasant dreamy idea, but as an actual measurable fact.

It’s very appropriate to be talking about these things at this time, being Easter. After all, if you have tissue that has been damaged that is healed, isn’t that resurrection?  If something is returned to its natural normal perfect state when it had before been imperfect, is that return to excellence not resurrection?  It is.

Forgiveness and Healing, they’re inseparable really.  Get it?  I’m not blasting you with it.  I’m not making it sound great and important.  But it is simply profound.  When there is healing, when something abnormal has been returned to its state of normalcy, resurrection has occurred.  And always, when that happens, it happens as the result of a simple act:  Forgiveness.

The simple act of forgiveness is accomplished by . . . what?  The two-step that we’ve been taking about—that point at which no matter what is going on, no matter what is confronting you, you stop, you silence your thinking mind.  And in the silence, you reach out beyond your thinking mind to the Father, to the Holy Spirit to enquire, “What is the truth here?”

Now, the simple fact is that the willingness to know what is true in spite of what is confronting you, in spite of what you have been conditioned to believe was happening in which you are projecting on the event, you want to know the truth from a Source that Knows the truth.  And that is forgiveness.

When you stop holding a circumstance or an individual to a concept you have, you’re forgiving that circumstance or that individual.  You are forgiving polluted water.  You are forgiving those who knowingly or unknowingly caused the pollution to happen.  And in the desire to know what is the truth about the water or the condition, and those that caused the condition, you are abandoning your commitment to your conviction about what those things are.  And that abandonment with enquiry to know the truth beyond your perception is, forgiveness.

Forgiveness practiced genuinely always results in correction . . . always results in healing . . . always results in resurrection.  It’s a law.  It is absolute.  There is no variation to it and you can depend upon it.  But you won’t depend upon it if you don’t embrace what will initially be the idea or the concept.  You’ll say, “Resurrection is impossible, damage is permanent!”  No forgiveness there, because there is no curiosity to see beyond the definition or meaning you’re applying to everything.

And so you hold what is in actuality the Kingdom of Heaven in bondage to a limited perception that you’re applying to the Kingdom of Heaven that makes it look like a material world and universe.  It’s that simple.

How do you get past a material world and universe?  By forgiving it.  By withdrawing the meanings you apply with commitment to the Kingdom of Heaven causing you to see it through a glass darkly . . . that simple.

This means that every single moment and every encounter you have with everything is Easter Morning . . . the time for resurrection to occur . . . the place for resurrection to occur.

But you’ve got to let resurrection in.  You’ve got to allow it to be part of your day, part of your own encounter with each and every thing.

Now, I know that presently there is so much wrong going on in your world, so much negativity, so much that seems dire and threatening, that it seems  impossible to conceive of resurrection occurring.  It seems like it will be almost impossible to have a long drawn out resurrection, much less an instantaneous shift of perception that registers in a recordable fashion in the world as the world, and which would be called, “recognizing the Kingdom of Heaven” right where you are.

Now, this next section is entitled:

THE FORGIVEN WORLD¹

. . . not just a forgiven leaf or a forgiven spouse or a forgiven ant that just bit you, but a Forgiven World.

Now, it begins by saying:

Can you imagine how beautiful those you forgive will look to you?

Well, why would it be beautiful?  Because resurrection will have occurred, and you’ll be seeing it in its perfection. 

Can you imagine how beautiful those you forgive will look to you? In no fantasy have you ever seen anything so lovely. Nothing you see here, . .

. . . meaning in your ignorance . . .

. . . sleeping or waking, comes near to such loveliness.

And I’m going to add: In spite of the loveliness that you do see . . .

In no fantasy have you ever seen anything so lovely.  Nothing you see here sleeping or waking, comes near to such loveliness. And nothing will you value like unto this, nor hold so dear. Nothing [that] you remember that made your heart seem to sing with joy has ever brought you even a little part of the happiness this sight will bring you.

Well, it sounds like a wonderful promise doesn’t it.  Is this a real promise?  Is it something that you can expect to experience today or tomorrow?  Well, it better be.  And you hold the key.  Are you willing to embrace it as the possibility today or tomorrow?  More than that are you willing to embrace it as a sort of fundamental obligation that you’re under to be sane and to see everything as it is . . . [snaps fingers] now . . . now . . . now . . . now . . . not put off, not delayed, not procrastinated.

Again:

Nothing that you remember that made your heart seem to sing with joy has ever brought you even a little part of the happiness this sight will bring you. For you will see the Son of God. You will behold the beauty which the Holy Spirit loves to look upon, and which He thanks the Father for . . .

. . . while you’re neglecting to thank the Father for and which you’re neglecting to look upon because you’re fascinated with your perceptions and your processes of improving your perceptions so that you might become an ever more valid presence without being joined with your Source—your Father—your very Being.

The Holy Spirit . . .

. . . He was created to see this for YOU, until you learn to see it for yourself. And all His teaching leads to seeing it and giving thanks with Him.

Wow . . . when you’re willing to forgive and you see things truly, there is joy, there is gratitude, there is thankfulness.  It just exudes from you because you feel it so completely. 

Mind you, this is a description of what you are to expect when you’re practicing the holy instant: Dynamic actual change.  Resurrection:  The replacement of sin, disease and death with life, truth and love.  Imperfection replaced by immaculate, amazing, awesome perfection that is inviolable, which you will never again be tempted to look at with a bias that screws the experience of it up.

What we’re talking about when we use the words, “holy instant” is a dynamic activity, a dynamic action, a dynamic circumstance, if you will, in which the laws of God prevail.  And you see that they were never undone.  And you see that the perfection of everything never lapsed.  That there was no variableness in it and there is not and there cannot be. 

You should not expect from week to week, to have no major changes as a result of your studying the Course, or as a result of your practicing the holy instant. 

So all of this loveliness that we’ve been talking about here . . .

This loveliness is NOT a fantasy. It is the real world, bright and clean and new, with everything sparkling under the open sun.

Well, this is what I’ve been talking about when I say to look at a thing and want to experience “the More of what God is Being there” than what you’re experiencing.  Because all you’re confronted with at any moment is the Kingdom of Heaven—is Reality.

If you don’t hear this often, you will forget to look with curiosity, you will forget that there is something more here to be experiencing—something more to be experiencing than injury or damage or decay or deterioration.  And if you forget to look with curiosity, you deny yourself the experience of resurrection—resurrection of your misperceptions, of your false beliefs and their apparent results on what you see, so that you’re seeing a new Heaven and a new Earth, so that you are experiencing Easter whether it’s midnight on a Thursday night or four a.m. on a Tuesday afternoon or whether it’s Easter Sunday.

You know what?  Easter eggs are an excellent focus of attention to look and see the More of what God is Being there than what you’re seeing.  The Easter egg, which seems to have nothing to do with Easter, is a perfect subject for the meaning of Easter to be brought home to you and change you forever.

So this year, don’t have the Easter egg hunt just for the kids, have it for yourself as well.

So this real world, sparkling under the open sun, well . . .

Nothing is hidden here, for everything has been forgiven, and there are no fantasies to hide the truth.

You’re not holding onto or practicing your conscientious ignorance, which you do by defining everything yourself and ignoring the definitions or meanings that the Father has embodied in the Movement of His Being called, “that thing you’re looking for” and defining incorrectly.

The bridge between that world and this is so little and so easy to cross that you could not believe it is the meeting place of worlds so different.

What  is  this  little  bridge  that  bridges  the  gap  between  the  unreal  world  and  the Real world?  What is it?       F-o-r-g-i-v-e-n-e-s-s, the act of forgiving.  That’s the bridge between illusion and Reality.  You see?

“The problems seem to be so great and so complex that it’s going to be impossible!”  No. Because the answer—the call—is for a little thing called forgiveness which everyone is capable of doing.  But you just have to be willing to look at the apparently unforgiveable or the apparently impossible detrimental movements and withdraw your determination—your definition—and wish to see the More of what God is Being, right there, in spite of how you are perceiving it, in spite of how everyone else is perceiving it, in spite of how the news broadcasters are defining it.

The bridge between that world and this is so little and so easy to cross that you could not believe it is the meeting place of worlds so different.  Yet this little bridge is the strongest thing that touches on this world at all.

All of your fantasies are weak compared to the strength that forgiveness embodies.  Such a little thing . . . to forgive.  It’s something every single one of you knows how to do and can do.  You just have to withdraw the strength you’re using to withhold your forgiveness because it’s so justified for you to claim guilt . . . guilt . . . guilt . . . guilt . . . guilt . . . and apply it to everything.

“Well, it’s just a material world, what can you expect?  Things go wrong, things die . . .” You see?  Change your mind.  Change your mind by being willing to forgive.

This little step, so small it has escaped your notice, is a stride through time into eternity, and beyond all ugliness into beauty that will enchant you, and will never cease to cause you wonderment at its perfection.

This is the promise.  This is the reason for the holy instant . . . this is the reason for the holy instant. 

This step, the smallest ever taken by anything, is still the greatest accomplishment of all in God’s plan of Atonement. All else is learned, but this is GIVEN, complete and wholly perfect.

When you learn something, you acquire the knowledge . . . you get, get, get.

But forgiveness even has the word, “give” in it, doesn’t it.  You “give” for your anger, the willingness to see the truth.  You “give” for your frustration, your willingness to see the truth.

All else is learned, but this . . .

. . . this littlest step . . .

. . . is GIVEN, complete and wholly perfect. No-one but Him Who planned salvation . . .

. . . the Father . . .

. . . could complete it thus.

You see?  It’s amazing because forgiveness means that you have to abandon the exercise of authority in the form of judgment that you place on things and persons and places for the purpose of exercising power and force from you in order to make you a more substantial presence. 

But forgiveness is the abandoning of that.  And it’s the invitation given to truth to enter so that it might be willingly received and felt.  So that what?  Resurrection can occur.

The real world, in its loveliness, you LEARN to reach. Fantasies are all undone, and no-one and nothing remains still bound by them, and by your OWN forgiveness you are free to . . .

. . . what? . .

. . . to see.

You’re free to acknowledge.  You’re free to be presented with the truth and have it register with you. 

It’s amazing isn’t it . . . that such a simple thing is the means of returning to your right Mind, regaining your sanity, experiencing your resurrection along with the resurrection of everything else.

Yet what you see is only what you have made, with the blessing of your forgiveness on it.

This world and universe that you call a material world and universe is of your making.  It’s constituted of all your definitions.  Definitions—false definitions—applied to the Kingdom of Heaven.  That’s what it is. 

But when you see the world transformed, it is the Kingdom of Heaven not denied by you.  It’s you looking at the falsities that you have made, with forgiveness, so that what covers over the actuality of Reality slips away because you’re not reinforcing it.  And you see a world that sparkles under the open sun and sounds is as beautiful as the description we read.

Again, this is Easter.  This is the time to have resurrection in your experience—yours and every thing’s.  It should be a day of great expectation on your part because again, that really is the obligation you’re under.  You are the holy Son and Daughter of God, and being that, you’re under the obligation to not miss out on the experience of your Birthright.  How’s that for a nice positive way of putting it? . . to at least make it sound like an interesting thing to engage in.

And with this final blessing of God’s Son upon HIMSELF, the real perception, born of the new perspective he has learned, has served its purpose.

The practice of forgiveness that uncovers the Real world has served its purpose.  Now listen to this:

The stars will disappear in light, and the sun which opened up the world to beauty will vanish. Perception will be meaningless when it has been perfected, for everything that has been used for learning will have no function.

Well, that makes it sound like all of this is going to disappear, doesn’t it?  But that’s not what it means.  What it means is that the moment you gave a false definition to a [tapping a glass] glass or to the water that’s in the glass—the minute you gave a false perception, a false definition to something—that thing became a learning tool, because it sat there forever as long as you were entertaining the false definition, it sat there as the opportunity to rediscover what it truly was.

And so, this part of the Kingdom of Heaven that looks like a glass became not part of the Kingdom of Heaven but a material object, which because it’s actually divine, has a function—a learning function, a teaching function.  It’s there staring you in the face, confronting you with the divinity of itself and waiting for you to discover it and insisting upon your discovery.  You see?

So what it appeared to be and the purpose it seemed to serve will disappear.  It will not have to serve that purpose anymore.  But it will still be there being the Presence of God, being the Presence of Love, constituted of the Substance which is Spirit, and so on.

Perception will be meaningless when it has been perfected, . .

. . . when you’ve practiced the holy instant and you’ve let the true perception in, then you’ll be having the true conscious experience of it and perception will vanish.  Perceptions are variable.  One day you can look at a beautiful painting and be moved tremendously by it, and another day when you’re depressed and you look at the same painting your perception of it will be flat, dull, and you’ll wonder why anybody ever sat down with a brush and painted a single stroke on that canvas.

Again: 

Perception will be meaningless when it has been perfected, for everything that has been used for learning will have no function.

Will no longer have any function.

Nothing will ever change; no shifts nor shadings, no differences, no variations which made perception possible will occur.

Now mind you, the Movement of God, the Movement of Creation is not what makes perception possible.  The Movement of Creation will still be infinitely present.  God’s Being will not be thwarted by your no longer bringing perceptions into play as you look at God’s Creation and witness Them for what they really Are.  And in doing that co-create with Him.

Nothing will ever change; . .

The perception of the real world will be so short that you will barely have time to thank God for it. For God will take the last step swiftly when you have reached the real world, and have been made ready for Him.

So, you will have the experience of resurrection and true perception momentarily.  Because when you have that experience you’re going to have the most gigantic “Ah-ha!” that you have ever had.  And in that “Ah-ha!” meaning, “I see it!  I understand,” you come Home, you come back into your right Mind—Ascension occurs.  You see?

Now, that means that every moment and everything you experience in every moment is an opportunity for resurrection and spontaneous Ascension . . . today . . . now . . . now . . . now . . . tomorrow.  You see?

Don’t go through this week, don’t go through another day without having an active curiosity to see resurrection occur.  Why?  Because you’re willing to abandon your definitions and say, “Father, what is the truth here? . .” because it’s your obligation to see the truth, to experience the truth because it’s your Birthright, it’s your nature, it’s your function that could never have really been taken away and therefore hasn’t been.  You see?

The real world is attained simply by the complete forgiveness of the old, the world you see WITHOUT forgiveness.

And the reason you see it without forgiveness is because you’re applying your own well-developed definitions and meanings to it all.  And then you’re blaming the things for the definitions you’ve applied to them.  The only way to forgive them is to abandon them—the meaning you’re applying—and to abandon the arrogance that says, “What you believe and what you know and what you have defined things as is absolutely correct, flawless, unattackable.”

It’s not a very great cost to abandon that arrogance and that confidence.  And this little tiny step which is forever present with you can be practiced immediately—the step of forgiveness, the two-step.

The Great Transformer of perception will undertake with you the careful searching of the mind that made this world, . .

. . . the one of the definitions you’re using . . .

. . . and uncover to you the seeming reasons for your making it. [Raj did not read this:  In the light of the REAL reason which He brings, as you follow Him,] He will show you that there is no reason here at all.

The meanings you’ve given to everything have no reason because the definitions and meanings don’t arise out of what truly Is, just out of imagination.

Each spot HIS reason touches . . .

. . . and His is the Holy Spirit.

Each spot HIS reason touches grows alive with beauty, and what seemed ugly in the darkness of your lack of reason is suddenly released to loveliness.

That’s resurrection—here . . . now . . . today . . . in this world.

Not even what the Son of God made in insanity could be without a hidden spark of beauty which gentleness could release.