Library of Christ Mind Teachings
ACIM Original Edition
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19 To heal is to liberate totally. We once said there is no order of
difficulty in miracles, because they are all maximal expressions of
love. This has no range at all. The non-maximal only appears to have a
range. This is because it seems to be meaningful to measure it from
the maximum and identify its position by how much it is not there.
Actually, this does not mean anything. It is like negative numbers in
that the concept can be used theoretically, but it has no application
practically. It is true that if you put three apples on the table and
then take them away, the three apples are not there. But it is not
true that the table is now minus three apples. If there is nothing
on the table, it does not matter what was there in terms of amount.
The “nothing” is neither greater nor less because of what is absent.
20 That is why “all” and “nothing” are dichotomous, without a range.
This is perfectly clear in considering psychological tests of maximal
performance. You cannot interpret the results at all unless you assume
either maximal motivation or no motivation at all. Only in these two
conditions can you validly compare responses, and you must assume the
former, because if the latter were true, the subject would not do
anything. Given variable motivation, he will do something, but
you cannot understand what it is.
21 The results of such tests are evaluated relatively assuming maximal
motivation, but this is because we are dealing with abilities, where
degree of development is meaningful. This does not mean that what the
ability is used for is necessarily either limited or divided. Yet
one thing is certain—abilities are potentials for learning, and you
will apply them to what you want to learn. Learning is effort, and
effort means will. We have used the term “abilities” in the plural,
because abilities began with the ego, which perceived them as
potentials for excelling. This is how the ego still perceives them
and uses them.
22 The ego does not want to teach everyone all it has learned, because
that would defeat its purpose. Therefore, it does not really learn
at all. The Holy Spirit teaches you to use what the ego has made to
teach the opposite of what the ego has learned. The kind of learning
is as irrelevant as is the particular ability which was applied to the
learning. You could not have a better example of the Holy Spirit’s
unified purpose than this course. The Holy Spirit has taken very
diversified areas of your learning and has applied them to a unified
curriculum. The fact that this was not the ego’s reason for learning
is totally irrelevant.
23 You made the effort to learn, and the Holy Spirit has a unified
goal for all effort. He adapts the ego’s potentials for excelling to
potentials for equalizing. This makes them useless for the ego’s
purpose but very useful for His. If different abilities are applied
long enough to one goal, the abilities themselves become unified. This
is because they are channelized in one direction or in one way.
Ultimately, then, they all contribute to one result, and by so doing,
their similarity rather than their differences is emphasized. You can
excel in many different ways, but you can equalize in one way
only. Equality is not a variable state, by definition.
24 That is why you will be able to perform all aspects of your work
with ease when you have learned this course. To the ego there appears
to be no connection, because the ego is discontinuous. Yet the Holy
Spirit teaches one lesson and applies it to all individuals in all
situations. Being conflict-free, He maximizes all efforts and all
results. By teaching the power of the Kingdom of God Himself, He teaches
you that all power is yours. Its application does not matter. It is
always maximal. Your vigilance does not establish it as yours, but
it does enable you to use it always and in all ways.
25 When I said, “I am with you always,” I meant it literally. I am not
absent to anyone in any situation. Because I am always with you,
you are the way and the truth and the light. You did not make this
power, any more than I did. It was created to be shared and therefore
cannot be meaningfully perceived as belonging to anyone at the expense
of another. Such a perception makes it meaningless by eliminating or
overlooking its real and only meaning.