Library of Christ Mind Teachings
ACIM Original Edition
Hang on a sec…
20 Condemn your savior not because he thinks he is a body. For beyond
his dreams is his reality. But he must learn he is a savior first,
before he can remember what he is. And he must save who would be saved.
On saving you depends his happiness. For who is savior but the one who
gives salvation? Thus he learns it must be his to give. Unless he
gives, he will not know he has, for giving is the proof of having.
Only those who think that God is lessened by their strength could fail
to understand this must be so. For who could give unless he has, and
who could lose by giving what must be increased thereby?
21 Think you the Father lost Himself when He created you? Was He made
weak because He shared His love? Was He made incomplete by your
perfection? Or are you the proof that He is perfect and complete? Deny
Him not His witness in the dream His Son prefers to his reality. He must
be savior from the dream he made, that he be free of it. He must see
someone else as not a body, one with him, without the wall the world
has built to keep apart all living things who know not that they live.
Within the dream of bodies and of death is yet one theme of truth—no
more, perhaps, than just a tiny spark, a space of light created in the
dark, where God still shines.
22 You cannot wake yourself. Yet you can let yourself be wakened. You
can overlook your brother’s dreams. So perfectly can you forgive him his
illusions, he becomes your savior from your dreams. And as you see him
shining in the space of light where God abides within the darkness, you
will see that God Himself is where his body is. Before this light the
body disappears, as heavy shadows must give way to light. The darkness
cannot choose that it remain. The coming of the light means it is
gone. In glory will you see your brother then and understand what
really fills the gap so long perceived as keeping you apart.
23 There, in its place, God’s Witness has set forth the gentle way of
kindness to God’s Son. Whom you forgive is given power to forgive you
your illusions. By your gift of freedom is it given unto you. Make way
for love, which you did not create, but which you can extend. On earth
this means forgive your brother, that the darkness may be lifted from
your mind. When light has come to him through your forgiveness, he will
not forget his savior, leaving him unsaved. For it was in your face he
saw the light that he would keep beside him as he walks through darkness
to the everlasting light.
24 How holy are you, that the Son of God can be your savior in the midst
of dreams of desolation and disaster. See how eagerly he comes and steps
aside from heavy shadows that have hidden him and shines on you in
gratitude and love. He is himself, but not himself alone. And as his
Father lost not part of Him in your creation, so the light in him is
brighter still because you gave your light to him to save him from the
dark. And now the light in you must be as bright as shines in him. This
is the spark that shines within the dream—that you can help him waken
and be sure his waking eyes will rest on you. And in his glad salvation,
you are saved.