THE GIFTS OF GOD — Sondra Ray and Markus Ray on A Course in Miracles

The main GIFT of the Fatherhood would be receiving the infinite Will of Creation. The Universe has no beginning and no ending, and we are part of this infinite grace. The "fear" of God's Will is because we think our true will is something different than God's. Our will and God's Will are the same in our desire for perfect happiness. Peace and Joy are the only things God Wills for us, because they are the nature of the Universe. The Universe IS JOY. Only cause for rejoicing! This is the gift of the Fatherhood that asks us to JOIN in our own creations. Our return is waking up to who we already are. It is a joyous homecoming.

There are two systems of thought. God's sacred thought system is one. The ego's separated thought system is the other. They are irreconcilable. A person cannot be in both. He is in one or the other. The question is one of our Source. Who is our "Father?" Who "Authored" us in truth? Is God our Father or the ego, standing in as our "father?" We first make up the ego, then put ourselves under its "authority." We first make us a set of false premises under which we are bound and limited. We made up a false self. Then we put ourselves under its "authority." This is why we feel separated, because the ego's premises are based on separation, isolation, loneliness, and meaninglessness. We can look at the ego and let it go. The Christ will be there, standing beside us with the Lamp of Pure Light to shine away our ego's illusions.

We deny God by denying Life, Joy, Happiness, Health, etc. "Blasphemy" is thinking we are not as God created us. He did not create us in the pain, suffering, depression that we have fallen into. These are states of "being who we are not" and therefore "blasphemy." Wrong thinking can be corrected, but we have to be willing to change our minds, and their focus. Health is the "denial" of our self-destructive thoughts of the god of sickness. The real blasphemy is the Denial of God, but God cannot be denied in reality. Only in the midst of illusions can we pretend to deny God. We are fooled by false religious theology that made God into all pervading Force attacking us "sinners" with "condemnation." We are not aware we are denying our Creator when we accept pain and suffering as real. We do not know our True Self when we fall into the appearances of sickness. This denial of God is in need of correction. The Holy Spirit will help us to see our Reality, aligned with our Creator and our Self.

The End of Sickness is merely to stop trying to fix illusions. There is just one thing we need to see about "illusions." We move our attention onto the Truth, the Perfection, the real Self we share with the Christ of Perfect Happiness. The end of sickness is simply denying that the sickness is "real." There may be some procedures to do—if you break a bone you need a doctor to put it back together. But more importantly, the thoughts that attracted that need to be addressed, and once the physical mend has taken place, the "mental mend" has to be included in the healing process. The end of Sickness is to see that we are part of God's Will, and this Will is Perfect Happiness. PEACE and JOY invite our attention, because they are consistent with God's Will, and this is the Only Answer.

We can be only sick in our ego. And this "false self" we made up is the "idol of sickness" we have made in our madness. It is not created by God, and by definition, Reality is ONLY what God created, therefore sickness is not real. What is not real is an illusion, only a projection of something that is not really there. And what is not really there is "nothing." But like a mirage that is only a figment of our imagination, but not really there, the "Idol of Sickness" is also a mirage. When we stop giving it "reality," we will see that it is nothing. This vision of the miraculous is what the Christ holds out for us. In it is perfect peace. When we accept it, we accept we accept our True Self that is never "sick." You accept it for all your brothers and sisters—the whole Sonship.

We decided to forget who we are as God created us. We once knew who we are, but then we forgot by making a false "self." This self is called the ego, and it is an illusion that brought much pain and suffering to us. Yet, The "memory" of Who we are as God Created us is still in our Mind. God is in our Memory. When we are willing to remember this True Self, we are awakening to Peace, Joy, and the Glory of our Reality. With the Holy Spirit we can fully awaken. We can accept this True Self, and return our mind to Knowledge, beyond the limitations of perception.

When we are at Home in God we have decided wholly to end our imagined separation from our Source, and therefore we are happy. And because we are unified with our Creator, we know our Creations emanate from Love and are Loving. But sometimes we are unaware of this Divine Connection, and it follows that our mind is split. Partly this, and partly that. It is our Will that can end this dilemma. When we "will there be light," the light is there, and we are unified with the Kingdom in us. Fear, guilt, anger, and other projected misperceptions banish themselves from Love. We can end this through an action of Will in which we join with the Will of God, which would be perfect happiness.

The "thoughts" that cause our pain and suffering are not facts. And because the "pain and suffering" from wrong mindedness appear so "real," it is difficult to see that "pain" is an illusion, because it is based on a "thought" that is an illusion. We believe our "nightmares" when we are in them. Be believe our wring thinking because we are in them, and keep thinking them. The "thoughts" that cause our pain and suffering are self inflicted. This Chapter would call them "idols." They are not really there, but we "think" they are. Because the have "taken form" in our experience, and we place experience as the paramount proof of a "fact," we think the pain and suffering is real. We have to see this differently and correct the "cause" in our mind.

We are arrogant to reinforce our "littleness" with thoughts like "I am not good enough. Others are more deserving than me. Etc." We over compensate with self-inflating thoughts like "I am so much better than everyone else." "Littleness or Grandiosity" will never satisfy us. Yet, we are Exalted in the Grandeur of our Creator. We share this Grandeur, this Light, with Everyone. The Glory of God pulses through us, and we have to feel this Divine Power in our very blood. The Love we share with everyone attests to this Grandeur. Beauty is everywhere. Divine Appreciation is the doorway into heaven. We can step into this awareness so easily, if we so choose to give up the illusions of "littleness" and "grandiosity."

The Atonement is obviously the way to evaluate your true Self. The Holy Spirit looks with Love on all the He perceives. The ego does not love you, and perceives you in a suspicious and even vicious way. God's will for us is happiness, and we attain that by evaluating ourselves correctly, through the eyes of the Holy Spirit. God Wills us perfect happiness now, and we need not delay our Joy. Peace abides in our true Self. Accepting the Atonement is the way to Peace. This is obvious. If we choose not to "see" our innocence, that is our free will to do. But A Course in Miracles is here to give us a different evaluation of truth, in which none of our "mistakes" of our false "self" have any real consequences. We accept our True Self by forgiving our "false self" that are opposing evaluations. The choice is obvious and simple.