Library of Christ Mind Teachings
ACIM Original Edition
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39 We have used many words as synonymous which are not ordinarily
regarded as the same. We began with having and being and more recently
have used others. Hearing and being are examples, to which we can also
add teaching and being, learning and being and, above all, projecting
and being. This is because, as we have said before, every idea begins in
the mind of the thinker and extends outward. Therefore, what extends
from the mind is still in it, and from what it extends it knows
itself. That is its natural talent. The word “knows” is correct here,
even though the ego does not know and is not concerned with being at
all.
40 The Holy Spirit still holds knowledge safe through His impartial
perception. By attacking nothing, He presents no barrier at all to the
communication of God. Thus, being is never threatened. Your Godlike mind
can never be defiled. The ego never was and never will be part of it,
but through the ego you can hear and teach and learn what is not
true. From this, which you have made, you have taught yourselves to
believe that you are not what you are. You cannot teach what you
have not learned, and what you teach you strengthen in yourselves
because you are sharing it. Every lesson you teach you are learning.
41 That is why you must teach only one lesson. If you are to be
conflict-free yourselves, you must learn only from the Holy Spirit and
teach only by Him. You are only love, but when you denied this, you
made what you are something you must learn. We said before that the
message of the crucifixion was, “Teach only love, for that is what you
are.” This is the one lesson which is perfectly unified, because it
is the only lesson which is one. Only by teaching it can you learn
it. “As you teach, so will you learn.” If that is true, and it is true
indeed, you must never forget that what you teach is teaching you.
What you project you believe.
42 The only real safety lies in projecting only the Holy Spirit
because, as you see His gentleness in others, your own mind perceives
itself as totally harmless. Once it can accept this fully, it does
not see the need to protect itself. The protection of God then dawns
upon it, assuring it that it is perfectly safe forever. The perfectly
safe are wholly benign. They bless because they know they are blessed.
Without anxiety the mind is wholly kind, and because it projects
beneficence, it is beneficent.
43 Safety is the complete relinquishment of attack. No compromise is
possible in this. Teach attack in any form, and you have learned it,
and it will hurt you. Yet your learning is not immortal, and you can
unlearn it by not teaching it. Since you cannot not teach, your
salvation lies in teaching the exact opposite of everything the ego
believes. This is how you will learn the truth that will set you free
and keep you so, as others learn it of you. The only way to have
peace is to teach peace. By learning it through projection, it becomes
a part of what you know, because you cannot teach what you have
dissociated.
44 Only thus can you win back the knowledge that you threw away. An idea
which you share, you must have. It awakens in you through the
conviction of teaching. Remember that, if teaching is being and learning
is being, [then] teaching is learning. Everything you teach, you are
learning. Teach only love, and learn that love is yours and you are
love.